ICRI scorecard for member reporting Agenda item 3.5 Presented by Keisuke Takahashi (Japan) ICRI General Meeting, 31 October 2005, Koror, Palau

Background 1.At the ICRI CPC meeting, in Maputo, December 2001, ICRI members decided to develop “ICRI Scorecard” as reporting tool by ICRI members to help assess their performance against ICRI objectives. 2.At the GM in Okinawa July 2004, A revised Draft ICRI Scorecard was submitted by the Working Group for comment at the Okinawa GM in July At the GM in Seychelles May 2005, Members agreed that the Score Card would be a useful tool for reporting 4.Up to September 2005, No country submitted a report using the scorecard until the end of September, 2005.

practical difficulties practical difficulties (1) Too many questions covering a broad area require the writer to consult with many stakeholders, making the scoring work time- consuming and cumbersome. In some questions, it might be difficult to score as there are cases in which regulations and implementations vary among regions and/or areas within a country. In some questions, options are not clearly defined, e.g.; effective, moderately effective, largely ineffective, which makes scoring arbitrary.

practical difficulties(2) Some countries may not have incentives to score, and some countries may be reluctant to score low. International organizations and NGOs cannot use the scorecard for reporting as it is currently designed only for countries’ use. There is no field available within the scorecard in which to narrative discuss or explain issues that each member might like to emphasize.

practical difficulties(3) Considering the ICRI’s nature of informality and voluntary structure, it is difficult to force members to submit a report. Reporting should not impose too much of a burden upon members which may deprive them of energy and recourses for conservation activities. We should be careful to avoid duplication of reporting, for the members might be required by other international frameworks, such as Ramsar and CBD.

Suggestions 1.reducing questions 2.setting up a space to write freely in

Action requested Adopt the current scorecard as the reporting tool for ICRI members. Or Modify the scorecard to make it easier-to-use by governments and adapt it to make it "useable" by International organizations and NGOs, and then adopt the modified version.