1. FOR MANAGING BIODIVERSITY AND SPECIAL PLACES www.software4conservation.com

2. Established in 1993. A group of organisations working together to develop and promote best practice in nature conservation and countryside management. We believe that good planning is the key to good management. Failure to plan is planning to fail. Planning is the intellectual or ‘thinking’ component of conservation management. The CMS Consortium

3. We produce and develop computer software tools and management planning guidelines. We provide training, including formal courses, seminars and workshops. Our main contribution is the CMS management planning software. The CMS Consortium

5. - designed to meet the requirements of Natura 2000 for the management & planning of SACs & SPAs

6. designed to facilitate the Convention on Biological Diversity ecosystem approach. - designed to facilitate the Convention on Biological Diversity ecosystem approach.

7. Connectivity: The future success of the Natura 2000 Network depends not only on a coherent and linked network of nature areas, but also on the relationship between people and nature. Natuurmonumenten, Connectivity in process: examples from the field, 2005.

8. A GUIDE TO MANAGEMENT PLANNING Mike Alexander

9. THE KEY AREAS OF A MANAGEMENT PLAN Why are we here? (Policy) What have we got? (Description) What are the important features? (Assessment) What do we want? (Objectives) What must we do? (Action plan)IMPORTANT: We must monitor so that we know that we are achieving our objectives and that management is appropriate.

10. 1. OBJECTIVE FOR EACH FEATURE 5. REVIEW OR EVALUATION 5. REVIEW OR EVALUATION 2. IDENTIFY OR CONFIRM MANAGEMENT 2. IDENTIFY OR CONFIRM MANAGEMENT 4. MONITOR THE FEATURE 4. MONITOR THE FEATURE 3. IMPLEMENT MANAGEMENT 3. IMPLEMENT MANAGEMENT ADJUST MANAGEMENT An ADAPTIVE Management System

11. Manage Monitor RationaleReview Objective Manage Monitor RationaleReview Objective Manage Monitor RationaleReview Objective Management planning should be a continuous cyclical, iterative and developmental process.

12. This adaptive approach enables conservation managers to: Learn through experience (learning to manage by managing to learn.) Take account of, and respond to, the varying factors that affect the features Continually develop or refine management processes Demonstrate whether or not management is appropriate

13. FEATURE / OBJECTIVE

14. FEATURES A feature is some aspect of the site which can be described as a distinct entity. For many sites, for example NATURA and Ramsar, the important nature conservation features will have formal or legal recognition.

15. Nature conservation features can be populations, communities or habitats.

16. LONG TERM CONSERVATION OBJECTIVES SHOULD BE: S pecific M easurable A chievable R elevant T ime-based

17. FEATURE/OBJECTIVE FACTOR FACTORS Factors are anything which have, are or could change a feature. Factors can be both positive and negative. Factors can be anthropogenic or natural. Factors can operate both on and off site.

18. FACTORS The conservation management of features is mainly about controlling factors or dealing with the impact of a factor, and in particular the consequence of human intervention, past, present and future. Our ability to achieve conservation objectives will always be constrained by our ability to control factors.

19. A quality or property of the site fabric, for example, water quality / levels.FACTORS

20. ATTRIBUTE An attribute is a characteristic of a feature that can be monitored to provide evidence about the condition of the feature

21. Attributes should be informative about something other than themselves. Attributes should be indicators of the general condition of a feature. Attributes must be measurable Attributes should, whenever possible, be indicators of the future rather than the past Attributes should be economical surrogates. (cheap alternatives)

22. ATTRIBUTES FOR SPECIES Size of population DistributionExtent Survival rates Age structure Productivity

23. ATTRIBUTES FOR HABITATS Size ExtentDistribution Species composition Spp indicative of required condition Spp indicative of change

24. Feature/ objective FACTOR

25. THE KEY AREAS OF A MANAGEMENT PLAN Why are we here? (Policy) What have we got? (Description) What are the important features? (Assessment) What are the significant factors? (Influences) What do we want? (Objectives) What must we do? (Action plan) IMPORTANT: We must monitor so that we know that we are achieving our objectives and that management is appropriate.

26. ACTION PLAN

27. RATIONALE The management rationale is concerned with identifying and describing, in outline, the management considered necessary to maintain the site features in (or restore them to) Favourable Conservation Status (FCS). The implications of the current status of the feature are considered. The influence, actual and potential, of the factors on the feature is discussed.

28. Time-based How far ahead should we plan? Long term Long term is in the mind of the beholder; it is as far ahead as anyone can envisage. An objectives reflect our values, knowledge and aspirations at the time that it is written Objectives have a review period

29. MONITORING ? SURVEY? SURVEY? SURVEILLANCE? SURVEILLANCE? RESEARCH? RESEARCH?

30. Surveillance undertaken to ensure that formulated standards (objectives) are being maintained MONITORING

31. FAVOURABLE CONSERVATION STATUS (FCS) For a habitat feature to be considered to be at FCS, ALL of the following must be true: The area of the habitat must be stable in the long term, or increasing, its quality (including in terms of ecological structure and function) must be maintained any typical species must also be at FCS, as defined on the next slide, the factors that affect the habitat, including its typical species, must be under control.

32. For a species feature to be considered to be at FCS, ALL of the following must be true: The size of the population must be maintained or increased the population must be sustainable in the long term the range of the population must not be contracting sufficient habitat must exist to support the population in the long term

33. Categories which describe the ‘status’ of a feature: Favourable–maintained. Favourable–recovered. Favourable–unknown. Recovering. Unfavourable-declining. Unfavourable–unknown. Partially destroyed. Destroyed.

34. CMSi supports planning to evaluation

40. www.software4conservation.com