Towards meaningful community-based ecological monitoring in Nova Scotia: where are we versus where we would like to be.

Barriers to Linking to Decision-Making

The fact remains that even among established and respected CBM groups, if there is a lack of political will, perceived problems related to the rigour of the collected data, or the legitimacy of the CBM groups, the messages emerging from within CBM organizations will not be heard or acted upon. Additional barriers may include the lack of staff time and available resources for monitoring programs, unequal level of commitment to the program, and discrepancies in power and trust (Hunsberger 2004). Barriers may ultimately lie in the distrust and resistance of management agencies and the lack of broadly organized political support.

Why are the obvious win-win environmental protection and experimentation opportunities being missed by management agencies? Walters (1997) provides three organizational factors, including the belief that certainty is necessary to maintain credibility, the on-going promotion of process research approaches by scientists and inaction as a rational choice by bureaucratic decision-makers. The latter has plagued the CBM efforts in Nova Scotia. Rarely, even in obvious situations, are decisive and immediate actions made. Excuses for inaction are given on the basis of requiring more research and careful planning. The adaptive management strategy does not allow for decision-makers to hide behind this cloak, and may in fact be one reason that it has had limited success in implementation to date. "Objections provide a rich set of excuses to delay decisive action by those who can profit from, or find protection in, such delays" (Walters 1997). Adaptive management illustrates the divergence between administration and science with regard to their visions of finality. Adaptive management calls for decisions to be made in the context of uncertainty, to be tested and reevaluated as additional information becomes available (Allen 2000) but despite the appeal and logic of adaptive management, success in practice has been limited (McClain and Lee 1996).

Recommendations

There is "... no point in bewailing the philistines; it is ecologists who have the major short-term vested interest in seeing ecology used in decision making, and so it is ecologists who must go the extra mile to enable this input to be heard" (Stafford Smith et al. 1997). No matter how much monitoring we do, we will not change anything if we can not deliver the results to inform choices, decisions, and policies. Information which is timely, integrated and non-confrontational is required to support adaptive management (Vaughan 2005).

More opportunities to participate in integrated watershed and resources management are no doubt required (Sharpe and Conrad 2006) and in order for this to occur, adequate resourcing of ecological monitoring is a necessary first step. Financial and material resources need to be provided to community-based groups, via an established mechanism to provide core support for CBM. There is a need to characterize the information that a spectrum of decision-makers would use and design CBM to deliver it (Vaughn 2005). We need to improve communication and publicize examples, strategies and opportunities to enhance participation in integrated watershed management, where community groups are a meaningful partner in the process.

An adaptive management strategy will not provide the ultimate solution here but has the potential to serve as a useful guide in terms of providing a structured process of learning by doing. Most management plans contain at least passing reference to the need for an adaptive approach and it is therefore a structure which is increasingly being acknowledged by government. Business as usual is no longer an option for sustaining and restoring ecosystems. "We need to shamelessly publicize the outcomes of our commitment to the adaptive management strategy" (Walters 1997).

There is a strong need for further research on political and educational strategies to assist CBM in influencing decision-making. There is a need for creative thinking about how to make management experimentation an irresistible opportunity, rather than a threat (Walters 1997). The challenge remains to discover and define an approach whereby decision-making and sustainable actions are well balanced (Vasseur 2005) and the appropriate level of public participation is involved.

Community-Based Monitoring information intended to inform decision making should be targeted and relevant to problems, accessible and understandable, usable and timely. To be effective, the delivery and communication of CBM information should suggest a course of action, allow decision-makers to weigh consequences, and make those involved feel they are in control of the problem (Pollock et al. 2003). Without doubt, the engagement of politicians and decision-makers is required and, in order for this to unfold, it is likely that broader public interest, engagement and ultimately pressure may be a necessity.

We should exploit models (e.g. NEP) which have at least in part been successful elsewhere and propose models to local and regional governments based on these cases.

For CBM to ultimately be more meaningful, we need to work better from within and make decision-makers better aware of what is being collected and why it is useful, and foremost why we need to act on the results to ensure sustainability. Whichever model is ultimately adopted, there needs to be government support, including both financial resources and meaningful management opportunities.

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