Narrative-Based-Indicators to evaluate co-management effectiveness
Methods that link how ecological, social-economic and cultural values inform conservation planing and management are a critical albeit under-researched issue. Participatory adaptive approaches are needed, particularly in areas under Indigenous co-operative management arrangements that have significant values that Indigenous, national and international communities wish to protect. This paper outlines a Narrative-Based-Indicator (NBI) approach developed to aid Indigenous people to direct and assess a co-managed feral animal operation undertaken in Northern Australia. Three feral animal management target areas were chosen by Indigenous Elders in a region that Indigenous Traditional Owners and Park Managers agreed needed urgent feral animal management attention. Indigenous Elders were involved in the assessment of these target areas prior to and after the feral animal control operation was undertaken. This assessment involved Elders walking along three transects and verbally identifying 1) Health of Country indicators that reflected observed current threats or pressures to agreed target areas, and 2) Managing for Country indicators to describe and monitor performance of the co- management response. Narrative Based Indicators developed were not scientifically defensible and need to be co-ordinated with other monitoring and reporting efforts. Yet pragmatic and cross-cultural dimensions of this evaluation did inform defensible and negotiated co-management goals and actions. The application and selection of NBIs also highlights how Indigenous conservation decisions and evaluations are often shaped by observed improvement of multiple values, including those values associated with healthy ecosystems and healthy co-management partnerships.