Improving the effectiveness of protected area management using the SMART approach

Julie Larsen Maher | WCS

Antony J. Lynam, Rich Bergl, and Drew T. CroninAIT August 2018

Globally, only 24% of protected areas are considered to have ‘sound’ management. Most protected areas have

inadequate or highly deficient management.

Are resources for reducing threats being used effectively?

National Authoritiesmore efficient deployment of resources

Frontline Conservation Staffmore effective protection

Protected Area Managersmore effective coordination

Immediate need: improved protection of wildlife in PAs

Increasing demand for wildlife products locally

& globally

Increasingly well-financed, organized, and connected

wildlife crime

Limited resources for conservation

Julie Larsen Maher | WCS

The Evolving Context

Goal: Effective protected area management

SMART Approach

Rigorous standards

Capacity building &

support

Effective software

tools

Rigorousstandards

Capacity building &

support

The SMART Partnership

> 600 sites12 nationalmandates

≥ 55 countries

Global SMART Adoption across sites and countries

- Measuring & improving patrol effectiveness, quality, & management

- Promoting accountability and good governance

- Standardized reporting of indicators on poaching and other threats

The Initial Role of SMART

Ola Jennersten | WWF-Sweden

WWF | James Morgan

SMART & Adaptive Management

• Relational database with powerful query and summary functions • Easy data entry and integration with GPS and mobile devices• Built-in mapping and spatial analysis ability linked to queries• Automated analysis and report generation• Straightforward information sharing

Basic Features of the Software

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Implementing SMART to conserve big cats

● 100+ tiger sites globally● Russian Far East

○ Increased patrol effort○ Reduction in threats to tigers○ Increased or stable tiger

populations● Royal Manas National Park, Bhutan

○ 2x tiger populations● Parsa National Park, Nepal

○ More than 2x patrol effort in less than 1 year

○ 90% reduction of illegal activity● Also Bangladesh, China, Lao,

Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia

Balahala, Thailand – Malaysia border 1998

- Reported improvements in ranger motivation

- Doubled patrol coverage over 7 years

- Identification of hunting hotspots

- Major drop in hunting indicators

WCS Nigeria

2009 2015

Saving Nigeria’s gorillas via improved LEM

- Empowered limited literacy rangers via icons-based reporting

- Motivation: ranger teams now competing to meet targets

- Increased patrol coverage and rate of patrols by 4x

- 3x number of cases of illegal activity detected, and 2x arrests

- 74% decrease in poaching

- 67% fewer retaliatory hunts

- 0 wildlife poisonings in 2017Chris Gordon | ZSL

Implementing SMART in a Community Conservancy

SMART operating procedures for the Sundarbans Mangrove Forest, Bangladesh

• Supports tigers, freshwater dolphins, vultures, crocodiles

• Very challenging environment (tidal mangroves, pirates, boat access only)

• Patrolling under SMART since 2015

• Intensive training of patrol leaders and frontline staff (187 trained)

• SMART operating procedures implemented as govt order

• Encouraged by initial results, govt is paying for first year of SMART patrols

SMART Connect

SMART Connect: An Example

- 3,000 data collectors across 7,000 islands

- Seamless aggregation of patrol data from over 220 sites across provincial, regional & national levels

- Faster & more effective -> Improved decision making

‘Connected’ forest protection with SMART in the Philippines

USAID | B+WISER

SMART Evolution: From App to Platform

SMART Broader Support

@SMARTCnsvTools

SMART Partnership

info@smartconservationsoftware.org

smartconservationtools.org

Mileniusz Spanowicz | SERNAP

Questions and More Information

tlynam@wcs.org