building protected area stewardship in an era of complexity and messiness

Protected Areas … Special Places …

Key Values

Biodiversity

Cultural

Heritage

Spirituality

Scenery

Recreation …

and Fun

This is what Planning is all

about …

This is what We are all about

So, how do we protect these places?

But, given all the changes the world

is experiencing …

Given all the pressures of

population and consumption …

Given all the conflicting demands for

ecosystem services …

Protected areas don’t protect

themselves

How we go about developing

plans for protection impacts the

effectiveness of our plans

Building Protected Area Stewardship in an

Era of Complexity and Messiness

STEPHEN MCCOOL

THE UNIVERSITY OF MONTANA

MISSOULA, MONTANA

Þjóðgarðastjórnun – Gildi þekkingar og

menntunar

11 October 2010

Presentation Goals

Discuss the global forces affecting protected

areas and their impacts on planning

Identify a new paradigm for protected area

planning

Suggest a way forward

Global Forces Create

Change, Complexity and Uncertainty

Population Dynamics

Technology

Governance Public Values Decision

Making Economic Restructuring

Increasing Contentiousness Higher Stakes Growing

Scrutiny Greater

Accountability

Climate Change

Muliplying Volatility

The Practical Implications

Resource Scarcity

Increased Uncertainty

Emergent Complexity

Growing and Diversifying Expectations

Planning as Management of Competing

Demands

Great Opportunities

An Abbreviated History of

Protected Area Planning

A short journey to understand the challenges

confronting protected area planning

Lessons of the past are the keys to the future

Three Waves of Planning

Each makes assumptions about the world,

planning purposes and functions

Each represents a different paradigm

Each wave represents a response to

dissatisfaction with earlier waves

And later planning waves incorporate good

ideas from earlier waves

First Wave Planning

Application of technical expertise

Take politics out of planning

Procedurally oriented

Societal agreement on goals

Scientific agreement on cause-effects

Second Wave Planning

Recognition of Connectedness

Ecosystem Management

Pre-eminence of Science

Compartmentalization of Planning and

Management

Development of Third Wave Planning

Global forces stretch 2nd wave planning

How to deal with uncertainty, surprises,

changing expectations all at once

Must Rethink the Whole

Notion of Planning

What is Protected Area Planning

All About?

Framing the problem or issue parks are

confronted with

Developing and assessing responses to these

problems

Implementing actions

Planning is all about changing the future

Thus,

Planning must

Create opportunities for learning

Work to build consensus

Use science to inform rather than direct

Thus, protected area planning in the Third

Wave is adaptive, inclusive, emphasizing

learning and consensus building that provide

a basis for societal action

Third Wave Planning

Recognition that challenges are “wicked” Confusion/conflict over goals

Little science at scales of interest

Planning problems are “messy” Problems are connected

Scientific disagreement

“facts are uncertain, values in dispute, stakes high, and decisions urgent”

Hard science and soft value judgments are replaced with hard policy decisions made with little science available

The Four Practices of Planning

Planning as Building Technical Proficiencies

Planning as Organizational Learning

Planning as Constructing Public Interests

Planning as the Application of Knowledge

These Practices are Integrated

Which Way Forward?

To Build the Starship, We Need to …

Frame parks as integral components of social-

ecological systems

Practice management as learning; build new

institutions

Develop learning platforms to enhance

competencies

Frame parks as integral components of

social-ecological systems

Recognize global and local forces

Recognize interaction with people

Understand that parks/protected areas provide

benefits to people

Use systems thinking

Practice Management as Learning;

Build New Institutions

Monitoring and evaluation play critical roles

Adaptive management not just a matter of

adding a new checkbox to the list

Management encourages a culture of

Curiosity

Reflection

Critical thinking

Develop Learning Platforms to

Enhance Competencies

Academic research and instruction

Continuing education based on adult learning principles

Develop community of practice

Sites

Universities

NGOs

Consultancies

Develop confidence

Conclusion

What we did in the past is no longer adequate

Must change our mental model of planning

View planning more holistically and

strategically

Need cadres of managers with professional

competencies

Develop opportunities for learning

Thank You

Steve.McCool@CFC.UMT.EDU