What is Management Effectiveness?

As marine protected areas (MPAs) and Other Effective Conservation Measures (OECMs), such as Locally Managed Areas, are established globally, there is an increasing recognition among decision-makers that it is necessary to focus on “management effectiveness” versus just “establishment” of protected areas. 

But what does management effectiveness mean? Put simply, an effectively managed MPA/OECM is one that achieves its objectives. 

A common definition (Hockings et. al., 2006) for management effectiveness of protected areas includes 3 components:

• Is the protected area achieving its objectives (conservation and socio-economic)?

  • E.g., are key species surviving, recovering or declining; attitudes of communities towards the protected area

• Is the protected area designed to be effective?

  • E.g., size and shape of individual protected areas; links between protected area networks; ecological representation; and appropriateness of zoning and rules to achieve site objectives 

• Are the management systems and processes adequate and appropriate?

  • E.g., are there enough staff, are they skilled, is the budget sufficient, etc.

There are examples of effectively managed MPAs that are accomplishing their objectives. However, less than 3% of MPAs globally are effectively managed, prompting a renewed focus on management effectiveness.. The term “paper park” refers to sites that have been designated in law (or customary equivalent) but that, after a period of time, show no progress of achieving their objectives, therefore, implying protection is “on paper” only. 

Why are some MPAs achieving their objectives and others are not? 

Many factors influence whether an MPA achieves its objectives. These include:

• lack of staff capacity or resources

• staff may lack the ability to monitor and adapt to changes

• challenges due to governance structures (e.g. lack of political will to fund management, lack of a clear mandate to manage or enforce a site)

Understanding and assessing these critical factors at your site can provide insights on strengths, challenges and gaps that may need to be addressed to improve the effectiveness of your MPA. No matter how well an MPA is making progress towards its objectives, assessing and learning about key components of management effectiveness can lead to improvements through adaptive management.

How well a site is managed – i.e., or “protected area management effectiveness” (PAME), depends on how well planning and management decisions are driven by the purpose and objectives of the site. These decisions include determining if an MPA is the right tool, site selection, appropriate size, planning priorities, designing zones and rules, and deciding on indicators for tracking success. They also require a clear understanding of the purpose and objectives (ecological, socio-economic, and cultural) that you are trying to achieve. For this reason, many components of management effectiveness ask you to refer to your objectives in each step of the management cycle to ensure they are aligned. 

Management effectiveness is often misunderstood. Some think it only applies to operational management (i.e., whether there is adequate funding and staff capacity). Others think it only applies to “conservation outcomes” and therefore only applicable during the final stages of the Management Cycle (e.g., Evaluation stage). However, it is necessary to consider management effectiveness throughout the entire management cycle to ensure that key components are considered and implemented. For new sites, this ensures they are designed to be effective. For existing sites, it helps clarify what is and is not working and what changes are needed to meet desired objectives.

There is no wrong time to consider management effectiveness. Exploring management effectiveness should not be thought of as more work for planners and managers in addition to their other responsibilities. We encourage you to consider a new way of doing business where management effectiveness (or effective management) guides day-to-day activities. Managers should ask “Are we using our resources (staff, money) to take the actions that will provide us with the highest likelihood of achieving our objectives?”