Abstract
This paper examines the application of information technology to project management in the context of the implementation of management plans for protected areas which now cover some 20% of the land surface of developed countries. CMS, an ‘off the shelf’ system intended for use on any conservation site, is compared with PMIS, an organizationally based bespoke system in which site and property management was merely one aspect of an integrated IT system encompassing virtually every function of a large organization, the National Trust. CMS was conceived “bottom up” as a modest experiment by site managers to solve their immediate problems of project control, has been highly successful to date and is in use in over 350 sites within the UK as well as in a number of other countries. PMIS, initiated ‘top down’ as probably the most ambitious attempt to date of any conservation organization to computerize its activities has failed to fulfil early hopes, proving unwieldy and expensive and development was curtailed in late 1995. The implications for protected area and conservation site project management are considerable. Small may not be particularly beautiful but is currently the only available option for those who need a working project management system. In the long term however the choice between ‘off the shelf’ PC-based software and the development of a networked bespoke system will be an increasingly difficult one, particularly for large land managing conservation organizations.
Highlights
Introduction: protected areas and management planning Protected areas are parts of the planet's surface with de jure or de facto protection from development or from other activities likely to damage their wildlife, ecological processes, archaeological resources or landscape
There are currently more than 8,500 statutorily designated sites which correspond to internationally recognised categories, distributed across 170 countries and covering almost 775 million hectares, equivalent to over 5% of the planet's land surface (1) A similar area again is covered by 'landscape' areas or non-statutorily designated sites such as voluntary reserves which lack the strict protection required for international recognition but where planning designations or ownership restrict the potential for major development
'Just as there is no single approach to the establishment of protected landscapes, so there is no single approach to management planning' (3)
Summary
NOTICE: this is the author’s version of a work that was accepted for publication in the International Journal of Project Management. Changes may have been made to this work since it was submitted for publication. A definitive version was subsequently published in International Journal of Project Management, 15 (4). The WestminsterResearch online digital archive at the University of Westminster aims to make the research output of the University available to a wider audience. Users are permitted to download and/or print one copy for non-commercial private study or research. Further distribution and any use of material from within this archive for profit-making enterprises or for commercial gain is strictly forbidden. Whilst further distribution of specific materials from within this archive is forbidden, you may freely distribute the URL of WestminsterResearch: (http://westminsterresearch.wmin.ac.uk/)
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