Participatory Monitoring Program Research Articles

Community Political Participation in the Development of a Participatory Supervision Program by the Citizens' Forum of BAWASLU ( The General Election Supervisory Agency) Takalar Regency in the General Elections 2019

This study aims to find out how the involvement of civil society (Civil Society) in the participatory surveillance of the 2019 General Elections in the South Sulawesi Province is specific in the Takalar district. Another goal is to find facts thanks to the development and implementation of participatory surveillance models and forms of civil society involvement in the 2019 general election in Takalar district. This research is qualitative research with a descriptive case study approach. Data in this study uses primary data and secondary data. Data is collected through several methods such as observations, interviews, and library studies. The results of the research showed that this research concluded the development process of the participatory surveillance program through the involvement of the civil society in the Bawaslu district of Takalar from the 7 (seven) dominant participatory monitoring programs through the formation of the Election Awakening Forum which then networked to form the village/environment or village of the election surveiller through three stages, namely a) the stage of socialization; b) the formation stage and c) the development stage, the three processes are implemented in the Bavaslu District of takalar as an effort to enhance the participation of the community involved in performing surveys. At the stage of development of the Model of Participatory Surveillance implemented by making the pilot project of the Village Aware Election and Anti-Political Money in the Village Massamaturu district of Takalar, through the Government of the Municipality of the village Aware Forum of the People's Party and Anti Political Money is estimated through the Village Fund Anggran with the Nomenclature of Socialization and Legal Protection for the community This Program is submitted to the Forum Aware to be further managed and focus on socialization and protection of the community related to the rules and the Election Law. Another finding from the results of this study is that the participatory surveillance development program of Bawaslu is oriented on Prevention through socialization and political-democratic education to society for the realization of integrated and dignified elections.

Estimating the population size of a mountain galliform in the context of multi-stakeholder adaptive management.

We designed a participatory monitoring program for the capercaillie population in the French Pyrenees based on lek censuses conducted during the breeding season. This program was implemented by a consortium of stakeholders interested in the conservation of French galliforms. The program, carried out since 2010, relied on a dual frame sampling approach: The first sampled frame was the list of all known leks in the study area. We distinguished two types of known leks: leks known to be active before the onset of the program (with at least one cock detected since 2000) and leks with an indeterminate activity status at the time of the onset of the program. The monitoring program also accounted for the existence of leks that were unknown due mainly to incomplete expert knowledge. We therefore built a complementary area frame by discretizing the study area into a set of 4-km2 grid cells. These cells were then sampled and searched to find unknown leks. When unknown leks were found, cock censuses were organized. An additional field experiment allowed us to estimate the detection probability of unknown leks during these cell searches. We then fitted two hierarchical models: (i) An N-mixture model fitted to the lek census data set allowed us to estimate the mean number of cocks on the three types of leks (known active, known indeterminate, and unknown leks); and (ii) another model fitted to the cell search data set allowed us to estimate the number of unknown leks in the studied mountain range. By multiplying the estimated mean numbers of cocks associated with the three types of leks by the number of leks of each type (an estimated value in the case of unknown leks), we obtained estimates of the total numbers of cocks on all leks at different spatial scales in the study area every 2years. Our model suggests that the capercaillie cock population was stable from 2010 to 2017 over the whole range but decreased slightly in the foothill area and western part, a decrease that worsened in 2018-2019.

Sedimentation in small-scale irrigation schemes in Ethiopia: Its sources and management

Numerous irrigation schemes in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) exhibit excessive sedimentation, resulting in underperformance and high maintenance costs. In the current study, a participatory monitoring program was used to investigate sediment causes and sources, measure the annual sediment load, and monitor desilting campaigns in two small scale irrigation schemes in Ethiopia, Arata-Chufa (100 ha) and Ketar (430 ha), for three years (2016–2018). Sedimentation quantities were huge, where the annual river sediment influx ranged from 220 m3 for the Arata-Chufa scheme to 1,741 m3 for the Ketar scheme. On average 0.3 m3/m of sediment were removed from the main canal for Arata-Chufa costing 794 days of labor per year. In Ketar, sediment quantities were even greater: 1.1 m3/m was removed requiring 3,118 days of labor per year. The sediment influx from the river source amounts to up to 95% for Arata-Chufa and moderately reaches 46% for Ketar, with the remainder of the sediment entering with overland erosion flows. Farmers reported increased sedimentation over time and difficulty paying operation and maintenance fees instead preferring to contribute labor for the desilting campaigns. Sedimentation management is fragile and mainly involves frequent desilting campaigns and unharmonized efforts to reduce overland sediment inflows. Factors contributing to sediment deposition include mild longitudinal bed slopes, the location of the intake, canal layout, and lack of canal banks for protection against surface water inflow in addition to sub-optimal canal operations. Excessive sedimentation is a major challenge resulting in underperformance of numerous irrigation schemes in SSA, and the stakeholders’ lack of awareness of the sources of sedimentation is an underlying factor aggravating sedimentation problems. It is concluded that investigating the sources, extent, and types of sedimentation entering a small-scale irrigation scheme is the basis for reducing maintenance costs and for effective management of sedimentation problems.

Developing a two‐way learning monitoring program for Mankarr (Greater Bilby) in the Western Desert, Western Australia

SummaryIndigenous people are the custodians of knowledge systems that hold detailed awareness of the environment, including applications for monitoring and management to improve biodiversity and cultural outcomes. Indigenous communities are increasingly participating in programs to monitor populations of wildlife. There is a need for frameworks to guide how Indigenous priorities, aspirations and culture can be respected within monitoring programs, as well as case studies that demonstrate how Indigenous knowledge and practice can provide opportunities together with Western science practice to improve the rigour and outcomes of wildlife monitoring. Here, we describe the process of developing a monitoring program that was tailored to be carried out by Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa Indigenous ranger teams to assess the status, trend and response to the management of a threatened and culturally significant species Mankarr (Greater Bilby; Macrotis lagotis). We applied a collaborative two‐way approach, using iterative consultations, elicitations and field trials involving Indigenous and non‐Indigenous project partners to define monitoring objectives, record biocultural knowledge and tailor a sampling methodology to fit the requirements of Martu Traditional Owners. Our project focused on creating a method that would be engaging, accessible and useful for rangers who would carry out the program, and prioritized collection of relevant data for community decision‐making regarding management. We outline our key learnings for co‐design of wildlife monitoring programs on Indigenous lands. Our approach provides insights that will assist in designing other cross‐cultural or participatory monitoring programs.

Learning from farmers’ experiences with participatory monitoring and evaluation of regenerative agriculture based on visual soil assessment

Participatory action research involving farmers and researchers is crucial to enhance the adoption of farming innovations and ensure the long term sustainability of agroecosystem restoration. However, the factors for successful participatory research for agroecosystem restoration are not always clear and have been rarely evaluated from the perspective of the subjects from whom change is expected. Despite the increasing call for agroecosystem Living Labs, farmers are still seldom involved in structured and shared co-monitoring and co-evaluation of farming innovations as part of participatory monitoring programs. Therefore, we developed a participatory monitoring and evaluation project to evaluate the impacts of regenerative agriculture between farmers and researchers in the Mediterranean drylands of Spain. Here we present and evaluate the project outcomes by reporting farmers’ monitoring results using a co-developed visual soil assessment (VSA) manual, and by documenting farmers’ evaluation of the VSA and other key aspects of the participatory monitoring and evaluation in the third year since the beginning of the project. Farmers’ VSA results pointed out regenerative agriculture as a promising solution to restore degraded agroecosystems in Mediterranean drylands with insights that are complementary to the scientific monitoring. Farmers’ evaluation of the participatory monitoring process revealed the need to enhance farmers’ support for implementation of VSA tools in initial stages, and to include farmers in the design of VSA tools to adjust them to farmers’ priorities, possibilities and needs. Farmers highlighted the importance of the participatory monitoring and evaluation process to enhance knowledge exchange, learning, and capacity building regarding soil quality management to adapt and adopt regenerative agriculture. Our results confirm that including farmers in the design, decision-making and evaluation of research projects for agroecosystem restoration is imperative to enhance efficient, sound and inclusive transitions towards long term sustainable agroecosystems.

Landscape floral resources provided by rapeseed correlate with next-year reproduction of cavity-nesting pollinators in a national participatory monitoring program

ContextWild pollinators depend on floral resources available in the landscape, partly provided by mass flowering crops (MFCs), such as rapeseed or sunflower. MFCs are however often grown conventionally, implying insecticide use, with potential negative effects on pollinators.ObjectivesTo understand whether and to what extent these crops could contribute to the maintenance of pollinator populations, we investigated the inter-annual correlation between MFC resources and the reproduction of cavity-nesting pollinators (solitary bees and wasps) at a national scale.MethodsWe studied a standardized citizen science dataset, in which farmers collected data on the abundance of sealed tubes in trap nests, between 2012 and 2017, in nearly 600 fields distributed across France. We modelled the relation between nesting and landscape resources of the current and previous year, taking local farming practices into account.ResultsPollinator nesting was positively correlated with the quantity of rapeseed floral resources the year preceding observations, as well as with the area of permanent meadows. On the contrary, we found more variable relations with sunflower floral resources, depending on the type of sealing material, hence likely on the phenology of pollinators. Our models also confirm that local practices should be accounted for when assessing the influence of the landscape context, although their effects were difficult to interpret.ConclusionsSolitary bee and wasp reproduction is likely to be positively and durably affected by rapeseed cover. Moderate areas of rapeseed may help maintain pollinators, in combination with semi-natural habitats, which provide more diverse and stable food and nesting sites.

Data from: Landscape floral resources provided by rapeseed correlate with next-year reproduction of cavity-nesting pollinators in a national participatory monitoring program

Data from: Landscape floral resources provided by rapeseed correlate with next-year reproduction of cavity-nesting pollinators in a national participatory monitoring program

Participatory monitoring of small-scale coastal fisheries in South America: use of fishers’ knowledge and factors affecting participation

Participatory approaches to fisheries management are gaining increasing support from researchers, non-governmental organizations, and governments in Latin America, and different forms of participatory monitoring have been implemented over the last few decades. Among several advantages, these initiatives allow incorporation of fishers’ knowledge on ecology, fishing practices, social aspects, markets, regulations, into different stages of management. In this paper, we analyze key features of participatory monitoring programs in small-scale coastal fisheries in South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay) through a literature review complemented by expert opinion. Our review considered the fisheries and variables monitored; objectives, duration, institutional context of the monitoring programs; and factors that affect the extent of fishers’ participation and the incorporation of fishers’ knowledge. We found 14 case studies described in the literature, most of which correspond to benthic fisheries. Most cases focused on ecological and/or catch and effort variables; few initiatives included social variables. Initiatives were mainly driven by researchers in partnership with fishers and other stakeholders under formal or informal institutional arrangements. Institutional arrangements were largely responsible for the effectiveness of participation. In most cases, fishers’ participation in monitoring was fostered as a component of a broader participatory co-management approach. Despite the challenges, participatory monitoring approaches are gaining traction in South America, receiving significant support from researchers in most cases, and from nongovernmental organizations in some cases. Increased governmental support for implementing and sustaining long-lasting participatory monitoring programs would strengthen monitoring initiatives that emerge locally.

Jaguar in the Tepalcatepec basin in central-western Michoacán, México

The international conservation status of the jaguar (Panthera onca) is Near Threatened, reason to seek priority regions for its conservation. Both national and international geographical distribution models assume that in the Mexican Pacific slope, the jaguar is present from Sonora to Chiapas and constitute a single subpopulation. However, the possible connectivity routes between different distributional areas in the Pacific region of Mexico, are still unknown. In August 2015, it was initiated a community participatory monitoring program in the southwest of the municipality of Tocumbo, Michoacan, in the Tepalcatepec basin. Exploratory sampling consisted of the opportunistic placement of five Cuddeback X-Change camera traps on tracks and roads where inhabitants of the area had identified wildlife activity. The cameras were placed at a distance of between 200 and 1,000 m. With a sampling effort of 1,200 days/camera, on January 5th, 2017 three photographs of a jaguar were obtained at 00:52 h. The record site is a dirt trail located 3.5 km from the state limit with Jalisco, on the edges of an agricultural area surrounded by tropical dry deciduous forest at an elevation of 1,287 masl. In addition, potential prey such as white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), collared peccary (Dicotyles angulatus), coati (Nasua narica), and predators competitors such as puma (Puma concolor) and coyote (Canis latrans) were recorded. The jaguar presence in the Tepalcatepec river basin provides valuable baseline information in two aspects. It incorporates an alternative and suitable route with validating a contact area between Jalisco and Michoacan for the mobility of jaguars. In addition, is supporting evidence for the hypothesis that the state contain key regions for the design of a viable conservation corridor on the central Pacific for the jaguar. Knowing in which areas the jaguars maintain activity facilitates the design of more accurate distribution models and potential corridors for Michoacan and neighboring states. Therefore, survey efforts should continue in these regions, where flora and fauna assemblages include several endangered species.

Improving stock assessment and management advice for data-poor small-scale fisheries through participatory monitoring

Undetected but underlying biases in model parameterization strongly reduce the reliability and value of assessments of data-poor fisheries. We explore the effects of missing and misunderstood data on single-species stock assessments used to provide management advice. From 2006 to 2014, the Colombian government monitored landings of small-scale fisheries. During the same period, communities implemented a participatory monitoring program in the Central Guajira region. We found that the two data sources gave different results for the population status of the highest-valued fish, lane snapper (Lutjanus synagris), and the largest-landed species, white grunt (Haemulon plumierii). Recordings of landing points by the government monitoring program led to year-to-year underestimations and therefore misconceptions regarding population status and fishery trends. Overexploited and underexploited population statuses were seen to arise from the same fishing pressure as a result of the interplay between natural mortality and erroneous estimates of fishing mortality. The tested von Bertalanffy growth parameters affected the exploitation level, but not the population status, of the species. When data from the participatory monitoring program were incorporated, higher landings and a more severe overfishing trend emerged for both species. The management scenarios simulated using the best verified data available provided reasonable advice for recovering the lane snapper and white grunt populations. Furthermore, simulation of management measures sustained the employment and incomes of fishers. Our findings indicate that participatory monitoring should be incorporated into the assessment and management of data-poor resources.

Rapid survey protocol that provides dynamic information on reef condition to managers of the Great Barrier Reef.

Managing to support coral reef resilience as the climate changes requires strategic and responsive actions that reduce anthropogenic stress. Managers can only target and tailor these actions if they regularly receive information on system condition and impact severity. In large coral reef areas like the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park (GBRMP), acquiring condition and impact data with good spatial and temporal coverage requires using a large network of observers. Here, we describe the result of ~10years of evolving and refining participatory monitoring programs used in the GBR that have rangers, tourism operators and members of the public as observers. Participants complete Reef Health and Impact Surveys (RHIS) using a protocol that meets coral reef managers' needs for up-to-date information on the following: benthic community composition, reef condition and impacts including coral diseases, damage, predation and the presence of rubbish. Training programs ensure that the information gathered is sufficiently precise to inform management decisions. Participants regularly report because the demands of the survey methodology have been matched to their time availability. Undertaking the RHIS protocol we describe involves three ~20min surveys at each site. Participants enter data into an online data management system that can create reports for managers and participants within minutes of data being submitted. Since 2009, 211 participants have completed a total of more than 10,415 surveys at more than 625 different reefs. The two-way exchange of information between managers and participants increases the capacity to manage reefs adaptively, meets education and outreach objectives and can increase stewardship. The general approach used and the survey methodology are both sufficiently adaptable to be used in all reef regions.

Tackling the motivation to monitor: success and sustainability of a participatory monitoring program

Singh, N. J., K. Danell, L. Edenius, and G. Ericsson. 2014. Tackling the motivation to monitor: success and sustainability of a participatory monitoring program. Ecology and Society 19(4): 7. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-06665-190407

Measures against an invasive alien species, Bombus terrestris, using a participatory monitoring program involving continuous : participation and information transmission

Measures against an invasive alien species, Bombus terrestris, using a participatory monitoring program involving continuous : participation and information transmission

Citizen involvement in sustainability-centred environmental assessment follow-up

In Canada, many project proponents and planners in the public and private sectors are required to forecast and minimize the adverse environmental effects of their undertakings. However, environmental assessments have traditionally been weak in the areas of planning and conducting effective monitoring, encouraging public participation, integrating social and ecological considerations, encouraging environmental rehabilitation and enhancement, and examining cumulative effects of multiple projects. This paper attempts to address these deficiencies together by drawing from theory and practice in citizen-based monitoring, in the interests of sustainable livelihoods, using local knowledge. Informed by case study research in several regions of Canada, the discussion focuses on opportunities for using citizen-based approaches to broad and continuing regional monitoring as a foundation for the project-centred work that is the usual concern of environmental assessment follow-up. Such approaches have advantages beyond the usual expectations of project-centred monitoring and beyond the conventional arguments for increasing local involvement in environmental assessments. However, there are also challenges including those of integrating local and conventional (or scientific) knowledge systems, addressing concerns about the credibility and biases of citizens and project proponents, ensuring attention to broader sustainability goals such as increased stewardship and civility, and developing practical ways of coordinating and funding integrated and participatory monitoring programs. The concluding recommendations call for a dramatically different approach to follow-up activities on the part of private and public project proponents, as well as novel thinking for environmental assessment practitioners.