Since the management of the environment is, by definition, a
social and political process, it stands to reason that responses
to environmental problems must focus at least in part on
questions of human behaviour.
Better marine conservation outcomes from a little cross-boundary collaboration Key messages: Decisions around marine conservation can be substantially influenced by whether they cross international and political boundaries. Taking this into account, it is important to understand the challenges, opportunities and constraints involved in conservation collaborations. Collaboration can occur at a variety of spatial scales (regions, […]
Achieving better outcomes from environmental policy is more than just good science Key messages: Decision science is only one of many factors that may be relevant in the environmental-policy process. Decision science has enormous potential to make policies more effective at delivering outcomes that are highly valued by the community. There are a number of […]
Good decisions for the environment need an eye on the longer term Key messages: Long-term monitoring provides essential evidence on which to base good environmental decisions. Good design is essential for effective long-term monitoring. Things change over time; to remain effective, long-term monitoring needs to adapt around these changes. Partnerships are crucial for ensuring long-term […]
Good decisions produce results AND help you learn Key messages: Ecological problems are poorly understood, but often require immediate management action. Adaptive management allows action to be taken immediately, and also helps learning. Though commonly cited, true adaptive management is rarely applied. Changing management because of ongoing monitoring at management sites is not adaptive management. […]
Decision Point was established in 2008 by the Applied Environmental Decision Analysis Hub (AEDA: 2007-2010, through funding from the Commonwealth Environment Research Facility), the decision science network that preceded CEED. The magazine was also co-funded by the National Environmental Research Program Environmental Decisions Hub (NERP ED: 2011-2015). Over its life-time, CEED has been the major […]
Does more data necessarily lead to better outcomes? Key messages: Collecting more data is often used as an excuse to delay a decision. Sometimes new data is important to a decision, sometimes it won’t affect it. Value of information (VoI) analysis can assist decision makers assess the value of collecting more information. VoI analysis was […]
Why bother? How is it done? Key messages: Prioritisation is unavoidable; most environmental programs have too few resources to meet their goals. Given the great variation between potential environmental investments, good prioritisation is critically important. In most cases, good prioritisation of environmental investments is reasonably easy to apply. In some cases, prioritisation is more complex […]
The role of ecological understanding, models & model makers in decision making Key messages: System models can provide explicit representations of how an ecosystem functions. In the context of making decisions, this allows a manager to explore the impacts of management actions on the key values (objectives) at hand. Models are sometimes developed in response […]
Helping decision makers frame, analyze, and implement decisions Managers, policy makers, and decision makers with responsibility for environmental decisions have an extraordinarily difficult job. The systems they manage are complex (coupled human-natural systems), with many dimensions and complicated dynamics. Our knowledge of how those systems respond to management actions is often limited, so many of […]
And one final bumper issue of Decision Point All good things come to an end. The challenge is to learn from our investments (our choices and decisions), savour the good bits, learn from the not-so-good bits, and move on. As 2018 closes, so does CEED. We’ve come to the end of our funding but we […]
What’s a good decision for the environment? Is it: More funding for biodiversity conservation? a new national park being declared? a threatened species being declared a state emblem to give it a higher profile? or a program to pay farmers for good environmental stewardship? All of these proposals would be sold by the government (or […]