Subnational | PANORAMA

Camera layout and data collection

Combined with the geographic feature of the reserve, seasonal characteristics, community distribution, and the key natural resources, field workers set up monitoring sites on the main roads and ravine mouths in the area, and use the “two bright and one dark” method for camera deployment, that is, the two cameras consider the lens orientation, distance, and quality of images to ensure that clear pictures or videos of the front of the entrant are taken without leaving dead spots in the blind zone, and the third camera focuses on the safety of the first two cameras, placed in a high covert and not easy to be found location, and the visual field must include the first two infrared cameras to prevent malicious damage to the monitoring equipment, otherwise, the data will be lost.

The first one is that the camera installer is proficient in infrared camera layout skills, the second is that the camera placement site can be selected properly, the third is that the work plan is combined with the actual situation, and the fourth is the corresponding reward and punishment mechanism.

First, the parameters, the orientation, and the height of the camera must be correct to reduce the number of invalid photos. Second, the camera must be located at an appropriately concealed area to reduce the camera loss rate.

Promotion of public awareness

Since 2006, more than 100 research papers on the Golden Snub-nosed Monkey have been published in academic journals, 30 papers were included in the Scientific Citation Index, and 2 papers were published in the Nature. Five national patents have been acquired, six books have been published, and three achievements have won the provincial award for progress in science and technology.

Every year more than 5,000 university students and researchers visit the Research Base for practice or research. Exhibition centers were built to display images, materials, popular science articles and live video of the species so that visitors can see the monkeys without disturbing them. The species was listed in the Top 10 Animals in the News in 2009, many photos have won domestic and international photography awards, famous documentaries have taken shots in Shennongjia, and dozens of major media companies have released stories of the species.

The locals are now well aware of the importance of the species and human activities threatening the habitat greatly reduced, many locals and visitors have become volunteers, and donations have been received for the conservation of the species. The population of the species and the area of its habitat have significantly increased.

Publishing research achievements to promote the species and its conservation, inviting media to tell the stories, and use the research achievements for popular science education, to promote the public awareness on the species and its conservation.

1. Research achievements needs to be transformed into easy-to-understand popular science education materials.

2. The research base should not be open to general tourists. Only researchers, study-tour groups and media staff are allowed to enter the base after disinfection. All visitors should wear disinfected outfit and stay on the trail to keep distance with the monkeys.

3. Visitors whom the monkeys in the base are not familiar with are not allowed to touch the monkeys.

4. The number of visitors must be controlled and they must be required to keep quiet so that the monkeys won't be frightened.

Protection and development: dealing with conflicts between human and land correctly and laying the foundation of sustainable development

In Qianjiangyuan National Park, a scientific research activity with the theme of “impact of carbon reservoir and carbon flux on subtropical climate change” was conducted by Operation Earth

Qianjiangyuan National Park Administration

Volunteer activity in Qianjiangyuan National Park with the theme of “caring for wildlife and maintaining ecological balance”

Qianjiangyuan National Park Administration

(1) Establishing ecological corridor to strengthen important habitats connectivity

The construction of ecological corridors strengthen the connectivity between different patches in the Park, and promote the diffusion of animals and gene exchange.

(2) Expanding effective habitat area by ecological restoration

The preparation of The Special Plan for Ecological Restoration has realized comprehensive evaluation of the vegetation status and identified the main areas that need ecological restoration in the Park.

(3) Reintroducing large carnivores for a complete food chain

In the future, reintroduction of large predators to reconstruct the integrity of the food chain will improve the ecosystem stability in the Park due to the increase or surplus of herbivores.

(4) Establishing compensation methods to promote ecological migration

The compensation policy for ecological migration actively encourages the residents living in scattered villages to move to towns or counties nearby and effectively enhances the effect of ecological protection.

(5) Conservation and community development coordination

The public participation mechanism has mobilized the enthusiasm of residents in the Park, and through information sharing, employment, etc, local residents' sense of belonging and honor has been cultivated.

The culture of the natural environment is respected in the Park, such as "kill pigs and ban fishing," "kill pigs and seal mountains," "Gutian Seedling Protection Festival," and other simple environmental protection concepts and custom cultures such as Fengshui forest, famous ancient trees and other traditional forms of protection.

The construction of the national park provides favorable conditions for community residents to develop the private economy and obtain business income.

At present, the education level of most community residents in the Park is not high, about 30% of them are in junior high school or below, so cultural education and employment management of residents need to be strengthened.

Article: Evaluation of the spatial characteristics of farmer livelihood assets (in Chinese with English Abstract)

Article: Evaluating the effectiveness of functional zones for black muntjac protection (in Chinese with English Abstract)

Scientific research monitoring: building biodiversity monitoring system to help scientific protection and effective management

An infrared trigger camera in a forest dynamic plot

Qianjiangyuan National Park Administration

An Asian black bear (Selenarctos thibetanus) in Qianjiangyuan National Park

Qianjiangyuan National Park Administration

One of the main forest types in Qianjiangyuan National Park - old-growth forest of Castanopsis eyrei

Qianjiangyuan National Park Administration

Forest canopy tower crane biodiversity monitoring platform in Qianjiangyuan National Park

Qianjiangyuan National Park Administration

(1) Integrated Space-Air-Ground biodiversity monitoring system

Space: used satellite remote sensing image to carry out multi-temporal image remote sensing monitoring in the Park, cross-provincial cooperation area and franchise area, and used ground and near-surface remote sensing data to interpret satellite remote sensing image.

Air: used aerial photography with Lidar, CCD high-resolution camera, and hyperspectral image to obtain the near ground remote sensing image of the whole Park.

Ground: established nearly 800 forest plots and set up 507 infrared cameras to carry out grid-level monitoring, covering the whole Park.

(2) Establishment of National Park Research Institute

To promote the construction in a scientific way, the Park will set up a National Park Research Institute, which will provide support for the scientific, accurate and intelligent construction and management of biodiversity protection in the Park.

(3) Building "Smart National Park"

By utilizing advanced technologies such as remote sensing, big data cloud computing and artificial intelligence, a big data cloud service platform for the Park has been formed. By combining mobile phone terminals with Internet technology, a comprehensive management and service platform for smart national park has been built.

The Park worked together to conduct biodiversity research, public scientific education and practice with domestic and foreign scientific research institutions (Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhejiang University, Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Aarhus University, etc), and international environmental organizations (WWF, IUCN, etc).

Ministry of Science and Technology of China, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Zhejiang Province, and other government departments have provided rich financial support.

At present, people's understanding of the long-term dynamic process of ecosystem is quite limited. The long-term monitoring and research on the typical ecosystems in the national park will deepen people's understanding of these ecosystems, optimize and update the objectives and strategies of national park protection.

Article: Seasonal variation in the distribution of Elliot’s pheasant in Gutianshan (in Chinese with English Abstract)

National

Article: Evaluation of ecosystem service value based on land use scenarios in Qianjiangyuan (in Chinese with English Abstract)

Article: Diversity and composition of birds in the Qianjiangyuan National Park pilot (in Chinese with English Abstract)

Good management: innovation of system and mechanism for realizing authenticity and integrity protection

The framework agreement on scientific and technological cooperation was signed by Qianjiangyuan National Park Administration and Institute of Botany, the Chinese Academy of Sciences

Qianjiangyuan National Park Administration

The environmental resources and tourism circuit division of Kaihua County people's court is publicly hearing a case concerning the destruction of forest resources

Qianjiangyuan National Park Administration

(1) Exploring the innovation system of easement reform and the diversified land management and utilization modes

According to the actual situation of different ownership of collective land, the Park studied and formulated different management methods of forest land, farmland, homestead, and water area in the Park and explored the land use modes of diversified land management in different functional areas.

(2) Realizing ecosystem integrity protection through cooperative protection

The criterion for regional cooperation protection is to protect the authenticity, representativeness, and integrity of the ecosystem and takes into account the area suitability and management feasibility.

(3) Optimizing functional zone division and implementing differentiated management

The current functional zone division is reasonable in the Park. On this basis, it can be further optimized and improved. For example, improvement of the proportion of core reserves and implementation of differentiated management.

(4) Formulating Regulations of Qianjiangyuan National Park

To regulate all activities and to protect the authenticity and integrity of the natural ecosystem, Regulations of Qianjiangyuan National Park has been preliminarily formulated according to China’s relevant laws and the Park’s actual situation.

The basis for multi-level cooperation between governments at all levels in the past.

The Forestry Department of Zhejiang Province is the leading department of easement reform.

Qianjiangyuan National Park has carried out the work of confirming the right of natural resources assets, entrusted scientific research departments to conduct the research on the mode of easement system, formulated technical standards of easement system, and formed the implementation plan and management method of easement operation at the village level.

Firstly, present confirmation of natural resource assets is mainly promoted at the national and provincial levels, and the Park is not an independent natural resource registration unit. The final results of the confirmation of natural resource assets have yet to be tested.

Secondly, there is a gap in the cognition of the national park in different regions, so differences in the demands of "rights, responsibilities and benefits" in cross-regional protection could lead to different intents of cross-provincial cooperation management.

Thirdly, there is a lack of successful experience for cross regional protection cooperation.

Article: Conservation easement-inspired adaptive management methods for protected area (in Chinese with English abstract)

Article: Cross-border governance system construction of Qianjiangyuan National Park pilot (in Chinese with English Abstract)

Core funding secured

Ohrid Visitor Centre, Galicica National Park, North Macedonia

Valerio Vincenzo

Improved operational planning enables the PA managers clearly define their capacity gaps and most critical resource requirements for effective implementation of the activities. PONT’s long-term co-financing enables the PA managers in WPA to recruit new staff and deploy resources to sustain their core management functions. Using the budget Template developed by PONT, PA managers develop a detailed budget for each action that is broken down into 5 cost categories: staff costs; consultants; equipment and infrastructure; travel, meeting, and training costs; and consumables, operating and other costs. PONT co-financing amounts up to 50% of the total annual budget and is used for covering both recurrent and non-recurrent cost related to the core management operations, except for procurement of equipment and construction of new infrastructure exceeding 20,000 EUR

The PONT budget Template helps PA managers combine effectively PONT’s co-financing with funding from the government or the revenue they generate, as well as projects implemented by conservation NGOs or international donors and agencies.

Lack of detailed data on PA management costs hamper effective conservation planning and management. PAs in the WPA lack systems in place that connect financial data with the on-ground conservation actions. Financial information is commonly managed for the purposes of meeting national financial reporting requirements, that are general in nature, rather than management. The annual budget using PONT’s template is organized in a way that permits costs aggregation and analysis by results that are in turn linked to management objectives. This also informs the operational planning in the subsequent management cycle and helps identify opportunities for improved productivity and effectiveness. Further progress in operational planning would depend on the capacity to improve the estimates of the required costs of different functional areas of work and also of the levels of management performance.

PONT Template - Annual Budget for Protected Area authorities

Galicica National Park takes forwards leap in conservation

Taking operational planning seriously

Signing of the Grant Agreement in support of the 2019 Operational Plan at Galicica NP.

PONT

PA management authorities in WPA use a Template developed by PONT in Microsoft Excel to prepare annual operational plans and budget that are part of their grant applications to PONT. These operational plans state the actions to be implemented each year to achieve the objectives set out in the management plan for the PA concerned. While most of the actions are selected from among those identified in the management plans, additional actions arise from the (annual) METT assessments, by learning from experience, or in response to uncertainty and change. The operational plans integrate both recurrent (routine) activities and non-recurrent activities (projects) to ensure resources are adequately distributed across the different functional areas. The operational plans only include activities that are currently achievable with existing staffing, technical and financial resources, including the co-financing from PONT.

Using pre-defined templates developed by the national authorities on protected areas in both Albania and North Macedonia, the PAs in the WPA prepare annual (operational) plans that are subject of formal approval by the national authorities.

Aside from the budget that is more detailed, the Template developed by PONT is similar in content to those used under national legislation. The operational plans and budget are prepared at the end of each calendar year for the subsequent one and constitute the key element of the grant applications submitted to PONT; the grant application process of PONT is aligned with the national system planning and reporting cycles to avoid duplication of work.

Although operational plans have been in use for about a decade in North Macedonia and for several years in Albania, management and on-ground work continued to be largely ad-hoc and inconsistent. The PONT Template and the input from the regular METT assessments enable PA managers develop more realistic annual operational plans and budget. The PONT Template prompts the managers to plan in more detail the deployment of human, financial and technical resources related to the basic functional areas, such as biodiversity monitoring, patrolling, habitat restoration, environmental education or visitor management that were often neglected in the past. This proved to be quite a challenging task due to the lack of adequate procedures and systems in place, in particular for functions and activities where no prior experience exists.

PONT Template - Annual Operational Plan for Protected Area managers

A momentous move for Galicica National Park

Regular METT assessments

Advanced METT Assessment at Galicica NP - an internal workshop

PONT

Regular Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT) Assessments are becoming an integral part of the annual management cycle in the organizations managing the Protected Areas in the WPA. The METT is being established as an important decision-support tool enabling more transparent, evidence-based, and adaptive management, tied to the annual management cycle. It helps the managers to organize and streamline annual cycles of reporting while its findings and results help determine preferences among options in preparing the operational plan for the subsequent annual cycle.

METT assessments are an integral part of PONT’s monitoring and evaluation system at both program level and individual grants. Grantees managing protected areas are required to use METT to assess the impact of PONT’s grants on management effectiveness and track progress over time.

Most of the Grantees could build up on their previous experience in conducting METT assessment over the past decade required for projects supported by international donors. The National Agency for Protected Areas in Albania have made the annual METT assessments mandatory, whereas in North Macedonia they are regularly used in the process for developing management plans for PAs.

PA Managers stop seeing added value of conducting the METT assessment after few iterations when changes in management effectiveness are too subtle to be assessed or acknowledged by the METT scorecard. A participatory approach in combination with a more in-depth and meticulous assessment based on evidence, as well as an extensive use of the columns “Comment/Explanation” and “Next Steps” in the Assessment Form, improved the objectiveness and the perceived benefits of the METT Assessments. The participatory approach also enabled PA managers interact and discuss the issues covered by METT with the key stakeholders while the use of facilitators in the process made this interaction more effective and productive. Advanced METT is being piloted to help increase the objectivity of the assessment and track changes in effectiveness more consistently every year.