Monitoring and Evaluation
Contents
- Theme: Monitoring and Evaluation
- Research: Assessing Australian riparian vegetation
- Assessment of river condition
- Rip roving: News from work overseas
- Case study: Jervis Bay Cumulative Impact Monitoring Program
- Environmental action through community monitoring - Waterwatch Australia
- It's a Wrap: News from around Australia
Monitoring and Evaluation
Monitoring and evaluation strategies are essential components of any riparian or river rehabilitation project. Evaluation is the best way to improve our knowledge about what works, what doesn't and how we can best direct our rehabilitation efforts. Monitoring is a process of continuous evaluation, where measurements and assessments are made before, during and after a project. This means that the project can be adjusted and improved as it goes along. Monitoring strategies are key components of the overall evaluation process that allows you and others to learn from the project and discover whether your rehabilitation aims have been met. Given that monitoring and evaluation strategies are so useful and important, why then, are they so rare?
From the Editor
Monitoring and evaluation is a vital part of any rehabilitation or management project. It is for this reason that this edition of RipRap is focusing on understanding what monitoring and evaluation involves; how you can incorporate monitoring and evaluation into your rehabilitation project; and, what techniques are being used across the country to monitor and evaluate the impact of rehabilitation work in rivers and riparian zones.
The theme piece of RipRap provides an overview of the different levels of evaluation you can use to assess the impact of rehabilitation works, as well as the key features that need to be incorporated into a robust monitoring and evaluation framework. Findings from the National Land & Water Resources Audit outline where work on riparian condition assess-ment is at in Australia, and makes some recommendations about how we can improve our current situation. A case study from Jervis Bay shows how one group is trying to monitor the cumulative impacts of rehabilitation works, rather than focusing on single aspects or indicators of change.
And, finally, It's a Wrap provides an overview of what is happening in each state and territory in the area of monitoring and evaluation. Plenty of reading - so get to it!!
Download Adobe Acrobat version of Monitoring and Evaluation (riprap17.pdf 3.7Mb)
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