Best Practice In Performance Reporting In Natural Resource Management

Introduction
Published in 1997 by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment - Victoria, this article is chiefly about the progress of "outcome based management" of natural resources in Australian park management agencies. According to the paper, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (1996) provides a good definition for best practices sharing which is the "capture, dissemination and sharing of a work method, process or initiative to improve organizational effectiveness, service delivery and employee satisfaction".

Method
From here, the article says that a literature review was performed and a questionnaire was created and distributed. The questionnaire was passed out to an officer in all State and Territory protected area management agencies as well as to the Australian National Parks and Wildlife Service. The purpose of the survey was five-fold looking into: 1)to examine the degree of which performance reporting was used by agencies, 2)determine the methods that were used, 3)assess the extent of ecological monitoring programs, 4)examine any "State Of the Environment (SOE)" reporting for performance reporting, 5)investigate best practices in activity bases monitoring.

As a result of the questionnaire and literature review, the researchers determined that there was very little information on best practices in regards to natural resource management in parks, however interest is growing in this subject area.

Developing A Framework Of The Best Practice Model For Natural Resource Management
The last wholly relevant piece of this article was the focus on the development of a best practice model that fits in with the natural resource management focus. A number of criteria were laid out for the development of a best practice model based upon Australian and international approaches. These criteria included:

1)a clear nexus between an agency's legislative requirements and its strategic objectives for natural resource management
2)clearly stated management goals that are derived directly from strategic objectives
3)a plan of natural resource management programs and activities at both the agency and the park level for meeting the strategic objectives within a specified time-frame (both medium term and annual)
4)performance indicators and targets against which the degree to which goals were achieved can be assessed, at both the agency and the park level
5)natural resource monitoring programs that provide data for the assessment of performance indicators

In conclusion, none of the agencies assessed in Australia nor elsewhere, meet all of the aforementioned criteria for best practice analysis in regards to natural resource management