Indicators for assessing good governance of protected areas: Insights from park managers in Western Australia

Effective management of protected areas relies on good governance. An assessment was undertaken using the standards provided by the United Nations Development Programme’s characteristics of good governance for sustainable development as a starting point. Being able to assess governance based on indicators is essential for ongoing effective management through improving practice. Although indicators and evaluation frameworks are available, they do not offer protected area managers a quick, comprehensive measure of governance. We used a three-round Delphi method with a cohort of 33 managers and researchers from government and non-government organizations, and universities. This participatory research process established a set of 20 indicators addressing public participation, consensus orientation, strategic vision, responsiveness, effectiveness, efficiency, accountability, transparency, equity, and rule of law. Accompanying output measures were provided by management plans, annual reports, audits, and stakeholder engagement. The findings emphasize the contributions of management plans and annual reports in establishing evaluation requirements and providing a place where results are publicly available. Further participatory research to refine these indicators and apply them in a diversity of contexts is advocated

Governance models for protected areas in Western Australia

This report presents the findings of a study undertaken to identify and describe the protected area governance models in use in Western Australia. The overall aim of the study was to identify and describe these governance models and provide one detailed example per model. This report includes a condensed account of the governance models from the full study (available as Shields 2013), and also describes a Western Australian example of each model

Attribution, Substitution and Confusion in Wildlife and Natural Area Tourism Expenditure Research

This research note addresses the current confusion of terminology and practice amongst studies of the expenditure of tourists to natural areas and wildlife attractions. We suggest that the term 'substitution' be used when estimating tourists' intention to substitute another destination for the study region, should the natural resource cease to exist in the study region. We also discuss the use of the term 'attribution' and how the concept of 'attributable expenditure' has been applied in natural area and wildlife tourism expenditure researc

Short-stop visitation in Shark Bay World Heritage Area: an importance–performance analysis

An importance–performance analysis (IPA) investigated levels of satisfaction with natural attributes and facilities in place at a short-stop nature-based tourism site in the Shark Bay World Heritage Area (WHA). Over 700 on-site questionnaires were collected from visitors who visited the stromatolite viewing-boardwalk, an attraction with little managerial presence in the Hamelin Pool Marine Nature Reserve. Results indicate that, although an attraction in its own right, visitors use the Reserve as a ‘convenient break’ en route to other destinations in the WHA. Visitors indicated high interest in the natural attributes and the interpretive educational facilities at the site and are overall satisfied with their experience, despite low levels of visitor infrastructure and facilities. This study found that acceptable levels of visitor satisfaction can occur at short-stop sites with minimal levels of infrastructure. Visitors identified the need for additional educational facilities, with a preference for updating interpretative signs or developing an educational mobile phone app. In addition, this research emphasises the IPA approach as a useful tool for identification of management priorities for infrastructure and programme development, prior to implementing management change of a site