ns are required.
Conflicting outcomes from policy and management responses are inevitable to some degree, due to complexity and uncertainty in human and natural systems, and the need for decisions and actions in the near term. As well as utilizing specific strategies and methods such as those above, an adaptive management approach involving close monitoring of the environment and the impact of policy and management is a more general requirement.
However, no matter how thorough our research and analysis, or how adaptive our management regimes are, there will inevitably be value or political decisions to be made, as conflicting outcomes carry with them conflicting or at least different social values as to what is most important. Rarely can multiple values be integrated to a single metric or measure that tells us a single, right answer. This indicates that transparency and inclusion of interested and affected parties is another general requirement, no matter what process or method is used, so that values, trade-offs and priorities are understood by all involved.
Policy processes and instruments are discussed further in Dovers S 2005, Environment and sustainability policy: creation, implementation, evaluation, Federation Press, Sydney.
Details on a wide range of methods and approaches can be found in the Citizen Science Toolbox: www.coastal.crc.org.au/toolbox/index.asp