such as disseminating knowledge and motivating people to use and protect biodiversity?
Evaluation relates to the success of the guide in performing its function – that is, in helping to identify and/or find the information the users require about a particular species. Impact assessment, on the other hand, researches the consequences of the successful use of the guide – in other words, the changes in people’s behaviour or beliefs as a result of identifying the plants or discovering the information. The impact is affected both by the motivation and expectations of authors, as well as by contextual factors, such as agricultural policy, land tenure and the existence of projects to use the guide and implement conservation decisions. Consequently, there are both intended impacts (for example, more environmental awareness, more native tree planting) and unintended impacts (see Chapter 1 for examples, such as the increase in knowledge of tree distribution from readers’ feedback to the authors).
Impact assessment can be challenging for several reasons and a profound undertak-ing. More information is given in Guijt (1998), Modak and Biswas (1999), Morris and Therivel (2001) and Roche (1999). From our own experience researching the impact of field guides in Bolivia and Brazil, we found that, in many cases, the authors had not considered whether their guide had any impact – they were just happy to have finished and published it. This is understandable – what is more surprising is that many authors could not say whether their objectives had been fulfilled because they had never identified objectives in the first place. Others found it difficult to trace their users or even distributors.
The process of identifying indicators of success for a field guide can illustrate how difficult it is to measure such success. The example from Bolivia given in Case study 10.2 shows how scientists and communities producing a guide for eco-tourists in
Publishing the field guide 245
CASE STUDY 10.2 INDICATORS OF IMPACT FOR BIODIVERSIDAD DEL
PARQUE NACIONAL NOEL KEMPFF MERCADO
When considering and defining indicators of impact for their Biodiversidad del Parque Nacional Noel Kempff Mercado: Principales Ecosistemas y Especies ( Guide for Eco-tourists: Attractive Species of the Principal Ecosystems of the Noel Kempff Mercado National Park; Vargas and Jordán, 2002), Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza (Friends of Nature Foundation, or FAN) staff thought about the different stakeholders and their objectives, both short term and long term, in producing and using the field guide. They held a workshop with all of the people involved in producing the guide, including indigenous communities in the buffer zone of the national park, scientists studying the flora of the park, and park guards who accompany eco-tourists.
In order to identify impact indicators for the field guide, FAN staff first reminded themselves of their objectives in producing the guide and the assumed objectives of the eco-tourists in using the guide. From these, they considered ways of measuring the success of those objectives. The process of reflecting upon objectives and indicators had some interesting consequences, as Tables 10.1 and 10.2 show. The team of authors realized that some of their own objectives were short-term low-impact ones that were already achieved by producing the guide – in other words, all of the work required meant Table 10.1 Author objectives and indicators of impact for the eco-tourist guide Biodiversidad del Parque Nacional Noel Kempff Mercado Objectives Indicators
Helps with identification by presenting
Number of non-specialists able to identify the
information about the most distinctive
species increases.
characteristics of the principal useful species.
Motivates eco-tourists to visit different sites
Number of visitors to different sites in the
of the Parque Nacional Noel Kempff
PNNKM increases.
Mercado (PNNKM) and the neighbouring
communities.
Transmits conservation values of the plant
Visitors’ appreciation of the value of PNNKM
species to the park’s visitors and to the
increases.
community, in general.
Number of supporters of PNNKM increases.
Compiles information and describes the
These objectives are difficult to measure
most outstanding characteristics of the
because they have no measurable effect. The
different ecosystems of the park and of the
authors realized that this is an ‘internal’
principal plants which it shelters.
objective – the mere fact of producing the
Disseminates local knowledge about use of
guide has achieved the purpose of compiling
the principal plants and complements it with
information. The other objectives are more
scientific information about them.
important in terms of achieving a visible
impact from the information.
Recovers and values traditional knowledge
Villagers could respond about the
about the use of the plants, complemented
information, which they thought had been
with scientific knowledge of the same.
forgotten, and about new information that the
guide gives them.
Source: interviews with the authors of the guide
246 Plant Identification
that they now had compiled the information in a useful way. The more profound objectives are those which have an effect on the users of the guide. In some cases, those objectives were relatively easy to assess using quantitative indicators; but even in these cases it was difficult to be sure of cause and effect. For example, if the number of visitors to the national park increases, is that because transport has improved or because they are more aware of the park, and if the latter, did the field guide help to raise awareness?
Simple indicators can provide an idea of trends; but if you are serious about trying to understand the impact of your guide, you will need to use more qualitative research methods that explore the reasons why people interact with biodiversity and how your guide has influenced this.
Table 10.2 Eco-tourist objectives and indicators of impact (as perceived by park guards) for the eco-tourist guide Biodiversidad del Parque Nacional Noel Kempff Mercado
Objectives Indicators
Have access to distinctive information about
The guide production team realized that all of
the different ecosystems of the Parque
these objectives are difficult to track. But the
Nacional Noel Kempff Mercado (PNNKM)
park guards who accompany tourists on their
and the principal plants which it shelters.
explorations of the park acquire a good
Increases knowledge about the use and
understanding of people’s knowledge and
traditional management of some plants as
perceptions, and report back on changes.
carried out by the neighbouring communities
This aspect of evaluation must therefore rely
around the park.
on qualitative assessment – in other words,
Able to identify the most common species
the impressions that the park guards have of
of each ecosystem.
the knowledge of the eco-tourists.
In the longer term, increases awareness of
Indicators proved difficult here – what can
the unique value of PNNKM and the need
eco-tourists do to demonstrate their sense of
for protection.
value for a place? More quantitative
indicators can be used to assess this:
numbers visiting the park; numbers buying
the guide before visiting; and numbers
buying the guide while visiting.
Source: interviews with park guards
&
nbsp; Bolivia (Vargas and Jordán, 2003) struggled to find ways of predicting and measuring impact.
A similar exercise with communities producing a guide for their own use led to intense discussions about the need to conserve traditional knowledge and medicinal practices, and touched on lofty goals such as ‘reducing the migration of our children to the cities’. Although these indicators will not be used in a formal impact assessment, the process of discussing and proposing indicators was an important one for the authors and helped all of the primary stakeholders to develop their ideas about the guide and its value to them.
Publishing the field guide 247
Getting feedback
If you want to evaluate the success of your field guide in helping people to identify plants and find out more about them, you will need feedback from the users. This can be done through including a note in the introduction inviting the users to send their comments and observations to the authors or publishers, or by including a feedback form at the end of the book. Such a form can be quite simple and may request information such as:
•
name, occupation and address of the person providing the feedback;
•
reason why this person is using the field guide;
•
aspects and features of the field guide that the user likes;
•
features that the user finds more problematic;
•
specific species that the user has found difficult to identify when using the guide and why;
•
suggestions for improvement.
More detailed feedback can be obtained by interviewing users of the field guide. This can begin by tracing distribution networks outwards to the users, then interviewing users about how they have employed the guide.
By this stage, if you have followed the scientific and participatory processes we have outlined in this book, you will have an attractive and accurate guide that will be eagerly anticipated by your user group. We wish you much success in the process and look forward to the results.
Acronyms and abbreviations
APG
Angiosperm Phylogeny Group
BMP
Windows bitmap
C
Celsius
CBD
Convention on Biological Diversity
CBR
community biodiversity register
CD
compact disk
CIAT
Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (Centre for Tropical Agricultural Research, Bolivia)
CIBAPA
Central Indígena del Bajo Paraguá
cm
centimetre
DBH
diameter at breast height
DELTA
Description Language for Taxonomy
DFID
UK Department for International Development
DNA
deoxyribonucleic acid
DOF
depth of focus
dpi
dots per inch
DTP
desktop publishing
EMF
enhanced metafile format
EPS
encapsulated postscript format
EU
European Union
FAN
Fundación Amigos de la Naturaleza (Friends of Nature Foundation, Bolivia)
FRP
Forestry Research Programme (UK)
g
gram
GB
gigabyte
GIF
graphic interchange format
GIS
geographical information system
HTML
hypertext markup language
ILDIS
International Legume Database and Information Service ISBN
International Standard Book Number
JPEG
Joint Photographic Expert Group
km
kilometre
LAWG
Leaf Architecture Working Group
m
metre
MAB
Man and the Biosphere Programme
MB
megabyte
MEK
most efficient key
mm
millimetre
250 Plant Identification
NGO
non-governmental organization
PDA
personal digital assistant
PDF
portable document format
PNG
Portable Network Graphics
PNNKM
Parque Nacional Noel Kempff Mercado (Noel Kempff Mercado National Park, Bolivia)
PRA
participatory rural appraisal
RBG
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
RHS
Royal Horticultural Society
SASOP
Serviço de Assessoria às Organizações Populares Rurais SEPASAL
Survey of Economic Plants for Arid and Semi-Arid Lands SERBO
Sociedad para el Estudio de Recursos Bióticos de Oaxaca TIFF
tagged image file format
UK
United Kingdom
UN
United Nations
UNESCO
United Nations Educational, Social and Cultural Organization US
United States
UV
ultraviolet
VFH
Virtual Field Herbarium
WMF
Windows metafile format
WWF
World Wide Fund for Nature ( formerly World Wildlife Fund)
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