Prioritisation of conservation research and monitoring for Western Australian protected areas and threatened species

© The Government of Western Australia, 2015. Prioritisation of natural assets for monitoring and research activities facilitates equitable allocation of finite conservation resources. We present a framework that identifies broad monitoring and research priorities for conservation areas, such as marine parks, and threatened species. Criteria within the framework are used to assess: the value (V) of assets; anthropogenic pressures (P) that affect assets; and the current state of asset knowledge (K). A panel of experts score criteria and the relative importance of each asset is calculated for monitoring (V * P), fundamental research (V * K) and applied research (V * P * K). The framework allows prioritisation of assets in an initial evaluation that agrees with institutional mandates, and facilitates future assessment of the feasibility and cost of monitoring or research in the implementation phase. The utility of the framework is that it can be easily applied by conservation practitioners and can concurrently prioritise monitoring and research of species, habitats and communities in marine and terrestrial environments.