• HOME
  • ABOUT
  • PROGRAMME
  • REGION
  • DOCUMENTS
  • NEWS
  • DONATE
Prespa Ohrid Nature Trust PONT Logo
Logo Prespa Ohrid Nature Trust
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • PROGRAMME
  • REGION
  • DOCUMENTS
  • NEWS
  • DONATE
3 MIN READ

How effective are protected areas in Prespa? 2018 assessments involve key stakeholders

27 November 2018
-
PONT News
<?php echo pulse_output(); ?>

The objective of PONT as a co-funding instrument is to assist the management bodies of Protected Areas (PAs) in the Wider Prespa Area (WPA) in improving the quality of their management.

The progress on this objective is being measured by using the Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT), developed by WWF and the World Bank in 2002, and later amended in 2005 and 2007.

The METT has two datasheets and an assessment form. The first datasheet records basic information about the Protected Area, whereas the second is used to assess the threats it faces. The assessment form contains 30 questions, each with four possible answers, to help assessors assign a score.

Being a cost-effective and easy-to-use tool, METT has been used worldwide. The National Agency for Protected Areas in Albania has used it regularly since 2015, using an online platform, to track the management effectiveness of all PAs in its national system. Several projects supported by international donors have repeatedly facilitated METT assessments of the PAs in the FYR of Macedonia (except Pelister National Park) over the last decade. Most of the previous assessments had been conducted by a few senior PA managers, and have seldom been used to support adaptive management.

Upon an initiative from PONT, in October and November 2018 a series of participatory workshops were organized to conduct METT assessments for Galicica National Park, Pelister National Park, and Ezerani Nature Park in the FYR of Macedonia, as well as Prespa National Park in Albania. In addition to the staff of the PAs (such as managers, technical staff and rangers) members of PAs governance bodies, as well as a wide range of stakeholders participated in the assessment (assessors), including representatives of local communities, municipalities, competent national authorities, national and local non-governmental organizations, scientific institutions, local natural resource users, and some of the local businesses.

These meetings demonstrated that there are still gaps in understanding the use of the METT and the meaning of some of its questions, despite the fact that it has been repeatedly used in most PAs in the WPA. On the other hand, many external stakeholders (non-staff) were not familiar with the METT and considered some of the questions in the assessment form difficult to understand or to discuss due to the lack of current information.

The opportunity to interact and discuss the issues covered by METT with the key stakeholders was one of the most important outcomes to most of the PAs managers. These discussions also emphasized the need to improve the objectivity of the assessments by using quantitative data and measurable indicators. It was also realized that METT assessments are currently poorly integrated into their regular reporting and planning operations, including the development of annual operational plans to be approved by the competent national authorities.

Learning from this new experience, PAs managers expressed their commitment to sharing the final assessments with all assessors, but also how the identified issues and challenges are to be addressed in 2019, by sharing the progress report on the implementation of the 2019 operational plans, before the next assessment workshop.

In addition to effective facilitation, this will help enhance the participation of non-staff assessors in subsequent assessments. Repeating the exercise in the following years would help improve the practice of using the METT, as well as improving the quality of grant proposals to be submitted to PONT

  • tweet 
  • share 
  • share 
  • share 
Tags
#Albania
#Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool
#National Agency for Protected Areas
#Prespa National Park
#World Bank
#WWF
Ezerani Nature Park
Galičica National Park
Pelister National Park
PONT
Protected Areas
wider Prespa area
← PREVIOUS POST
Germany pledges €5 million to PONT
NEXT POST →
Local celebration of PONT’s global recognition for its innovative financing approach of protected areas

Related News

Other posts that you should not miss.

Growing opportunities for local Non-Timber Forest Products in Prespa

9 April 2019
-
Posted by PONT

On behalf of PONT, the Connecting Natural Values and People Foundation conducted an assessment of the opportunities, and associated challenges, for …

Read More →
PONT News
1 MIN READ

Taking stock of the achievements in managing Prespa National Park

7 July 2020
-
Posted by PONT

On 3 July the Korça Regional Administration for Protected Areas (RAPA) for Prespa National Park, Albania, met with PONT and the …

Read More →
PONT News
1 MIN READ

History is made: NAPA kicks off its first grant for Prespa

3 September 2018
-
Posted by PONT

Signed on 3 September, the Regional Agency of Protected Areas (RAPA) Korçe applied for a planning grant in close consultation with …

Read More →
PONT News
2 MIN READ
Archives
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • February 2018
  • July 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • September 2016
  • May 2016
  • December 2015
Categories
  • PONT News
  • Press Release
Contact

Prespa Ohrid Nature Trust (PONT)
Abdi Toptani Str.,
Torre Drin Tower nr. 35/2,
Tirana | Albania
info@pont.org

Donations
Bank: Bank für Sozialwirtschaft
SWIFT: BFSWDE33XXX
IBAN: DE84550205000008656500
Recent Posts
  • Three-year PONT grants for Environmental Actors launched
  • Launch of three-year grants for Protected Areas in the Wider Prespa Area
  • Ministry of Environment and Physical Planning and PONT join forces to implement the Action Plan concerning Lake Prespa
  • Restoration work underway to improve priority habitats in Ezerani Nature Park
  • PONT’s solution for improving Protected Area management in Prespa published on PANORAMA
PONT
  • About
  • Job Opportunities
  • Documents and Publications
  • Region
  • Contact
SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER!

IMPRINT  DISCLAIMER  PONT JOBS    DOCUMENTS & PUBLICATIONS

© Prespa-Ohrid Nature Trust

How effective are protected areas in Prespa? 2018 assessments involve key stakeholders - Prespa Ohrid Nature Trust

We are using cookies to give you the best experience on our website.

You can find out more about which cookies we are using or switch them off in settings.

Prespa Ohrid Nature Trust
Powered by  GDPR Cookie Compliance
Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.

Strictly Necessary Cookies

Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.

If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.