ERIP 4 - Task 10

Strategic Planning Processes for Ecosystem Restoration

Task 10: Setting Targets, Goals, Objectives, and Indicators

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Setting Your Conservation Targets

Targets are specific, tangible entities that your program aims to restore or conserve. They help you stay focused on what matters most.Targets may include:i

• Particular ecosystems.

• Species or ecosystem services.

• Socio-economic outcomes.

Process for Defining Targets

Setting SMART Goals and Objectives

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References

The process of defining targets involves the following steps:i

1. Mapping of the current geographic extent of a target.
2. Mapping of the historic and/or anticipated future extent of a target, and related threats under different scenarios.
3. Dividing a target into spatially explicit sub-targets (if a target is wide-ranging).
4. Determining the current status of each target (i.e. using available evidence to develop an overall assessment of the health or “viability” of each target).
5. Specifying key attributes of each target.
6. Determining indicators for each attribute and outlining the acceptable range of variation for each indicator, and determining the current status (i.e., baseline value or trend) of the attribute in reference to this range of variation.

This information sets the foundation for developing good goals for your conservation targets, monitoring target status, and understanding key threats to your targets.

Want more? Discover a real life example through Chile’s National Strategy for Climate Change and Vegetation Resources (ENCCRV)

See example

References

Setting SMART Goals and Objectivesi

Once you’ve defined your targets, the next step is to create a roadmap for achieving them — using SMART goals and objectives. Goals describe the medium to long-term desired condition, while objectives specify short- to medium-term outcomes along the recovery trajectory.

SMART Criteria

Defining Indicators for Monitoring

Reflection

Close this task and proceed on your journey

Task complete

References

Goals: Desired impact on target health (often 10–20 years). Objectives: Interim steps toward achieving goals (1–10 years). Example Objective: “Increase native canopy cover by 40% within five years in priority restoration sites.”

iMorrison, J. 2009. Resources for Implementing the WWF Project & Programme Standards: Step 1.2 Define Project Scope & Vision. Available here (p. 1). iiMorrison, J. 2009. Resources for Implementing the WWF Project & Programme Standards: Step 1.2 Define Project Scope & Vision. Available here (p. 2).

iConservation Measures Partnership. 2020. Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation. Available here (p. 72).

With your objectives set, you need a way to track whether you're on course. That’s where indicators come in.Good indicators are:i

Measurable

Achievable

Specific

Time-limited

Results-oriented

Example Indicators:

• Percentage of canopy cover.

• Number of hectares under restoration.

• Services provided by ecosystems  

iConservation Measures Partnership. 2020. Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation. Available here (p. 15-16).

Chile’s ENCCRV — From Commitments to Measurable TargetsChile’s National Strategy for Climate Change and Vegetation Resources (ENCCRV) is a flagship public policy that demonstrates how to align restoration targets with national and international environmental goals.It serves as a technical and operational framework for Chile’s commitments on:

• Climate change
• Desertification
• Land degradation and drought (DLDD)

Purpose of the Strategy: “To reduce the social, environmental, and economic vulnerability caused by climate change, desertification, land degradation, and drought on vegetation resources and the human communities that depend on them, in order to increase the resilience of ecosystems and contribute to mitigate climate change, promoting emission reductions and removals of greenhouse gases in Chile.”

Examples of Targets in the ENCCRV:

Co-benefits

Adaptation

Mitigation

• Have you clearly articulated your program scope and vision?

• Are your goals and objectives SMART?

• Do your chosen indicators effectively capture progress?
• Do your indicators align with existing national and international monitoring frameworks?

Section overview

Start

Setting Your Conservation Targets

Setting SMART Goals and Objectives

Section overview

Start

Setting Your Conservation Targets

Setting SMART Goals and Objectives