Essay

Science support within the South African National Parks adaptive management framework

Judith M. Kruger, Sandra MacFadyen
Koedoe | Vol 53, No 2 | a1010 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/koedoe.v53i2.1010 | © 2011 Judith M. Kruger, Sandra MacFadyen | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 21 June 2010 | Published: 10 May 2011

About the author(s)

Judith M. Kruger, South African National Parks, Skukuza, South Africa
Sandra MacFadyen, South African National Parks, Skukuza, South Africa

Abstract

‘Behind all good science is good science support.’ Implementing a successful strategic adaptive management (SAM) framework requires an effective science support structure. This structure must be effective in all areas of data management, starting with data collection and ending with the dissemination of knowledge, to facilitate timeous management decisions and associated actions. Accordingly, South African National Parks has embraced the use of various technologies to enable the effective implementation of a functional support structure. This paper described these technologies and discussed how they benefit the implementation of the SAM framework.

Conservation implications: The importance of functional support structures in science and conservation management is frequently undervalued in a system where emphasis is placed on scientific products. In order to promote research and facilitate analysis, sound data management practices are essential to integrating knowledge into an organisation’s institutional memory.


Keywords

Conservation management; CyberTracker; database management; institutional memory; knowledge dissemination; Morpho; research; technology transfer

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