Serengeti General Management Plan

Serengeti National Park General Management Plan
Objective 2: Regular, management-oriented monitoring and
assessment of key ecosystem values and processes
strengthened
The desired future state of SENAPA is one where the evolving ecosystem functioning and
status are understood and where this knowledge is used to make informed management decisions
to achieve the Park’s objectives. To achieve this desired state, a framework has been
developed in this GMP for future monitoring of the health of the SENAPA ecosystem, and to
provide the basis for the development of a comprehensive SENAPA Ecological Monitoring
Plan (Technical Detail Plan).
The SENAPA Ecological Monitoring Plan will monitor the health of the Serengeti ecosystem;
i.e. the sustained maintenance or enhancement of the viability of the Conservation Targets.
The plan will also monitor both the threats to the Conservation Targets as well as the Key
Ecological Attributes of the Conservation Targets, as illustrated in Figure C.1 above. The objective
will be to not simply focus on monitoring per se, but also on analysing and using the
information collected to better inform management decisions. As the Serengeti ecosystem is
broader than the boundaries of SENAPA, it is important that the monitoring includes areas
outside SENAPA wherever possible. These activities will be coordinated with natural resource
managers and researchers from the Greater Serengeti ecosystem (both in Kenya and
within Tanzania).
The framework for the Monitoring Plan is set out in 0 overpage. The indicators provide the
measurable entities for assessing the status and trends of the KEAs or threats to each Conservation
Target. The indicators are designed to be easy to measure and to provide an early
warning to serious threats that require mitigating actions. Included in the Plan framework is
the data collection methodology, which identifies how, when, where and who will collect the
data for the indicators.
Development of the Ecological Monitoring Plan firstly requires a baseline to be established;
not only for future comparisons but also to enable the establishment of clearly defined indicators
and, where appropriate, the limits of acceptable change. The limits of acceptable change
will take into account natural variability in key ecological attributes and guide conservation
action aimed at managing a target’s attributes within this natural variability. Once the baseline
and specific indicators are established, it will be possible to periodically collect, analyse
and integrate monitoring information into management decision-making and practice.
Mitigation of environmental impacts of major Ecosystem Programme
actions
No negative environmental impacts are anticipated from the implementation of management
actions identified to achieve this objective.
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