Monitoring natural resources for policy interventions: a conceptual framework, issues, and challenges

Periodic monitoring of the status of natural resources is fundamental to ge nerating adequate information for planning and policy-making for their sust ainable management. This paper provides an overview of the concepts, issues and challenges that planners and policy makers face in designing natural r esource monitoring systems and using their outcomes in the formulation of p olicies and intervention programs. It begins with a discussion of a new con ceptual framework for monitoring based on resource management domains (RMDs ), which defines monitoring units based on resource problems and potential policy interventions. This is followed by a description of steps necessary for effectively implementing a monitoring system and possible flows and use of information in decision-making. Finally, the paper identifies issues re levant to the design of natural resource monitoring systems, and future cha llenges facing governments, academic institutions, and donor agencies. The paper concludes that a monitoring system which is simple, user-driven, base d on existing institutional structures, and has the commitment of decision makers for using the information in policy design and program development i s more likely to be successful. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights r eserved.