Editor’s note: The goal of The EBM Toolbox is to promote awareness of tools for facilitating EBM processes. It is brought to you by the EBM Tools Network, a voluntary alliance of tool users, developers, and training providers.
By Sarah Carr
In the previous issue of MEAM (October/November 2011), The EBM Toolbox profiled some general and easy-to-use tools for stakeholder engagement. Some additional tools that are more specialized for use in conservation and management projects include:
- Integration and Application Network Conceptual Diagramming Tools (http://ian.umces.edu/symbols) can be used to produce conceptual diagrams or “thought drawings” that depict essential attributes of a system. The diagrams help clarify thinking and combine current scientific understanding with community priorities and values.
- CanVis (NOAA/USDA; http://csc.noaa.gov/digitalcoast/tools/canvis) is image-editing software that allows natural resource professionals with minimal computer skills to create photo-realistic simulations for visualizing potential impacts from coastal development or sea level rise.
- MarineMap (MarineMap Consortium; www.marinemap.org) allows stakeholders to draw prospective marine protected areas, predict the biological and economic effects impacts of proposals, select sites with optimal benefits for conservation and fisheries objectives, and share proposals with other stakeholders.
- Open OceanMap (Ecotrust; www.ecotrust.org/marineplanning/OpenOceanMap.html) helps collect local ecological and economic knowledge using an intuitive stakeholder interview process. It also provides a web-based interface for interviewees to review and verify information, and aggregates data to ensure confidentiality.
Webinar demonstrations of the tools are on the EBM Tools Network website at www.ebmtools.org/tools_training/presentations.html.
(Sarah Carr is coordinator of the EBM Tools Network. Learn more about EBM tools and the EBM Tools Network at www.ebmtools.org.)