Sustainable Deer Management A Case Study Report for the Deer ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

4. NEXT STEPS Since SDM has the potential to positively contribute to the outcomes of a broad spectrum of National Strategies and provide additional site-specific public benefits it would be appropriate for government to consider options for supporting the process. It would be appropriate for government to consider options for supporting each of the key stages of the SDM process utilising an appropriate blend of providing information, advice and training; promoting voluntary agreements, imposing regulation, use of financial instruments (incentives through to taxes), creating new markets and instigating relevant research. The cross-cutting objective must be to promote the role land managers play as individuals and as members of a DMG, and where appropriate assist them to fulfil their role. One option would be the development of an interactive web based tool to provide advice, information, guidance on individual roles and actions required of them and how they might best go about performing these actions. Evaluating Sustainable Deer management Evidence from the Case Studies suggests that land managers are already incentivised to attain most of the economic and environmental criteria described as nationally important in the recently published Scotland’s Wild Deer: A National Approach (wDNA). This project, in addition to the legislative review of the Deer (Scotland) Act 1996, has highlighted that deer managers, individually and collectively, would benefit from the provision of better information, advice and guidance on their individual roles and how they might best go about performing these actions. It is also clear that certain objectives listed in the wDNA which were considered in this study to be of additional benefit and could produce added value with government assistance: ♦ ♦ Ensure skills, knowledge and training development to manage deer. ♦♦ Develop the market and supply chain for venison. In addition the social benefits of SDM were consistently considered as desirable across all sites. Hence, land managers/DMGs may also benefit from advice on communicating with the local community through the development of best practice guidance. Since SDM is a process rather than an endpoint the Code of Practice for responsible deer management proposed under the Wildlife & Natural Environment Bill Consultation, will assist the development of criteria based indicators which can be readily measured by land managers. These indicators will need to be robust and accepted by land managers, yet relatively easy and cheap to attain. The standards attached to these indicators would then provide the “goal posts” for land managers to measure success/ failure against on a local basis and satisfy government agencies that land is being managed sustainably. Scottish Rural Development Programme The Scottish Government and Association of Deer Management Groups (ADMG) should seek to influence SRDP measures to support collaborative planning and local capacity building. Consideration will also have to be given to how these measures relate to cross-compliance and the legislative framework being proposed to bolster the voluntary DMG approach. Deer Management Groups Scottish Government, in partnership with the ADMG and their membership, need to ensure that right blend of “carrot and stick” will: ♦ ♦ minimise government regulation and bureaucracy ♦ ♦ encourage the DMG membership to develop the necessary capacity 10 Sustainable Deer Management • 24.06.10 © DCS 2010 • www.dcs.gov.uk
♦♦ enable land managers to take “ownership” of the information and various processes associated with SDM. As such, government advice, information, training and fiscal incentive should focus on developing local capacity, with particular emphasis on those parts of the process where there is most potential to achieve added value. Some important DMG functions cannot easily be allocated to any one person within the membership to perform and since DMGs are run on a voluntary basis, most office bearers have full-time jobs and may have difficulty in providing the additional focus, energy and time required to improve the DMG performance. In such cases, DCS staff will aim to provide direct support to DMG’s to focus on supporting the implementation of those functions which were consistently considered difficult to achieve in practice as a consequence of requiring additional input in time or resources. However, in addition and in order for the voluntary approach to successfully deliver SDM, certain key DMG functions need to be backed up by legislation to make sure that they can: ♦♦ Deal effectively with those whose actions may significantly impact on a DMG’s ability to achieve the greatest benefit, but who do not actively engage/co-operate with the DMG membership. ♦♦ Deal effectively with disagreements between members with a recognised arbitration process. If a significant deer issue arose in a locale with no established DMG, an independent panel or facilitator would also have an important role in identifying key stakeholders, collating information on the relevant local “deer-human-landscape” interactions and act as a catalyst to bring about practical long-term solutions. This type of facilitation to allow conflict resolution to take place must be seen to be independent, trustworthy, knowledgeable of the processes involved and be able to listen to and reflect on the desires of the DMG membership. This type of approach is being actively pursued through the developing proposals within the Wildlife And Natural Environment Bill. 11 Sustainable Deer Management • 24.06.10 © DCS 2010 • www.dcs.gov.uk
Page 1 and 2: Sustainable Deer Management A Case
Page 3 and 4: The participants were chosen to inc
Page 5 and 6: fig.3. The private and public benef
Page 7 and 8: fig.5. The SDM Process ♦ ♦ Safe
Page 9: fig.6. Essential roles of a DMG mon

Sustainable Deer Management A Case Study Report for the Deer ...

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?