Strategic Planning for Species Conservation: A Handbook - IUCN

participants. Examples of agreed Objectives are provided in Box 7.1.
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7. Objectives
In developing the problem tree, some threats or constraints may be identified which are
outside the remit of the conservation sector (e.g., human population growth or corruption)
and hence difficult for stakeholders in species conservation to address. Depending on the
possibilities for developing Actions to address such issues, participants may choose to
include or exclude them from the Objectives.
Lack of knowledge is an issue likely to appear in any problem tree, and hence one likely to
be addressed by any SCS. One way of dealing with lack of knowledge is to identify a
“research” theme, and hence a “research” Objective. However, there are likely to be
information gaps in many parts of the problem tree (e.g., knowledge may be lacking about
species distribution and status, and about the most effective tools to reduce conflict with
people, and about the most successful educational tools) and hence research needs will
emerge under multiple Objectives. In such cases, it may be most useful to address
research needs at the Actions level of the SCS, rather than cross-referring all research
needs to a single “research” Objective.
7.4 Developing Objective Targets
In general, implementation of SCSs and Action Plans is greatly facilitated if Targets are set.
Target-setting has already been discussed in Chapter 6 (Vision and Goals) with specific
reference to setting Goal Targets. However, it is also useful to set Objective Targets
associated with each Objective. Objectives summarise the broad approaches to be taken in
working towards the Vision and Goals, while Objective Targets provide more detailed
definitions of what needs to be done, and by what date. Objective Targets help to group
related Actions into logically related clusters, which helps to promote implementation (see
Chapter 8). The timelines associated with Objective Targets can also be used as a way of
prioritizing different clusters of Actions; for example, if a particular threat requires urgent
Action, its associated Objective Targets might have short timelines. Examples of Objectives
and Objective Targets are shown in Box 7.3.