2020-09-14 GC Agenda - Item 7 - Attachment 2 - Independent Scientific Review of Monitoring and Evaluation Plan

Executive Summary

Noosa Shire Council and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) have signed a three-year Partnership Agreement
that sets a bold vision for an innovative and regionally significant alliance to improve the health and
resilience of the Noosa River, and the industries and local communities that rely on its long-term wellbeing.
Under the terms of the Partnership Agreement, TNC is leading the Bring Back the Fish project that will pilot
the restoration of oyster reefs within the Noosa River estuary, to improve environmental health, engage
the Noosa community in conservation and support economic and community wellbeing.
TNC has prepared a Project Plan and Monitoring, Evaluation and Reporting (MER) Plan that has been
presented to Council. Council has requested a peer review of the plan. This report is provided to Council to
address the review requirements as specified:
    1. Briefly comment on the appropriateness of the goals of the project in relation to the stated focus of
       the partnership (the first four dot points identified on p4 of the Project Management Plan),
       identifying any major gaps. There are 11 goals listed in the MER component of the plan (page 68-
       73).
    2. An assessment of the effectiveness of the proposed indicators and monitoring methods to
       effectively measure the success of the stated Goals and Objectives of the plan.
    3. Any further recommendations or suggestions for improvement to the Monitoring & Evaluation
       Plan, including any further monitoring that might support determination of achieving success in the
       project.
    4. Provide recommendations for long-term monitoring of the stated Goals and Objectives of the
       project, beyond the end of the current agreement term on 30 September 2022.

Appropriateness of project goals to the focus of the Partnership
The oyster reef restoration project is an appropriate project to commence collaborative restoration
activities under the Partnership agreement. The project will contribute to all of the focal areas of the
Partnership (but particularly focal area 1).
Effectiveness of the proposed indicators and monitoring methods
A good practice MER checklist was developed based on a number of reference documents. Twenty criteria
were then used to test the effectiveness of MER planning and design, monitoring, evaluation and reporting
components.
Sixteen good practice criteria were found to be met. Four of the criteria were partly met or unclear, but
none of these raised any significant concerns with the MER plan.
Overall, the review concludes that the MER plan is robust and comprehensive, and the proposed indicators
and monitoring methods likely to be effective. The MER Plan obviously reflects TNC’s experience with
similar oyster restoration projects in Australia and overseas.
Recommendations:
    1. Resolve conflicting terminology and different versions of MER framework.
There are some inconsistencies in terminology between the Project Plan and the MER Plan. In particular,
the terms goals and objectives are used differently each document, and as used in the MER Plan have
multiple versions with some differences. This may simply reflect the timing and evolution of both
documents. We recommend that the relationship between the documents are clarified, that the
terminology is modified to avoid confusion and multiple versions rationalised.
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