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

1 Introduction

Noosa Council entered into a three-year partnership with The Nature Conservancy (TNC), starting on 25 July
2019, with the primary project aim to restore oyster reefs in the Noosa River. The scope of the partnership
is outlined within the Alliance & Funding Agreement, which identifies clear outputs for the Bring Back the
Fish Project that is being implemented under the partnership agreement.
Project Deliverable 5 (of the partnership agreement) is that A Project Implementation Plan presented to
Noosa Council by TNC in conjunction with Council officers for its approval. This was reported to the Ordinary
Meeting of Noosa Council on 16 July 2020. The result was the following Council resolution:
            “Approve the Project Management Plan (provided as Attachment 1 to the report) as
          meeting the requirements of the Project Implementation Plan outlined in the Alliance &
           Funding Agreement subject to Council appointing an independent scientific expert to
         provide a review of the project’s Monitoring Evaluation and Reporting Plan. The review is
             to include an assessment of the effectiveness of the methodology, project’s goals,
           measures, outputs and outcomes within the context of ecological restoration and the
          terms of the three year contract, and recommendations (if any) for improvement to be
                              included in the Monitoring and Evaluation Plan.”
As a result of this resolution, Noosa Council approached Eberhard Consulting to undertake and
independent review of the monitoring, evaluation and reporting plan. This document reports the results of
that review.



2 Background
    2.1 Noosa and TNC Partnership
The scope of the partnership between Noosa Council and the TNC is outlined within the Alliance & Funding
Agreement (Noosa Shire Council and The Nature Conservancy, 2019). The focus of the Partnership is to:
       “Improve the health and resilience of Noosa’s marine and estuarine environment through
        innovative restoration and coastal resilience projects;
       Capitalize on the expertise of The Nature Conservancy’s global networks and experience (through
        knowledge brokering, mentoring, study tours and access to subject matter experts) to improve
        Noosa River management and strengthen the long-term social, environmental and economic health
        and resilience of the Noosa River and surrounding marine environment;
       Demonstrate a leading example of a replicable, environmentally-focused, collaborative alliance that
        achieves superior outcomes for the environment and local communities compared to existing river
        and marine management models; and,
       Increase government (State and Federal), private, industry and community support for restoration
        and conservation-focused activities that improve the long-term social, economic and environmental
        health and resilience of the Noosa River and surrounding marine environment.” (Noosa Shire
        Council and The Nature Conservancy, 2019, p. 19)




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