The Caribbean Landscape Conservation Cooperative (CLCC) recently completed the CLCC Science Strategy: Mission Alignment to outline shared conservation values among CLCC partner entities. After meeting this important benchmark, Steering Committee (SC) members and outside reviewers suggested that the CLCC adopt a structured approach for integrating shared values and providing greater context and guidance for Science Strategy planning and implementation. This report summarizes the early design and development phases of a Structured Decision Making (SDM) approach applied during a June 2015 SC face-to-face meeting (hereafter referred to as the “CLCC SDM Workshop”) and outlines the next steps in the process.SDM is a formal, proactive, values-based approach to decision-making that involves decomposing problems into component parts to allow for assessment and resolution of decision impediments with appropriate analytical tools. Hammond et al. (1999) coined the acronym PrOACT to collectively describe a 5-step SDM process. Elements of this process include: 1) Problem definition (Pr), 2) identification and structuring of Objectives (O), 3) development of management Alternatives (A), 4) evaluation of the Consequences of alternatives relative to objectives (C), and 5) assessment of Tradeoffs to identify an optimal solution (T). By adopting an SDM approach, the CLCC aims to achieve transparent, purposeful, and collaborative co-production of conservation- specifically, multi-partner Landscape Conservation Design (LCD) in the U.S. Caribbean. The early development phases of the SDM process, including Problem definition and Objective identification, allow for identification of common values among CLCC partner entities. Those values will guide conservation actions, and, ultimately, act as a foundation for CLCC operations.ObjectivesThe purpose of using an SDM approach with SC members is to guide creation of a framework for developing, assessing, and implementing management decisions using LCD in the U.S. Caribbean. Although the individual agencies and organizations represented on the SC independently implement conservation decisions, no single entity has the perspective, resources or jurisdiction to realize LCD independently. A goal of the CLCC is to provide a structure for identifying the collective values of all partner entities and stakeholders in order to evaluate priorities, strategies, and actions that best meet the shared conservation vision of the Cooperative. The principal purpose, therefore, of the SDM process is to identify alternative strategies and management actions for CLCC Conservation Action Teams (CATs) to implement, and – as appropriate - partner organizations to support, given their mission, capacities, opportunities, and annual work plansWith the above goals in mind, and with consideration that SDM is a formal process that involves the sequential realization of each of the 5 steps listed above, there were three main objectives for the CLCC SDM Workshop:1. Familiarize participating SC members with the foundational elements and concepts of decision theory to increase support for the approach and facilitate active participation in the early design phases of the SDM Process.2. Complete Step 1 of the SDM process by developing a consensus decision statement. This step involved the development of an explicit description of the nature of the decisions to be made and details of the strategic framework, including governance structure [who is (are) the decision maker(s)?], relevant temporal and spatial scales, and any other considerations that may constrain the problem.3. Complete (or get as close to completion as possible) Step 2 of the SDM process by developing and structuring a set of actionable Objectives that reflect CLCC shared values and priorities.Post-workshop goals include engaging CLCC SC members through the remainder of the PrOACT cycle, to result ultimately in a clear actionable conservation strategy.
