Step 1. Describe the Social Context
To capture Life at Large we need to start with the
human context. The social, economic and political influences on a region. What
are the borders of the region, who lives there, what do they do, how do they
relate to nature and what do they value? The social context tells us how a region
got to where it is today, what's important to the people who live there, and it
provides a basis for exploring possibilities for the future.
Step 2. Consult Biodiversity Checklist
The biodiversity checklist provides a systematic guide to finding environmental data that describes the current status of species and communities and their historic trends, their physical environment and the natural processes that support life.
Step 3. Develop Regional Scenarios
This step involves bringing together a group that represents the people and interests in a region. Using their local experience and the background material from the previous two steps, it's possible to identify the most important and uncertain drivers inside and outside the region that are likely to influence biodiversity. These drivers can then be used to construct a wide range of plausible scenarios that can be used to test the effectiveness of policies, plans and strategies.
Step 4. Map Processes and Threats
This step involves identifying the natural processes critical to the future of biodiversity in a region, those that support and those that threaten natural values, and representing them under their present and plausible future conditions.
Step 5. Model Species and Communities
Using the information from the previous 4 steps, it is now possible to explore the likely fate of individual species and whole communities under the influence of changes in land use, climate, fire regimes, invasive plants and animals, governance and the other factors most likely to shape biodiversity.
Step 6. Set Priorities
The final step is to present the information from the
previous steps in ways that enable decision makers and stakeholders to explore
their implications and set priorities for action. This can be done by visually
representing natural values such as the distribution of particular species,
communities or even whole landscapes under the influence of different drivers
of change. In our case, we used a dynamic form of spatial multi-criteria
analysis in workshops with managers.
A second aspect of this step involves developing governance options that
could protect natural value as well as satisfy other regional goals.