Are Evaluations Useful for Learning? The Influence of Evaluations on Management Decisions in a Natural Protected Area

Abstract

The paper presents an analysis of the evaluation architecture of the National Commission of Natural Protected Areas (Spanish acronym CONANP). The purpose is to recognize factors that promote and inhibit the use of evaluations to guide the decision-making of park rangers who manage Natural Protected Areas (NPAs) in central Mexico. Ethnographic research techniques were used, which facilitated interaction with the organization’s personnel to understand the social process that influences the production and use of evaluations. Park rangers were found to interact with three types of evaluation, none of them was used to identify the impact of their actions. Nevertheless, their interaction enables them to identify areas for improvement in their management of NPAs. Some barriers are related to park rangers’ scope for maneuver regarding the implementation of changes, due, on the one hand, to budgetary limitations affecting their operational capacity and, on the other, to the negative consequences of an evaluative approach that requires demonstrating quantifiable results in the short term.