CONSORTIUM FOR ADVANCING THE MONITORING OF
ECOSYSTEM SUSTAINABILITY IN THE AMERICAS (CAMESA)

The Symposium is organized in partnership with governmental and nongovernmental agencies and institutions of the Americas.

Information About Camesa

RATIONALE

Wrestling with the complex problems of providing a sustainable world for future generations is the most crucial challenge society and governments face today and into the new millennium. Success in developing effective strategies to confront this formidable challenge will require novel forms of cooperation and collaboration between and among institutions across all jurisdictional boundaries. While a variety of socioeconomic and policy making processes for moving toward this desired future condition are taking place, their evolution is being accelerated by the rapidly increasing knowledge in science, engineering and technology - and by the emergence of increasingly practical ways for disseminating and using data and information for the creation of knowledge. In the Knowledge Age that we are now entering, connectivity and networking among people and institutions have become common denominators of the sustainability equation. Outputs from such knowledge-based partnership strategies could become powerful multipliers of progress in a wide range of social and economic endeavors for sustainability.

Among many other indicators, these ongoing transformations strongly indicate that it is timely for nations of the Americas to galvanize the scientific and technological capabilities of their institutions into concerted action for advancing research and monitoring for managing their economic, social and ecological systems in a sustainable manner across continental scales. Working in partnership to carry out this common task will further evolve the knowledge of our institutions to confront successfully the complex sustainability challenges of the new millennium. In light of these emerging scenarios, new strategies for harnessing the power of knowledge that can result from working in partnership are essential for ensuring the health of ecosystems and the well being of future generations.

THE CONSORTIUM

The Consortium for Advancing the Monitoring of Ecosystem Sustainability in the Americas (CAMESA) was created to address a key component of the complexity of the concerns referred to above. Specifically, the Consortium serves as a network mechanism for fostering cooperation and collaboration between and among institutions in the Americas on a variety of issue areas relevant to the development of integrated monitoring research approaches, and to their application for the assessment and management of ecosystem sustainability at different levels of geographic scale.

Under a non-legally binding framework, the Consortium provides a flexible platform where the institutions responsible for addressing the sustainability challenges of the new millennium can partner in a fashion that is equal and impartial. For the Americas, bringing about this multi-institutional knowledge partnership capacity is fundamental to meeting the challenges of ecosystem sustainability and ensuring the well-being of people and society.

VISION

The vision of the Consortium is to bring together the scientific and technological capabilities of the new millennium for facilitating and supporting advancement of knowledge on integrated inventorying and monitoring research approaches for the assessment and management of ecosystem sustainability in the Americas. Central to the pursuit of this vision is the communication and transfer of this knowledge to enable institutions and people everywhere in the Americas so that they become effective stakeholders in the pursuit of socioeconomic development that renews rather than degrades the physical and biological environment, and that enriches rather than impoverishes the social and cultural environment.

MISSION

The Consortium’s mission is to promote the development of integrated inventory and monitoring research approaches that employ scientific principles, are cost-effective, and are technically feasible. Significantly, CAMESA intends for the outcomes of its work to be scientifically defensible as well as credible. This will assure the suitability of their application for the assessment and management of ecosystem sustainability at multiple levels of geographic scale and among institutions in the Americas. This mission focuses on the design and implementation of research and development projects, pilot studies, short courses, seminars, conferences, symposia, workshops, and institutional networking. The expected outcomes of these activities include establishing effective communication channels between and among its partners and clients in order to maximize knowledge networking and connectivity on all issue areas related to inventory and monitoring for the assessment of ecosystem sustainability.

The ultimate goal of the Consortium is to galvanize government and non-government institutions into concerted action to confront, with measurable success, complex and shared sustainability challenges across national boundaries and ecological systems.

SCOPE AND FUNCTION

The Consortium’s scope embodies facilitation of institutional processes for promoting the development of integrated monitoring research approaches, and their application for the assessment and management of ecosystem sustainability at local, state, national, and continental scales in the Americas. Working with partners and clients, the action programs of the Consortium will be conducted across a variety of ecosystem resource groups: agro-ecosystems, forests, woodlands, plantations, arid and rangelands, wetlands, riparian and estuarine areas, surface and coastal waters, atmospheric systems, and urban ecosystems. Central to this operational context is that none of these ecosystems exists in isolation; each is part of the whole, and together they define the whole.

ACTION AREAS

Through specific topical activities, the Consortium will provide supporting services for integration of inventory and monitoring research approaches across national and continental scales. The topical activities shall include, but not be limited to, the following:

• Global Change Monitoring Research and Applications;
• Ecosystem Management Science and Geospatial Applications;
• Inventory and Monitoring Science and Geospatial Applications;
• Criteria and Indicators Science and Geospatial Applications;
• Statistical Sampling Design Validation and Geospatial Applications;
• Field Methodology Design and Implementation;
• Quality Assurance and Quality Control Systems;
• Statistical Data Analysis and Geospatial Modeling Approaches;
• Data and Information Management Systems Design;
• Assessments and Syntheses Development;
• Total Quality Management of Inventory and Monitoring Research Programs;
• Networking Strategies for Effective Information Communication;

By working on these action areas, partner and client institutions will generate and share pertinent information for advancing their monitoring and research programs. Building this knowledge base capability will allow institutions in the Americas to follow consistent, compatible, comparable, and integrated inventory and monitoring strategies for the assessment and management of ecosystem sustainability.

ACTORS AND PLAYERS

As stated in its vision, the Consortium serves institutions and people involved with or having relevant inventory and monitoring research programs for the assessment and management of ecosystem sustainability. Consequently, potential actors and players include, but are not limited to: land management and environmental protection agencies, trilateral and multilateral organizations, universities and research centers, foundations, industry, landowners, resource managers, graduate students, and the wider scientific community. Working under a non-legally binding framework for cooperation and collaboration, the Consortium’s partners and clients will have access to shared resources and services (e.g., publicly-available datasets and databases, publicly-accessible information management systems, experts, technical support, contact networks, publications, newsletters, meetings, seminars, short courses, conferences, workshops, symposia, benchmarking and evaluation exercises, international mission representation, and referrals). The Consortium will bring, therefore, the distinctive capabilities of member institutions and individuals into an integrated multinational partnership for the advancement of ecosystem resource inventory and monitoring.

OUTCOMES AND BENEFITS

While the Consortium delivers tangible products and benefits from a research and technology transfer perspective, the most fundamental value is its facilitating role in fostering the development and application of integrated inventory and monitoring approaches for across local, state, national, and continental scales. As a knowledge-based partnership, the Consortium brings about a joint response capability to further understand common problems and issues, define and establish strategies for action, seek out ways for alternative solutions to confront issues and problems, deliver assessments and syntheses, and establish mechanisms to cultivate cooperation and collaboration between and among institutions in the Americas. Significantly, creation of this joint response capability will enable partner institutions and society to deal more effectively with current and future environmental and socioeconomic uncertainties.

ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

The organizational structure of the Consortium rests on a multi-institutional knowledge partnership capacity, non-legally binding, for carrying out its vision, mission, and programs as well as program evaluations. Specifically, it consists of the following: The Consortium General Coordinator (CGC), The Partnership of Senior Policy Advisors (PSPA), The Council of Partner Institutions (CPI), and The Partnership of Science and Technology Advisors (PSTA).

The Consortium General Coordinator. The Consortium General Coordinator shall be the Director of the Rocky Mountain Research Station (RMRS) of the USDA Forest Service. The CGC is responsible for overseeing the daily activities of CAMESA. To carry out this function, the CGC will rely on the technical and logistical support provided by the Research Coordinator for the Americas (RCA) of the Rocky Mountain Research Station.

The Partnership of Senior Policy Advisors. Membership for The Partnership of Senior Policy Advisors shall consist of three categories:

Membership:

• Founding Members. One representative from each of the CAMESA's Founding Federal Institutions and;
• Non-Founding Members. One representative of any participating organization accepted to the PSPA by majority vote of the Founding Members. The number of Non-Founding Members shall not exceed twenty percent of the total membership of the PSPA; this limit, however, may be increased at the discretion of the PSPA. The tenure of Non-founding Members shall be three years.
• Emeritus. Members of the PSPA who have retired from their official positions, but that remain committed to service to CAMESA.

Voting:

• Founding Members shall have Voting Rights;
• Founding Members are empowered to select additional voting members to the PSPA;
• Founding Members are empowered to select additional Non-Founding (Non-Voting) Members to the PSPA;
• Non-Founding Members shall have Voting Rights; and
• Emeritus Members shall not have Voting Rights.

Responsibilities:

• Establishing action programs, priorities and evaluations;
• Establishing overall operation policies and the decision-making process;
• Establishing guidelines for CAMESA Council's and the PSTA's membership and operation; and
• Allocating funds for action programs.

Officer(s):

• The Chair of the PSPA of Directors is the President of CAMESA.
  • Election of President
    • Founding Members and Non-founding Members are empowered to nominate candidates for President;
    • A Non-founding Member may be nominated for President; and
    • Founding Members only are empowered to vote for President.

The role of the President is to provide executive leadership to the Consortium activities, represent the Consortium and carry out additional activities as agreed to by the Partnership of Senior Policy Advisors.

The Council of Partner Institutions (CPI). The CPI is the Consortium-wide forum of all participating institutions and organizations. The Council includes any additional representatives from agencies currently on the PSPA; and it includes representatives from private sector groups, foundations, pro bono organizations, and the academic and scientific (includes legal and socio-economic disciplines) communities. The Council provides guidance on program priorities, and makes recommendations for action to the PSPA on activities and on internal, CAMESA policy. The Council shall have a President and Vice President chosen by majority vote of the Council. The tenure of the President and Vice President shall be two years.

The Partnership of Science and Technology Advisors (PSTA). The PSTA’s members, upon request, provide scientific and technical advice to the PSPA and to the CPI. They are nominated by either members of the PSPA, or of the CPI. They are selected and approved for service by vote of the PSPA. The PSTA shall have a Chair and Vice Chair appointed by the PSPA. The tenure of the Chair and Vice Chair shall be two years.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES

In pursuit of its vision, the Consortium adheres to the following guiding principles:

• The use of an ecological-economic integrated approach to address the complexity of monitoring and assessing ecosystem sustainability;
• Recognition that ecosystems and human dimension systems are linked and interdependent at multiple scales of spatial and temporal resolution, and that ecosystem sustainability assessments should account for this complexity;
• It recognizes that the development and application of integrated methodologies and approaches to ecosystem monitoring are essential for generating scientifically-credible assessments and syntheses for understanding and confronting the complexity of ecosystem sustainability;
• It recognizes that for achieving successful results it is critically important to network and collaborate across national boundaries with all key institutions and people concerned with the issues and challenges of monitoring ecosystem resources and their sustainability;
• The use of the best scientific and local knowledge in developing and recommending appropriate technologies for monitoring and assessing ecosystem resources and their sustainability; and
• It will strive for quality and excellence in everything done and be sensitive to the effects of recommendations on resources, people, institutions, and nations.

PARTNERSHIP OF SENIOR POLICY ADVISORS

PARTNERSHIP OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY ADVISORS