The bulk of the project delivery occurred in the last year, as the Spatial Data Analyst established in the GIS Office of St Helena Government (SHG) and carried out the mapping, analysis, and engagement work to trial this approach to ensuring evidence is available and analysed on a real-time basis in order to make decisions. From this base in the GIS Office, regular presence was established on a two-weekly schedule with key partners in SHG’s Environment, Natural Resources and Planning Portfolio, Sustainable Development Office, Central Support Service, and the St Helena Research Institute.
In addition, more engagement was carried out through the events such as the public-facing GIS Day on 18 November 2021, a public education and training workshop “Maps, Nature, People, and Decisions” held on 21 March 2022, and a workshop on “How Can GIS Help You?” delivered to people working across the spectrum of SHG’s work. Overall, the project engaged more than 90 stakeholders across all 6 portfolios of the St Helena Government and 11 outside entities. MAES methods applied and showcased have included the identification of ecosystem services hotspots, participatory GIS, and Multi-Criteria Decision Analysis.
Topics where spatial data analysis has now fed into decision-making have included policies to reduce the risk of hybridisation of endemic plant species, distribution of endemic invertebrate records to inform the next St Helena Invertebrate Conservation Strategy, biosecurity and invasive species control, and mapping of pollination services. As a result of the increased stakeholder engagement with MAES outputs from the project, St Helena jumped into first place on the MAES implementation barometer used by MOVE-ON to assess the quality and use of data about ecosystem services in each of the anchor project regions.
In addition to an end of anchor project report, the South Atlantic Anchor Project will also use the in-depth experience of St Helena to provide guidance on including environmental spatial data in policy and decisions. These will then be expanded into a wider set of guidelines on how to bridge the gap between evidence and decision-making on small islands. These results are anticipated to be delivered in spring 2022.