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Reef Roundtable: A Leadership Friday, August 1, 9:00 am-2:00 pm Organizer: Melissa Bos, Seascape Strategy Facilitator, consultant to Conservation International Fee: None (registration sponsored by Conservation International) Registration: Limited to 50 people By invitation only (contact organizer for details) Background Coral reef management in the Main Hawaiian Islands involves numerous organizations and strategies. At least 12 non-governmental organizations, 11 multi-organizational committees, 13 divisions of the state government, 10 divisions of the federal government, county governments, numerous community groups, and several academic groups are active in reef management projects. Twenty-two strategies and plans related to reef management have been developed over the last seven years, and several more are in development. While it is valuable to have so much effort in the area of reef management, redundancies and miscommunications are limiting the potential for progress. Stakeholder fatigue is critically high. Limited funding sources are being stretched thin among numerous groups with similar goals. The public is increasingly confused about the responsibilities of each organization involved in reef management and they frequently voice frustration about the disconnected management of interconnected resources. It is time to bring together leaders to open channels of communication and collaboration. Several key groups, including DAR, TNC, CI, Castle, and CZM, have recently discussed the need for increased collaboration to achieve common goals. The Seascape Strategy program has been mapping ongoing work against management needs to determine redundancies and gaps. A summit of leaders in conjunction with the 2008 Hawaii Conservation Conference is the next step. The summit will bring key decision makers to one table to 1) better understand the scope, strengths, and limitations of each other’s work, 2) identify the challenges to collaboration, and 3) create strategic action items towards a more synergistic future. Description The summit will be a one day facilitated discussion between invited representatives of key organizations. The number of attendees will be a balance between including all organizations involved in reef management and keeping the size of the summit small enough to produce meaningful dialogue. Before the summit, attendees will be asked to fill out a one-page description of their organization, strategy, goals, etc, and these will be combined with matrices of ongoing work, gaps, and redundcies to form a briefing book for use at the summit. Invitees will be given a chance to briefly verbally describe their work. Agenda items will include discussions about integrating agency mandates, utilizing organization strengths and eliminated duplicative work, implementing numerous strategies and plans in a complimentary fashion, cooperation with stakeholder consultations, leveraging funding through coordinated proposals, and effective mechanisms for communication. The summit will be one step in a continuing dialogue and will produce action items for follow-up by participants. Recommendations may range from repeating the summit periodically, to creating a networking mechanism, to joint proposals for future projects, to agency memorandum of understanding (MOU). Participants will leave with an enhanced understanding of the larger context of their work, contacts for new and strengthened partnerships, and ideas for how to better use their strengths to meet common goals. Tentative agenda
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