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We facilitated the development of a co-designed and locally led community biodiversity inventory (CBI) in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, using nine design principles for participatory action research that promoted inclusivity. A questionnaire survey toward the end of the process found significant differences between people who were engaged and disengaged in the CBI. Engaged people valued biodiversity and ecosystem services, envisioned employment through ecotourism, and held a community-led view of governance. Disengaged people valued human-made and abiotic resources, overlooked threats to ecosystems, envisioned development through agriculture, and held a government-led view of governance. We postulate that CBIs attract actors interested in cultural biodiversity conservation. The process reinforces their beliefs and may affect others, forming the nucleus for local ecosystem stewardship. Community biodiversity inventories are, however, no panacea for local empowerment. Processes beyond local people's and facilitators' control and unrealized expectations may negate the impacts of well-intended efforts and good practices. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The recognition of complexity and uncertainty in natural resource management has lead to the development of a wealth of conceptual frameworks aimed at integrated assessment and complex systems monitoring. Relatively less attention has however been given to methodological approaches that might facilitate learning as part of the monitoring process. This paper reviews the monitoring literature relevant to adaptive co-management, with a focus on the synergies between existing monitoring frameworks, collaborative monitoring approaches and social learning. The paper discusses the role of monitoring in environmental management in general, and the challenges posed by scale and complexity when monitoring in adaptive co-management. Existing conceptual frameworks for monitoring relevant to adaptive co-management are reviewed, as are lessons from experiences with collaborative monitoring. The paper concludes by offering a methodological approach to monitoring that actively seeks to engender reflexive learning as a means to deal with uncertainty in natural resource management. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]