Stakeholder Engagement
It is important to us that our products and services meet the needs of our partners, collaborators, and stakeholders. We strive to produce relevant and accessible information.
Our Commitment
We know that excellence in stakeholder engagement helps deliver value. We are committed to continually implementing and improving our stakeholder engagement processes to ensure our products meet the needs of our stakeholders.
What are Stakeholders?
IAP2 defines stakeholders as “any individual, group of individuals, organizations or political entity with a stake in the outcome of a decision.”
With Whom Do We Engage?
We are committed to working with groups interested in managing Alberta’s living resources. These include the agriculture, energy, and forest industries; the environmental community; and all levels of government.
Our Stakeholders Matter
Read about our engagement objectives, our approach, our engagement in action and our process.
The ABMI Strategic Plan
Read our 2023-26 Strategic Plan.
NOTE: LINK NEEDS TO BE UPDATED WHEN PUBLICATIONS ARE UPDATED BEFORE LAUNCH.
Our Engagement Objectives
We strive to engage early and often to:
1. Better understand how ABMI can support resource management systems.
2. Ensure that our information and products meet the needs of stakeholders and communities, through consistent engagement throughout the development cycle.
3. Ensure that our most recent activities and findings are readily available and broadly understood.
4. Make sure others have a voice in how the ABMI operates and communicates our monitoring information.
Our Approach to Engagement
The ABMI follows the IAP2 approach and guidelines for stakeholder engagement throughout our project development cycles.
Our Engagement in Action
In 2017 we entered our 10th year of formal operations. To mark this milestone and guide our future operations, the ABMI launched a 10-year science and program review.
The process was designed to evaluate:
1. Our success in meeting the needs of our key partners and stakeholders; and
2. Our scientific framework and success in delivering on our initial scientific objectives.
Incorporating Bat Monitoring Technology into WildTrax
WildTrax is an online platform for managing, storing, processing, sharing and discovering biological and environmental sensor data. As of April 2021, the platform supported sensor data from ARUs and remote cameras, and the WildTrax team had successfully acquired a grant from the Alberta Upstream Petroleum Research Fund (AUPRF) to support the integration of bat monitoring sensors into the platform.
The WildTrax team connected with individuals and organizations currently monitoring bats across the province using sensors. Interviews were conducted for the team to be able to:
- Develop an understanding of the workflow currently used to manage, process, and analyze bat data, and
- Determine what that workflow would need to look like to support the use of an online, open-data platform.
The information gathered was used by our developers to integrate bat sensors into WildTrax. The first iteration of the inclusion of bat sensors in the platform was released in the fall of 2022. All individuals who had previously been contacted for interviews were notified of a webinar explaining how bat sensors are currently incorporated in the platform.
Watch the webinar here.
We thank all individuals who contributed their expertise to this upgrade to WildTrax.
Our Engagement Process
- Starts early and continues throughout the project life-cycle,
- Is flexibly designed to utilize a variety of engagement techniques most accessible to each group, and
- Demonstrates how the ABMI follows through with commitments made to our stakeholders throughout the engagement process.
Stakeholder Needs Assessment
During the stakeholder needs assessment portion of the 10-year review, stakeholders identified these needs:
- Knowledge transfer (increased outreach, additional support tools),
- Geospatial information (increased resolution),
- Better alignment between organizations (need for standardization of methodology, language),
- Resources (additional financial and human resource capacity),
- Confidentiality (increased sensitivity around privacy rights), and
- Monitoring information (expanded taxa).
Our Strategic Plan
The results from the stakeholder needs assessment are a driving force behind the ABMI’s updated strategic plan. We have committed to:
- Continued monitoring of Alberta’s landscapes and biodiversity,
- Continued scientific innovating,
- Increased knowledge translation efforts, and
- Increased collaborative efforts.
