Indicators of success for smart law enforcement in protected areas: A case study for Russian Amur tiger (Panthera tigris altaica) reserves

Although considerable conservation resources have been committed to develop and use law enforcementmonitoring and management tools such as SMART, measures of success are ill-defined and, to date, few reports detail results post-implementation. Here, we present 4 case studies from protected areaswith Amur tigers( Pantheratigris altaica) in Russia, in which indicators of success were defined and evaluated at each. The ultimate goal was an increase in tigernumbers to 1 individual/100 km(2) at each site. We predicted that improvements in law enforcement effectivenesswould be followed by increases in prey numbers and, subsequently, tigernumbers. We used short-term and long-term indicators of success, including: (i) patrolteam effort and effectiveness; (ii) catch per unit effortindicators (to measure reductions in threats); and (iii) changes in target species numbers. In addition to implementing a monitoring system, we focused on improving law enforcementmanagement using an adaptive managementprocess. Over 4 years, we noted clear increases in patroleffort and a partial reduction in threats. Although we did not detect clear trends in ungulatenumbers, tigerpopulations remained stable or increased, suggesting that poachingof tigersmay be more limiting than prey depletion. Increased effectiveness is needed before a clear reduction in threats can be noted, and more time is needed before detecting responses in target populations. Nonetheless, delineation of concrete goals and indicators of success provide a means of evaluating progress and weaknesses. Such monitoring should be a central component of law enforcementstrategies for protected areas.