Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is an important management tool within regional sustainability initiatives. This paper explores how M&E can be most effectively applied to help the Araucarias del Alto Malleco Model Forest (AMMF) promote community and natural resource sustainability, and how adaptive management can support the achievement of this goal. For a strategic plan with five priority areas the current results-based M&E program is comprehensive and genuinely seeks community feedback, but is overly complex and not well implemented to support the effectiveness of AMMF programs. Opportunities for improvement to the program include adherence to indicator design principles, better integration of M&E within model forest operations, feedback loops, clarity of objectives, and narrowing the focus to areas which are relevant to management decisions and continual improvement. Adaptive management can support the innovation and research focus of AMMF and provide greater depth to the existing repertoire of model forest planning tools.

Model forest, Araucarias del alto Malleco, Adaptive management