Significance and Monitoring

Abstract

Za vsak program monitoringa v jamah je nujno potreben predhodni popis vseh bistvenih lastnosti nekega procesa. Monitoring ni sam sebi namen, pač pa je del integriranega procesa, osnovanega na bistvenih lastnostih upravljalskega procesa. Nujno je, da vemo, kaj v jami je res pomembno, da poznamo pogoje, v katerih lahko to pomembnost ohranimo in, da so tako ohranjeni pogoji celota vseh pomembnih dejavnikov. Na primer, če ne poznamo mehanizma odlaganja blatnih sedimentov, potem monitoring stanja kapnikov ne bo preprečil ponovnega odlaganja blata, ki smo ga sicer odstranili s pranjem pod visokim pritiskom. Podobno nima nobenega smisla merjenje temperature, če je prah glavna gro‘nja pomembnim elementom. Edini način, po katerem spoznamo, da je monitoring uspešen je ta, da merimo značilnosti in celovitost pomembnih elementov. Sicer lahko zberemo veliko pomembnih podatkov, najpomembnejše oblike pa nam medtem propadejo. Zato se mora monitoring nanašati na nujne okoliščine, pri katerih še lahko ohranimo bistvene značilnosti ter na sprotno stanje in celovitost pomembnih značilnosti.

An inventory survey followed by a significance assessment process, are essential precursors to any cave monitoring program. Monitoring must not be seen as an end in itself, but as part of an integrated, significance- based management process. It is essential to know what is significant, the conditions necessary to maintain its significance and that the condition and integrity of significant elements are being maintained. For instance, if the significance of a mud deposit is not known, monitoring the condition of speleothems will not stop the mud deposit from being destroyed by high-pressure water cleaning. Similarly, there is little point in monitoring temperature if dust is the main threat to the significant elements. The only way to know that monitoring of environmental conditions is effective is to monitor the ongoing condition and integrity of the significant elements themselves. Without this, lots of interesting data could be collected while the most important features of the cave are lost. Monitoring should therefore address the conditions necessary for the maintenance of significance and the ongoing condition and integrity of significant elements.