Page 213 - Manual for Activities directed at the Underwater Cultural Heritage

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Structure of the management plan
Executive summary
As in a project design, an executive summary is useful for a management plan as it summarizes the main points of the in-depth report and allows the audience to become quickly acquainted with a large body of material.
Site definition
a. Description and significance
However important the administrative details or the description of the management structure may be, it is the description of the site itself and the ensuing discussion of its significance that drive the management plan. It is because of its significance that the site is managed in the first place. The plan should therefore begin with the description of the site’s character and its extent, especially if that is different from the later administrative delimitation of the management plan. Just like a project design for an ‘activity directed at a site’, a management plan should refer to all previous studies of the site. They form the basis on which the plan is developed and are preliminary to the plan’s development in that sense.
Most of all, previous studies and preliminary work form the basis for a discussion of a site’s significance. Here, it suffices to reiterate that significance is subject to change. It develops as more information becomes available, and as more people learn about the site, nationally and internationally. In a way, significance can also be created. The more media coverage it obtains or the more attention it attracts, the more significance is attributed to the site. Significance needs to be assessed anew whenever new developments take place, such as the drafting of a management plan. Of course it should also build upon earlier information and assessments, but it should be up-to-date. New stakeholders may be identified or may have identified themselves, through the many ‘verifiable links’ that the site might gradually reveal.
Conservation and site management