Collaborative Environmental Project in Indonesia

ENVIRONMENTAL INTELLIGENCE FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Creating Connections: Linking Local Community Participation to Marine Protected Area Management in Wakatobi National Park, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia

 by: Gina M. Elliott

(e-mail address: monkey-elliott@hotmail.com)

Thesis for Master of Environmental Studies University of Waterloo, 2000

Wakatobi National Park (WNP) is a marine protected area (MPA) in eastern Indonesia.  Within its boundaries are approximately 50 000 hectares of coral reefs which support extremely high levels of biological diversity.  Use of destructive fishing methods, particularly bombs and cyanide, threatens the overall health of the coral reefs, and thus also threatens the park’s biodiversity.  In response to this threat, the government of Indonesia has made conservation o the park’s coral reefs a management priority.  The conventional “fences and fines” approach to park management, whereby the central government attempts to control marine resource use through area restrictions and closures (fences), and penalties for disobeying rules (fines), has been deployed for this purpose.

Although the park is still in its formative years (established in 1996; complete management plan developed in January 1998), many of the park’s resident fishers already believe that the park has made their lives more difficult.  Residents think that the park plan does not take the multiplicity of socioeconomic and cultural factors that affect local marine use into account, nor does it consider their needs, the overall effect being that they are not prepared to comply with the management regulations.  As WNP does not have sufficient human and financial resources to support rigorous monitoring and enforcement, the majority of residents are not complying with park rules, the basis of conservation and resource management in the park.

This research examines the viability of improving the effectiveness, efficiency, and equity of resource and environmental management in Wakatobi National Park by increasing local community participation in park management, and developing co-management regimes between local communities and government agencies.  The study examined: (1) the feasibility of increasing local participation in general; (2) the compatibility of local community and government agency management objectives; and (3) specific issues for which increasing community participation should improve the overall effectiveness of the management strategy.  This information was used to develop recommendations for increasing the effectiveness, efficiency and equity of the management of WNP.

A series of participatory rural appraisal activities were used to collect data from members of three fishing villages in the park during 1998.  Data collected by these activities were complemented by and triangulated with information collected in informal interviews and participant observation.  Subsequent research activities included interviewing key informants from the villages and from other areas of WNP, and reviewing literature pertinent to community participation in MPA management.

Five management objectives were identified as common to both local residents and government agencies.  These included: eliminating the use of destructive fishing practices in the park; conserving coral reefs; conserving mangrove and seagrass areas, increasing and diversifying economic activity in the park; and, increasing tourism development in the park.

Conclusions pertain to eight aspects of MPA management in WNP.  In general, there is need for park managers to work with local communities to amend the 1998 Management Plan so that it is more accommodating of the needs and desires of the local people, so that they are able and willing to support the plan, instead of being marginalized by it.  Sections of the management plan that should be revised include: the zoning scheme, the system for monitoring of the zones, and the plans to develop tourism in the park.  Furthermore, there is a need for developing or improving methods of disseminating information pertinent to park management both among government agencies, and between the government and the local communities.

Recommendations focus on increasing management effectiveness, efficiency and equity by promoting the exchange of information between stakeholders so that (1) management objectives and procedures can accommodate as many stakeholder interests as possible and (2) problems and issues of concern can be identified; and promoting the development of partnerships between community groups and government agencies so that (3) community interests are genuinely reflected in the management plan, and (4) communities develop a sense of ownership of the plan, leading to local support for and compliance with the management regime.

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