Community Based Management

Understanding the scale, location and nature conservation values of the lands over which Indigenous Peoples exercise traditional rights is central to implementation of several global conservation and climate agreements. However, spatial information on Indigenous lands has never been aggregated globally. Here, using publicly available geospatial resources, we show that Indigenous Peoples manage or have tenure rights over at least ~38 million km2 in 87 countries or politically distinct areas on all inhabited continents. This represents over a quarter of the world’s land surface, and intersects about 40% of all terrestrial protected areas and ecologically intact landscapes (for example, boreal and tropical primary forests, savannas and marshes).

Govan H. 2009. SPC Traditional Marine Resource Management and Knowledge Information Bulletin #25

This article is based on Govan’s 2009 paper, Status and Potential of Locally Managed Marine Areas in the South Pacific. It discusses the widespread acceptance of LMMAs throughout many of the Pacific Islands, and briefly outlines the benefits for communities. However, it highlights the limitations of LMMAs if not managed in the wider context of integrated coastal management.

Community Conservation in the Arnavon Islands

Capacity Development for Protected and Other Conserved Areas in the Pacific Islands Region

This document is an important tool for promoting action. It highlights the importance of culturally‐responsive capacity development, with Pacific Islanders defining the most appropriate approaches to be used. This requires partnerships, programs, and processes that work closely with existing contexts and conditions, understand and reflect values and cultures, and help build on existing knowledge and the great strength of the region – community‐based management.  

Capacity for Conservation relates to organisational ability to deliver effective protected area management.  Operated by several conservation organisations, Capacity for Conservation believes that building strong conservation organisations is one of the most effective means of making a lasting contribution to conservation. It aims to support self-led organisational development to achieve conservation goals.

Community Information Pamphlet; unkown date. Department of Fisheries, Tonga

WorldFish. 2013.  CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems. Penang, Malaysia. 

This guide describes the process and activities that WorldFish staff have used and adapted as facilitators working with communities interested in marine resource management in Solomon Islands (2005-2013). It is a teaching guide for facilitators and presents a logical step-wise process that a facilitator (an individual or organization) can follow. The guide outlines the tools and activities that the authors found most useful at each step in the process.

The guide is divided into five modules: 

Tawake, A., Meo, S., Cakacaka, A. and Aalbersberg, W.G.L. 2004. Institute of Applied Sciences,  USP

The paper describes the process used by the Fiji Locally Managed Marine-Area (FLMMA) Network to train communities in simple biological monitoring and data presentation and to develop a biological monitoring plan for their projects. The contents of each session and tools used in this training manual have previously been tested in several other FLMMA sites and further refinement has been applied through the community biological monitoring training for five FLMMA project sites at Tagaqe village in 2003.

Conservation standards: From rights to responsibilities

Although conservation interventions aim to protect biological and cultural diversity, they can affect communities in a number of ways. The vast body of international law, norms and standards protecting human rights offers little rights-based, practical guidance for conservation initiatives. Focusing on indigenous peoples, this paper aims to provide a set of draft conservation standards that outline:

• how indigenous peoples’ rights are enshrined in international law

• how conservation interventions can infringe these rights

This study identifies the importance of: acquiring robust baseline data, being fully protected (no-take), using ecosystembased management, community inclusion, and of adopting an ecologically connected network approach. These features are needed for large marine reserves to maximize achieving both ecological and socioeconomic goals, with particular attention to engagement of local communities. This study opens the possibility of refining and adapting the criteria developed through the PIMR case study as starting point for other Large- Scale MPAs, as their global expansion could benefit from comparative analysis. It also acknowledges the importance of having comparative design and management guides, contributing towards globally recognized standards for large-scale MPAs.

Although marine protected areas (MPAs) in the United States are typically planned and implemented through a top-down, legislative approach by federal or state government agencies, marine resource managers are increasingly incorporating more bottom-up, community engagement strategies as part of their professional “toolkits.” Managers engage local communities for a wide variety of reasons, from raising awareness about the existence or conservation goals of an MPA to recruiting volunteers and citizen scientists.

Engaging Communities

King, M, Lambeth, L. 2000. Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Noumea, New Caledonia.

This manual provides guidelines and suggestions on how communities can be encouraged to take a leading role in the management of their fisheries and the marine environment. It promotes the Samoan model as a success story that could be transferred to other parts of the Pacific. It provides substantial background information on fisheries in the Pacific Islands, including marine ecology, fishing techniques, gear types and more.

From livelihoods to equity for better protected area conservation

These guidelines, prepared by the Privately Protected Areas and Nature Stewardship Specialist Group of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, offer a range of best practices for establishing PPAs and securing effective longterm conservation on private properties. They offer specific guidance applicable to areas under private governance and management, including appropriate legal and institutional arrangements and useful insights into funding mechanisms. These guidelines discuss different options and instruments for establishing and managing PPAs, drawing on a diversity of PPAs from around the world.

Pomeroy, R.S., Parks, J.E., Watson, L. M. 2004.  How is Your MPA Doing? A Guidebook of Natural and Social Indicators for Evaluating Marine Protected Area Management Effectiveness. IUCN Gland, Switzerland and Cambridge, UK

This comprehensive guidebook was developed to assist MPA managers in assessing the performance of their MPA. It contains step-by-step instructions on how to carry out effective monitoring including on selecting indicators, planning and conducting the evaluation and communicating the results for adaptive management.

This is a simple guide on the Solomon Islands Protected Areas Act 2010 and how to establish terrestrial and marine protect areas through its provisions. The guide was produced and published with the assistance of the SPREP Pacific Ecosystem-based Adaptation to Climate Change (PEBACC) project.  

Communities dependent on natural resources for food and livelihoods are extremely vulnerable to climate change and its impacts. Tropical cyclones are a frequent occurrence in the Pacific and can have devastating impacts on coastal communities, particularly in remote or isolated areas. However, most post-cyclone studies focus on damages and losses to infrastructure and services, and do not quantify the impact on fishers or community fisheries. We conducted a study to assess the social and economic effects of Category 5 Tropical Cyclone Winston on mud crab fishers in Bua Province, Fiji. The study methodology was one-on-one surveys with mud crab fishers, mostly women, in 16 villages who had previously participated in a 2015 value chain analysis survey.

Islands of the Future: Building resilience in a changing world

Twenty years down the road from the Barbados Programme of Action (1994) and ten years after the Mauritius Strategy (2004), Small Island Developing States (SIDS) are in Apia, Samoa to take stock and define future priorities at the Third International Conference on SIDS, from 1 to 4 September.

Kiribati Integrated Environment Policy

The Kiribati Integrated Environment Policy (KIEP) is a key strategic policy document that marks an important milestone for the Government of Kiribati. It sets a solid policy platform for long term planning and action to respond to priority environmental issues, in particular the impacts of global climate change on our islands. It is a statement of intent and a document providing guidance and direction for government, local communities, development partners and all other stakeholders. This document is particularly relevant for 2012 the year of Rio+20 as we take stock of what we have done since the Earth Summit in 1992 and look to the future.

Govan, H, Aalbersberg, W., Tawake, A. and Parks, J.E. 2008.  The Locally-Managed Marine Area Network (LMMA)

This paper is designed primarily for coastal community members, leaders and supporting partner organizations to gain the knowledge and skills that they need to establish a successful locally-managed marine area (LMMA) with community-based adaptive management (CBAM).

The four phases are thoroughly explained:

initial assessment; LMMA design and planning; implementation of CBAM; ongoing CBAM

The paper is appropriate for people who are members of the community or highly familiar with it and has already been used in countries where LMMAs are established.

King, M., Passfield, K. and Ropeti, R.  2001. Management of Village Fisheries; Samoa’s Community-Based Management Strategy 

Samoa currently has more than 80 fish reserves managed by the community with assistance from the Fisheries Division. This detailed document outlines the process used by communities in Samoa in the preparation of fisheries management plans and establishment of fish reserves. It describes some of the activities to be carried out with the communities (e.g. problem/solution trees) and has descriptions of some of the regulations that communities can propose as fisheries management measures (e.g. limiting the number of fishers).

McKenzie, L.J. & Campbell, S.J. 2002 Western Pacific Edition (QFS, NFC, Cairns).  Manual for Community Monitoring of Sea Grass Habitat in the Western Pacific

This community monitoring guide is designed to cover the region of the Philippines, Papua New Guinea and Northern Australia and is intended for Government and Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) working closely with community members to map and monitor sea grass habitats.

In this article, I explore the knowledge and values that allowed the people of Oceania to develop sustainable use of their marine resources, followed by the demise of these systems after western colonization and the breakdown of traditional societies. The current renaissance of customary stewardship has resulted in not only more effective management, but also a cultural reawakening in many of these island nations. The integration of customary and contemporary management regimes holds great promise for reducing reliance on foreign goods and services, while also improving social cohesion.

Teaiwa, K. and Mercer, C. 2011.  Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Noumea, New Caledonia.

This document is a resource for ‘structuring the culture sector’ in Pacific Island countries and territories. It draws on approaches from a variety of international models while attending to several issues and concerns relevant to the Pacific Island region specifically.

It presents a background to understanding the Cultural Mapping, Planning and Policy Process (CMPPP) and explains why and how to go through a CMPPP. The appendices also contain some useful information e.g. developing a National Cultural Policy: Mapping, Planning and Policy Process.

Deguit, E.T., Smith, R.P., Jatulan, W.P., White, A.T. 2004.  Participatory Coastal Resource Assessment Training Guide.  Coastal Resource Management Project of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Cebu City, Philippines.

This training manual was developed in the Philippines but could be adapted to suit Pacific Island communities. It is intended for 3-4 trainers to work through with communities and other stakeholders.

During the planning phase the efficacy of different strategies to manage marine resources should ultimately be assessed by their potential impact, or ability to make a difference to ecological and social outcomes. While community-based and systematic approaches to establishing marine protected areas have their strengths and weaknesses, comparisons of their effectiveness often fail to explicitly address potential impact. Here, we predict conservation impact to compare recently implemented community-based marine reserves in Tonga to a systematic configuration specifically aimed at maximizing impact. Boosted regression tree outputs indicated that fishing pressure accounted for ∼24% of variation in target species biomass.

Parks, J, Aalbersberg, W and Salafsky, N (editors). 2001. Principles for Community-Based Marine Conservation in the Indo-Pacific. University of the South Pacific Press. Suva, Fiji.

This document contains the summary process and results from a workshop completed in 1999 by project representatives from three community-based marine biodiversity conservation projects in Indonesia, the Solomon Islands and Fiji. The goal of the workshop was to provide informed guidance for conservation practitioners in the Indo-Pacific to use in community-based marine biodiversity conservation efforts.

Demonstrating the remarkable power of collaboration and big thinking that Palau so often exhibits, in 2016 a diverse partnership produced the nation’s 1st National Environment Symposium. The event brought together conservation groups, national leaders, business owners, and community members for intimate discussion and respectful debate on the successes, challenges, and opportunities facing Palau’s environment. Participants reiterated the importance of the natural environment to Palau’s culture and identity, and agreed that ongoing collective effort will preserve natural resources for future generations. The output of the symposium included better direction and prioritization that will guide improved conservation action by the government and the public alike.

Though I had heard the word ra’ui, until I started working in the environment field I was not sure of its meaning. As a consequence of my work, I started to learn more about ra’ui through reading and talking to other conservationists and elderly people. Only then did I begin to understand more about this traditional practice. When the Koutu Nui (formalised group of traditional leaders) embarked on reintroducing the ra’ui around Rarotonga’s coast, the late Akaiti Ama Tamarua Nui Mataiapo (traditional chief) remarked to an overseas journalist, “There was resistance because the younger generation didn’t know what rau'i meant. They didn’t realize that in those days the fish were bigger and they weren’t scarce.”

This booklet is part of a series of compilations assembling PANORAMA solution case studies on a defined topic. “Solutions in Focus” zooms in on a topic of interest covered by PANORAMA, allowing to explore common elements and shared learnings across success stories. It is a snapshot of the PANORAMA portfolio at a given time, rather than a representative assembly of selected “best practices” on the issue at hand.

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The fourth edition of the Newsletter of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas Oceania (2018). IUCN's World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) is the world's premier network of protected area expertise. It is administered by IUCN's Global Programme on Protected Areas and has over 2,000 members, spanning 140 countries. 

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This research focuses on coral reef health in the South Pacific region, an area of high global coral diversity. Coral reef health surrounding two study sites in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, has been assessed in areas that have not been previously surveyed. Each study site has distinct differences based upon marine management practices. Marine management practices are identified and described and some historical rea- sons as why they exist are discussed. Data are also presented on the ecological condition (coral coverage, number of coral species, clonal condition, disease, and presence and absence of bioindicators). This interdisciplinary research methodology includes both ecological and social data collection to further understand human– environment interactions.

We argue that OECMs are essential to the achievement of big and bold conservation targets such as Half-Earth. But integration of OECMs into the conservation estate requires fundamental changes in protected area planning and how the conservation community deals with human rights and social safeguards issues; it therefore challenges our understanding of what constitutes “conservation”. It will only succeed if the key drivers of biodiversity and ecosystem service loss are addressed in the whole planet. A broad, multifaceted and innovative approach, coupled with ambitious targets, provides our best hope yet of addressing complex conservation challenges.

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Traditional Knowledge for Adapting to Climate Change: Safeguarding Intangible Cultural Heritage

This report explores the role of traditional marine resources management in meeting both the goals of communities and those of national and international conservation strategies. Specifically, it aims to inform policymakers and those working for international organisations and donor agencies about how traditional practices are applied in various Pacific Island countries, how concepts such as the ecosystem approach and adaptive management are incorporated, whether traditional marine managed areas (MMAs) are recognised by national law, and how and whether they are seen to contribute to national and international protected areas and conservation targets. The report also reflects on the issue of marine genetic resources, and access to and benefit-sharing of these resources.

Vanuatu signed and ratified the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD) joining other 190 CBD parties to protect our global biodiversity. Vanuatu’s first National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) was developed and endorsed in November 1999. Revision of this NBSAP has led Vanuatu to develop this new NBSAP (2018-2030). This revised NBSAP indicates the progress, successes and gaps that lie within the organisational, systemic and individual capacities at national, provincial and community levels to protect, conserve and wisely use our biodiversity. The NBSAP (2018-2030) has seven strategic areas with country indicators and targets towards achieving the Global Strategic Programme of 2020 Aichi targets.

The third edition of the Newsletter of the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas Oceania (2018). IUCN's World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) is the world's premier network of protected area expertise. It is administered by IUCN's Global Programme on Protected Areas and has over 2,000 members, spanning 140 countries. 

Full Newsletter (Pdf)