Community Based Management

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

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

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.  

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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