A Framework of Lessons Learned from Community-Based Marine Reserves and Its Effectiveness in Guiding a New Coastal Management Initiative in the Philippines

Abstract

Community-based coastal resource management has been widely applied within the Philippines. However, small-scale community-based reserves are often inefficient owing to management inadequacies arising because of a lack of local support or enforcement or poor design. Because there are many potential pitfalls during the establishment of even small community-based reserves, it is important for coastal managers, communities, and facilitating institutions to have access to a summary of the key factors for success. Reviewing relevant literature, we present a framework of "lessons learned" during the establishment of protected areas, mainly in the Philippines. The framework contains summary guidance on the importance of (1) an island location, (2) small community population size, (3) minimal effect of land-based development, (4) application of a bottom-up approach, (5) an external facilitating institution, (6) acquisition of title, (7) use of a scientific information database, (8) stakeholder involvement, (9) the establishment of legislation, (10) community empowerment, (11) alternative livelihood schemes, (12) surveillance, (13) tangible management results, (14) continued involvement of external groups after reserve establishment, and (15) small-scale project expansion.These framework components guided the establishment of a community-based protected area at Danjugan Island, Negros Occidental, Philippines. This case study showed that the framework was a useful guide that led to establishing and implementing a community-based marine reserve. Evaluation of the reserve using standard criteria developed for the Philippines shows that the Danjugan Island protected area can be considered successful and sustainable. At Danjugan Island, all of the lessons synthesized in the framework were important and should be considered elsewhere, even for relatively small projects. As shown in previous projects in the Philippines, local involvement and stewardship of the protected area appeared particularly important for its successful implementation. The involvement of external organizations also seemed to have a key role in the success of the Danjugan Island project by guiding local decision-makers in the sociobiological principles of establishing protected areas. However, the relative importance of each component of the framework will vary between coastal management initiatives both within the Philippines and across the wider Asian region.

Social acceptability of a marine protected area: The case of Reunion Island

“…Such perceptions have been found to be influenced by a range of socio-economic factors such as wealth, age, education, culture, employment [34][35][36][37]51] or culturally defined 'worldview' they hold [30,52]. Socio-economic factors structure differences between and within communities particularly in developing societies and result in variations in the levels of understanding and acceptance of conservation projects [22,34,53]. Thus, identifying the factors that drive differing perceptions held by distinct social groups should be a key management objective as they can offer a valuable understanding of issues, concerns and reasons behind negative perceptions.…”

“…Thus, identifying the factors that drive differing perceptions held by distinct social groups should be a key management objective as they can offer a valuable understanding of issues, concerns and reasons behind negative perceptions. Managers may then target groups to address concerns or knowledge gaps and thus encourage more positive perceptions to develop [19,22,53,54].…”

“…Despite the emphasized and recognised need for developing social science studies in marine conservation and management [12,14], research in this field generally remains limited and accounts for only a small proportion of contributions to the literature on MPAs [15]. While further studies on perceptions of those directly or indirectly affected by MPAs have been stressed as crucial for assessing the degree of support and attitudes towards existing and future MPAs [16][17][18][19][20], a relatively small number of studies have done so [21].The lack of attention given to this research continues to hinder the success of MPAs as management tools [14,[21][22][23]]. …”

From measuring outcomes to providing inputs: Governance, management, and local development for more effective marine protected areas

“…Policies that support effective management and natural-resource dependent livelihoods include clear rules of access and territorial rights, recognition of title/tenure, laws to support enforcement, legal mechanisms to support and guarantee meaningful participation in design and implementation, and clarity of MPA objectives [11,40,54,55,116,[118][119][120][121]. Congruence is also required between formal regulations, informal rules, and customary norms and practice [120], facilitated by policies that support the incorporation of local management systems and rules into MPA management and regulations [122,123].…”

“…First, the establishment of support requires attention to the initial entry into communities to establish trust and build relationships [79,94,121]. Environmental education on ecosystem functioning and ecology, the impacts of human activity and how to mitigate the negative impacts of these activities, and the rationale behind MPAs should be done prior to MPA consultations if this knowledge is not already present [119]. Often there is a lack of local understanding of the definition and implications of MPAs [134]; however, it is also important not to create overzealous expectations for MPA outcomes as these can be detrimental to later support [135].…”