Community involvement in management for maintaining coral reef resilience and biodiversity in southern Caribbean marine protected areas

Abstract

Climate change is posing new challenges to conservation because management policies on protected coral reefs are less eVective than they were before the current ecosystem degradation. Coral reefs, the most diverse and complex marine ecosystem provide economic services for millions, but are seriously threatened worldwide because reef-building corals are experiencing bleaching phenomena and a steady decline in abundance. The resources of a Marine Protected Area (MPA) in Cartagena, Colombia, are in constant decline, despite a current management plan and on-site staV, urging new conservation actions. A multidisciplinary team gathered to evaluate management eVectiveness including biophysical, socioeconomic and governance indicators. Coral cover and Wsh diversity and abundance were low both inside and outside the MPA, which suggests a limited eYciency of management. Currently, the MPA is a reef with low coral cover and high algae cover as well as large dead coral areas, which are generally signs of highly degraded reef habitats. Live coral cover in the MPA was represented by pioneer coral species such as Agaricia tenuifolia and Porites astreoides. Nonetheless, 35% of the scleractinian species sampled in the area harbored more than one zooxanthellae symbiont, which suggests potential resistance and resilience against coral bleaching. Maintenance of trophic structure and functional diversity is an important endeavor that should be a priority for management in order to allow ecosystem resilience. Social and governance indicators showed low-income levels and few opportunities for communities living in and around the park, low governability, Biodivers Conserv (2009) 18:935-956 1 C weak communication among stakeholders and with authorities at diVerent levels. As a result, problems related to over exploitation of resources were commonplace in the MPA. These results reXect low adaptive capacity of communities to comply with restrictive conservation rules, showing that establishment of a protected area is a necessary but insuYcient condition to guarantee conservation goals. Ignoring the role of local communities only will exacerbate the problems associated with natural resources. Involvement of communities in strategic ecosystems management appears to be a requisite to improve eVectiveness of protected areas, and participatory strategies, such as co-management, oVer opportunities to improve governability while letting communities adapt to MPA needs.

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

“…The harmonization of legal frameworks and mandates, policies at various levels, local rules and regulations, cultural norms and individual attitudes is both a challenge and an imperative for enabling effective management and development. As Camargo et al [116] state when "policy-making is dispersed and ambiguous along regional and national scales [this] generates conflicts or difficulties when executing policy at local levels". Without harmonized institutions, MPAs can have conflicting and counterproductive results.…”

“…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].…”

“…Lastly, levels of social capital -a term which refers to trustful, cooperative and reciprocal relationships within and between groups [130] -may be an important indicator of the quality of collaborative interactions [120]. Various authors, for example, emphasize the importance of having forums and networking opportunities for creating trust, building relationships, facilitating communication and colearning, and creating greater awareness and knowledge amongst partners [116,122,131,132]. Social capital is also facilitated by development of shared norms and understandings through effective information sharing between the regional and local level, which requires institutional capacity and consistent and varied forms of engagement between community groups, NGOs, and various levels of government [133].…”

“…As Charles and Wilson [11] urge, the consultation of relevant stakeholders should be done at all stages of MPA design, implementation, and in ongoing management: "involvement builds the confidence of people to manage their own resources and encourages results that are long lasting" [94]. Although this is well recognized in MPA design practice, it is rare that stakeholders are involved at the earliest stages of establishment of MPA performance expectations [137] The rationale behind participation is that it encourages information exchange, encourages collaboration, builds confidence and empowerment in community groups, increases management effectiveness, and facilitates the development of mutually acceptable solutions [11,101,116,138]. Early and meaningful participation may also reduce conflict among user groups and thus long term enforcement costs [139,140].…”

“…Education and awareness raising programs about rules, regulations, boundaries, management objectives, MPA effects, resource quality, the role of humans in impacting and improving resource quality, and even the existence of the MPA may be "softer" ways of gaining support, reducing destructive activities, and increasing compliance [6,17,90,116,122,153,169,188]. Often there is little local awareness of MPAs and without effective communication strategies, illegal fishing practices or "poaching" inside MPA boundaries may continue unabated [139,158].…”