Understanding characteristics that define the feasibility of conservation actions in a common pool marine resource governance system

Effective conservation requires people to make choices about how they interact with the environment. Social characteristics influence the likelihood of establishing conservation actions with strong compliance (hereafter “feasibility”), but are rarely considered in conservation planning. Our study makes two contributions to understand feasibility. First, we explicitly test the associations between social characteristics and the presence and form of resource management. Second, we compare the ability of different types of data to elucidate feasibility. We use Ostrom’s (2007) thinking on social–ecological systems and literature on resource management in Melanesia to create a context-specific framework to identify social characteristics that influence feasibility for conservation management. We then apply this framework and test for associations between the presence and form of management on one hand and social characteristics on the other, using data collected at different resolutions. We found that conservation feasibility was associated with characteristics of the governance system, users, and the social, economic, and political setting. Villages with different forms of management were more similar to each other socially than to villages without management. Social data collected at the resolution of households accounted for over double the variation in the form and presence of management compared to data at the resolution of villages. Our methods can be adapted to conservation planning initiatives in other socioeconomic settings

Community-based marine resource management in Fiji - from yesterday to tomorrow

There are various ways in which local communities are, and can become more, involved in reef management. Attempts have been made to comprehensively highlight successes and failures, but with little rigorous assessment of what the conditions of long-term success are. Fiji represents a unique case because its customary fishing-rights areas (qoliqoli) constitute a form of dual ownership, establishing a connection between indigenous owners and central government for management purposes. However, this so-called cooperative co-management approach has not been uniform across Fiji; different levels of government- and community-involvement are present, and the approach has been a source of confusion and disputes. One issue is whether ‘ownership’ of the qoliqoli should include both the marine resources and the seafloor, the latter being currently owned by the state. This review takes a critical look at issues of ‘traditional conservation’, origins of the existing qoliqoli system, perceptions of it by the people primarily concerned, the forces driving its evolution and its impact on marine resource use. It sheds light on and explores the boundaries of 'co-management' in Fiji, and assesses previous efforts to find a way forward. It shows that without organising its forces, Fiji will not be able to maintain its natural marine resources

Community-based marine resource management in Fiji – from yesterday to tomorrow

There are various ways in which local communities are, and can become more, involved in reef management. Attempts have been made to comprehensively highlight successes and failures, but with little rigorous assessment of what the conditions of long-term success are. Fiji represents a unique case because its customary fishing-rights areas (qoliqoli) constitute a form of dual ownership, establishing a connection between indigenous owners and central government for management purposes. However, this so-called cooperative co-management approach has not been uniform across Fiji; different levels of government- and communityinvolvement are present, and the approach has been a source of confusion and disputes. One issue is whether ‘ownership’ of the qoliqoli should include both the marine resources and the seafloor, the latter being currently owned by the state. This review takes a critical look at issues of ‘traditional conservation’, origins of the existing qoliqoli system, perceptions of it by the people primarily concerned, the forces driving its evolution and its impact on marine resource use. It sheds light on and explores the boundaries of 'co-management' in Fiji, and assesses previous efforts to find a way forward. It shows that without organising its forces, Fiji will not be able to maintain its natural marine resources

Community-Based Management of Amazonian Biodiversity Assets

The Amazon is the largest forest system on Earth, supporting a variety of indigenous societies, small farmers, extractivists, and artisanal fishers with different cultures and relations with wildlife. However, the Brazilian Amazon has lost more than 436, 000 km2 of forest in the last 30 years, and Protected Areas may not be enough to ensure the conservation of biodiversity and cultural heritage. On the other hand, formal alliances with rural inhabitants can decentralize resource management, strengthen full-time surveillance systems, reduce overall costs, and boost conservation effectiveness. Here, we provide an assessment of the two largest community-based management (CBM) programs in the Brazilian Amazon, which are inducing strong social and ecological benefits at a large scale. First, we show the benefits from CBM of giant arapaima, which has promoted an impressive stock recovery of the world’s largest freshwater scaled fish (Arapaima spp.), generating income and other benefits for rural livelihoods in Amazonian floodplains. Second, we show that CBM of freshwater turtles (Podocnemis spp.) has also promoted the population recovery of overexploited turtles, contributing to the maintenance of important cultural values. We also identified a set of social and institutional principles, and the intrinsic values of natural resources, which can help develop successful CBM programs. Finally, we discuss how these principles can strengthen existing initiatives and/or inspire new ones. Reconciling biodiversity conservation and local aspirations for rural development is an urgent socioecological demand in Amazonia. Raising the profile of successful initiatives can be a powerful strategy to disseminate a message of hope and action to local and international agencies that can support the scaling up of these successful models