Concerns about the negative consequences of conservation for local people have prompted attention toward how to address the social impacts of different conservation projects, programs, and policies. Inevitably, when actions are taken to protect or manage the environment this will produce a suite of both positive and negative social impacts for local communities and resource users. Thus, a challenge for conservation and environmental decision-makers and managers is maximizing social benefits while minimizing negative burdens across social, economic, cultural, health, and governance spheres of human well-being. The last decade has seen significant advances in both the methods and the metrics for understanding how conservation and environmental management impact human well-being. There has also been increased uptake in socio-economic monitoring programs in conservation organizations and environmental agencies. Yet, little guidance exists on how to integrate the results of social impact monitoring back into conservation management and decision-making. We recommend that conservation organizations and environmental agencies take steps to better understand and address the social impacts of conservation and environmental management. This can be achieved by integrating key components of the adaptive social impact management (ASIM) cycle outlined below into decision-making and management processes**.

Conservation and environmental management can produce both positive and negative social impacts for local communities and resource users. Thus it is necessary to understand and adaptively manage the social impacts of conservation over time. This will improve social outcomes, engender local support and increase the overall effectiveness of conservation.

Adaptive social impact management
Adaptive social impact management (ASIM) is “the ongoing and cyclical process of monitoring and adaptively managing the social impacts of an initiative through the following four stages: profiling, learning, planning and implementing.”

1. Profiling – The cycle begins with defining the scope and social profile for the social impact management program. This involves identifying spatial boundaries, timelines, and available resources, as well as creating a basic profile of the social system under consideration.
2. Learning – The second stage focuses on developing an understanding of the actual positive and negative social impacts of the project to date as well as how and why these impacts have occurred. It involves data collection, analysis, evaluation, and communication.
3. Planning – During the third stage, managers and practitioners identify alternative courses of action and their respective potential impacts, deliberate and make decisions regarding which actions to take, and revise management policies and plans accordingly.
4. Implementing – The final stage is where decisions are put into action to adapt conservation and management. Lessons learned are shared across sites and to managers and policy-makers to inform decisions, policies and programs.

**For more information, refer to the related publication: Maery Kaplan-Hallam & Nathan J. Bennett (2017). Adaptive social impact management for conservation and environmental management. Conservation Biology. Link: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/cobi.12985/full

This work was supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada & the Liber Ero Fellowship Program. Author affiliations include: OceanCanada Partnership (University of British Columbia), Center for Ocean Solutions (Stanford) and the Community Conservation Research Network (CCRN).

Featured image from https://nathanbennett.ca/

This talk will cover these questions, as well as what reconciliation means in this context. Much has been written about the importance of reconciling Traditional Knowledge with Western Natural and Social Sciences. How to reconcile the natural world with cross-cultural capacity development for equitable and sustainable conservation and livelihoods outcomes, however, is less clear. Connected people leads to healthy communities – so what needs to happen for true reconciliation to occur?

The second half of the session was an audience-participation dialogue focusing on reflection, analysis and distilling key lessons learned, with 36 participants sharing perspectives and questions about community-led transformation. This discussion was supplemented by an online survey ran prior to the conference, using Sli.do an audience interaction software. Responses from participants highlighted the key role of local leadership and innovation (63% of respondents), facing common challenges (46%), participatory engagement (46%) and government support (42%) in achieving successful transformations, in addition to a variety of other elements.

This wordcloud image shows keywords that participants associated with transformation.

Session Abstracts 

How can an introduced species contribute to conservation and sustainable livelihoods? The case of paiche fisheries in the Bolivian Amazon.
Alison Macnaughton, University of Victoria, Canada

The Northern Bolivian Amazon is currently experiencing a variety of human and environmental pressures, including urban development, large infrastructure projects, extreme climate events and species introduction. While indigenous peoples hold rights to extensive territories in the region, the development and implementation of governance structures and processes (including natural resource management) within these territories has been limited to date. Recently there has been interest expressed at a variety of levels (communities, government, NGOs) in developing new commercial fishery opportunities based on the introduced paiche fish (Arapaima gigas), which is increasing in abundance and of high commercial value in regional markets. This paper examines the current and potential future role of fishing in indigenous communities as it relates to broader processes of transition and transformation in livelihoods and governance in the region. It includes the results from a study that was carried out in 4 Indigenous Territories in Beni Department, Bolivia between October – November 2015. Results of the study confirm that while subsistence fishing is extensive, with native species as a central part of local diets, the selling of fish is less common, and generally a secondary source of income. Participation in paiche fisheries is very limited among indigenous communities. Many communities face significant problems of food insecurity, poverty and associated environmental and social vulnerability including a significant lack of access to basic services such as health, clean water, transportation access and more. In this context the demand for local projects and income-generating initiatives is high, but the success of initiatives to date has been limited. If paiche fishery development is to be successful, it must be aligned with strategies to address the multiple dimensions of poverty and vulnerability in a more meaningful way. This paper proposes a preliminary framework to examine some of the dynamics of governance and livelihoods transformations, with a focus on fisheries as part of integrated poverty reduction initiatives.

Can secure tenure act as a measure of conservation and governance success in lagoon-based small-scale fishery social-ecological systems?
Prateep Nayak, Faculty of Environment, School of Environment, Enterprise and Development, University of Waterloo, Canada

This paper begins by confirming that issues around tenure within lagoon-based small-scale fishery social-ecological systems have largely been neglected. Despite a growing body of literature on lagoon commons and property rights systems, existing literature on marine and terrestrial tenure tend to subsume tenure issues of coastal lagoons. Lack of specific attention to lagoon tenure can potentially affect their long-term sustainability, undermine ongoing efforts of community-based conservation and further marginalize small-scale fishers that have depended on them for generations. This paper identifies important challenges associated with lagoon tenure in relation to the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication, 2015 (FAO SSF Guidelines), particularly focusing on its provisions for responsible governance of tenure. It highlights that secure tenure rights form the basis of social, economic, ecological and cultural wellbeing of small-scale fishing communities. To this effect, the paper sets forth some of the key conditions for governance of tenure in the context of lagoon small-scale fisheries social ecological systems through an extensive treatment of a broad range of fishers’ rights and multi actor responsibilities. Fisher experiences with the impacts of ongoing rapid social-ecological changes and community responses in Chilika Lagoon, Bay of Bengal, India are used as a case. Additional data comes from a series of workshops, meetings, and consultations with smallscale fishers and other stakeholders in Chilika. Important lessons for governance of lagoon tenure are examined in relation to resource systems, resource sectors, and user-level dynamics to offer insights on the specific characteristics of lagoon small-scale fisheries tenure and possible directions for conservation and governance.

As part of this project, the Tipping Points Team partnered with CCRN affiliate the Haida Nation and Parks Canada to develop a better understanding of the drivers, dynamics and trade-offs associated with past and potential ecosystem shifts in the Gwaii Haanas National Park, Gwaii Haanas National Marine Conservation Area Reserve and Haida Heritage Site. The focus on the research has been on Pacific Herring – or iinang in the Skidegate Haida dialect – a culturally and ecologically important forage fish species that has been slow to recover from commercial fishing pressures in the mid to late twentieth century. The Tipping Points Team is also conducting a case study on coral reefs in Hawai’i.

The Ocean Tipping Points Project team recently announced the launch of their new and improved website. The site contains in-depth research results from the project’s Haida Gwaii and Hawai’I case studies, as well as tools and resources to help ocean and coastal managers predict, prevent or recover from dramatic ecosystem change. To explore the new website, go to http://oceantippingpoints.org/portal/otp.

View the complete CCRN’s São Luiz Community Story as a PDF

Camila A. Islas, Alice R. de Moraes, Juliana S. African & Cristiana S. Seixas

Key Messages

• Severe land degradation and environmental disasters can act as triggers to new community conservation and development initiatives and as stimulus to existing ones.
• Bridging organizations can foster community initiatives through projects addressing environmental conservation and restoration in parallel to local capacity building and community development.
• Cultural identity plays a central role in engaging communities in projects of nature conservation.

Community Profile

São Luiz do Paraitinga (hereafter São Luiz) is a municipality with about 10,000 inhabitants, located in Eastern São Paulo State of Brazil, near the Atlantic coast (Figure 1). The municipality is situated within the Paraíba Valley, which links the two largest metropolitan areas in Brazil (São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro). Out of the ~730 km² of the municipality’s area, 10% are encompassed by Serra do Mar State Park, a protected area, and 13% are in its buffer zone. The main land uses/cover are pasture (53%) and fragmented forests (37%), while cattle breeding for dairy, forestry and agriculture are the main economic activities⁽²⁾. The municipality is also embedded in the Atlantic Forest biome – a hotspot for biodiversity conservation, i.e. one of the highly threatened biomes in the world⁽⁵⁾.

Figure 1. A) The State of São Paulo highlighted in the Brazilian map. B) São Luíz do Paraitinga Municipality highlighted in the State of São Paulo map.

The landscape of São Luiz has been shaped by specific material and immaterial cultural features that were strongly influenced by coffee plantations from the early 20^th century and by the Caipira way of life, a local designation to a rural livelihood which involves typical food, music, tales, dances and festivities (see Figure 2).

The city’s architectural ensemble is the largest historical collection of the State’s architectural heritage, and its population proudly keeps alive several displays of immaterial culture⁽³⁾. The local economy currently depends on public services, and the Human Development Index (HDI = 0.690) is among the lowest of the State’s municipalities. In this context, cultural tourism and eco-tourism are promising alternatives for economic development.

Rural communities in Brazil are important SES, specifically in south-eastern states such as São Paulo, where landscapes are highly fragmented and urbanised. Landscapes there sometimes have patches of native vegetation that are especially important to wild animals, serving as habitat and ‘stepping-stones’, which generate various ecosystem services and are also home to human communities and their livelihoods⁽³⁾. The vast majority of rural properties (96%) in the municipality of São Liuz are owned by smallholders⁽²⁾.

In this context lies Catuçaba, a rural district in São Luiz comprising a village with around 1,000 inhabitants and its surrounding rural neighbourhoods. Most inhabitants make their living from small-scale animal husbandry and other smallholding activities⁽³⁾.

Figure 2: Traditional dance presentation at the central square, in front of the main church, during the festivity of the Holy Spirit in São Luiz do Paraitinga, 2016.

Until a few decades ago, the village was partially isolated from the urban center due to poor road access. However, the road connecting the village to downtown was paved by the year 2000, facilitating outsiders’ access and products transportation, and improving the access of villagers and rural inhabitants to infrastructure, education and health. Tourism-related activities have been modestly flourishing in the territory, supported by its beautiful landscape, pleasant climate and historical farms.

Conservation and Livelihood Challenges

Land degradation is longstanding in the region. Agriculture has been practiced since the settlement of the first colonisers in the late 17^th century, in spite of the hilly landscape and low nutrient availability and permeability of the soil⁽²⁾. Economic cycles (cotton, coffee, agriculture and cattle), along with poor soil management techniques, contributed to land degradation, impoverishing the soil, and most recently covering the land with Brachiaria, an invasive exotic grass that feeds the cattle and worsens soil permeability. As a result, cattle productivity has declined and many landowners fell back on other activities to complete their income.

Meanwhile, due to the promises of better job and education opportunities in urban centres, rural out-migration hampered the availability of rural workers and lowered social cohesion. Currently, land degradation in such social context threaten most of the traditional livelihoods.

On January 1st, 2010, São Luiz suffered from a flood of great magnitude, when the river crossing the downtown area raised over 11 meters above its regular level in a matter of hours, largely damaging the historical buildings and affecting the whole population, both urban and rural. Fortunately, there were no fatalities. Other than the high precipitation registered in end-2009, this flood was caused by factors linked to land degradation in rural areas, such as soil compaction in degraded and poorly managed pastures, fires commonly used to clear land, scarcity of forests near watercourses, and human occupation of floodplains.

Community Initiatives^*

In the face of the disaster’s intensity and tremendous material losses, the population of São Luiz showed a remarkable capacity to self-organize in order to cope with the emergency situation and, later, to rebuild and restore the functioning of the city⁽⁵⁾. Since the floods, the territory as a whole has been targeted by diverse projects focusing on forest restoration, agro-ecological production and capacity building.

The 2010 disaster stimulated new and ongoing community initiatives, mostly with the help of local and regional NGOs and government organizations. During the post-disaster reorganization phase, the community actively participated in decisions regarding the reconstruction of historical buildings and other issues. In addition to engineering work conducted at the government initiative, most post-disaster initiatives focused on keeping the vibrancy of local cultural manifestations⁽⁵⁾.

Figure 3: The scenic landscape around Catuçaba district: degraded pastures and patches of biodiversity-rich Atlantic forest covering its hills and valleys.

The community also showed a remarkable sense of place and attachment to both São Luiz, similarly to Catuçaba and its surrounding area (Figure 3). The tragedy seems to have reinforced this sense of place and local people’s capacities of coping and recovering their community life with their own hands, and at the same time acknowledging and being grateful for all the solidarity and help they received from external people and institutions⁽⁵⁾.

One of these community initiatives working to improve conservation and livelihoods was the Comunidade da Vila (Village Community). In 2012, the Learning Community initiative began in Catuçaba. The main goal of the project was to promote an environment for reflection about nature conservation and local development, and to facilitate the planning of collective actions^(1,3). Together with local people, the initiative planned and organised several cultural events and community actions over three years⁽¹⁾. Although the project ended in 2015, the community continued to meet until 2017, focusing on a street market with local products, tourism-related activities and festivities ^(3).

A local NGO, Akarui, has been developing projects for nature conservation integrated with socio-economic development in the region since 2003. After the 2010 flood, their prominence increased as Akarui members’ attachment to and knowledge about the territory, in addition to their technical expertise, led efforts to sustainable development of rural areas of the municipality. Akarui has carried out projects regarding socio-environmental characterisation, forest restoration, agro-ecological transition, pasture management and improvement of farmers’ income. The NGO is still working in the territory, currently expanding their initiatives to encompass environmental education and food security and sovereignty.

After the extreme events of 2010 (flood) and 2013/2014 (severe drought), more community members got interested in taking part in restoration projects, and a growing number are willing to adopt agro-ecological principles to their production chain. An Agenda 21 plan, built through participatory methods for the watershed, including guidelines for its sustainable development, is a featured product of Akuri. The NGO acknowledges rural communities as their main partners⁽²⁾.

Finally, another initiative named Rede para o Desenvolvimento Sustentável do Alto Paraíba (Upper Paraíba River Sustainable Development Network), or REDESUAPA, began their work after the 2010 floods. The network encompasses diverse stakeholders including local leaders, local and state government, local and regional NGOs and researchers, who met voluntarily in the municipality. In addition to project development, REDESUAPA created synergies among ongoing efforts and aimed at influencing public policy based on a systemic view of the territory, promoting ecological restoration, sustainable farming and community-based tourism. For instance, in 2016, REDESUAPA wrote an open letter addressed to the candidates running for Mayor asking for their commitment to priority guidelines for urban and rural sustainable development in the municipality. The network played a key role in the efforts to bring investments of a big project to the region, which is funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The Recovery and protection of climate and biodiversity services in the Paraíba do Sul Basin of the Atlantic Forest of Brazil project is based on Payments for Environmental Services (PES) and other incentives for sustainable land management and conservation in private lands. The members of REDESUAPA are still in touch with each other, but the network itself is on ‘standby mode’. However, the synergies created by REDESUAPA are reflected in a number of other initiatives concerning local development, conservation and ecological restoration.

^*The data and analysis on the social-ecological system of São Luiz and Catuçaba refer to the period 2012-2017. The authors acknowledge that changes have occurred in the system since then. Although they are not analysed here, we have added some information about the current situation, based on non-systematic observation.

Practical Outcomes

The development of initiatives is neither easy nor fast, but they have certainly been flourishing and creating arenas for community learning, empowerment, and development in São Luiz do Paraitinga (including Catuçaba). Although the 2010 flood was an important trigger to various initiatives, it is still unclear how successful they will be in terms of self-maintenance and mitigating the risk of floods in the future.

These bottom-up initiatives have valorized rural livelihoods and fostered opportunities for people to remain in rural areas. Inhabitants have been self-organizing to strengthen the Caipira identity, preserve local traditions (e.g., festivities and foods), and promote local development, with an overall understanding that their good quality of life depends on nature conservation⁽³⁾. Small, low-cost initiatives triggered improvements in the community capacity to organize and act collectively for a common goal⁽⁴⁾, although leadership and broader participation of community members in such initiatives remains a challenge.

Bridging organizations, such as NGOs and university teams, play a crucial role in linking local stakeholders with one another and with outside institutions (i.e. State Environmental authorities and funding agencies), facilitating learning opportunities, fundraising and providing access to technical advisory⁽¹⁾. In the course of creating environments where diverse local and outside stakeholders can interact and collaborate (Figure 4), the initiatives have generated a feedback loop, which is attracting more and more initiatives.

Figure 4: Caipira meeting in January 2017, where members of Catuçaba community and their external supporters discussed local development, nature and culture.

Until 2017, several stakeholders were joining efforts to work synergistically, for instance through REDESUAPA, to positively transform the region’s landscape at the watershed level. The efforts were benefitting from both bottom-up and top-down initiatives, taking into account both local knowledge and technical/scientific expertise, and involving stakeholders with different levels of political power. Above all, these efforts involve a diverse array of individuals who believe in a more sustainable and just society, and struggle year after year to accomplish their vision.

In face of socio-ecological change over the last decade, various community initiatives towards conservation and social development have emerged in São Luiz do Paraitinga^{(3, 4)}. Many tourism-related activities have been developing, especially those regarding ecotourism (e.g., farm hotels and rafting) and cultural tourism (e.g., religious, art and local food festivities). More recently, other community initiatives were established as local markets of agro-ecological products and craft fairs. After the 2010 floods, the municipality drew the attention of many governmental and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) favouring the emergence of new environmental and social initiatives. The success of these initiatives has depended on population engagement and participation, as well as aligning to local demands and inherent dynamics of the local SES. The question ahead may be if and how these initiatives will thrive or perish in the long term, and which factors will determine their course.

References

Acknowledgements

We thank the population of São Luiz do Paraitinga and, in particular, of Catuçaba community, the NGO Akarui, and REDESUAPA for their commitment and availability for our projects. We also thank SSHRC/CCRN, CAPES, CNPq, PREAC/UNICAMP and FAPESP for funding. The project also received a strong support from our entire CGCommons Team (The Commons Conservation and Management group at University of Campinas, Brazil).

Click to view a PDF of this policy brief

During the 2016 IUCN World Conservation Congress, marine conservation practitioners and researchers (including CCRN affiliate Nathan Bennett) met to discuss the need for a code of conduct for marine conservation. During this meeting, the group discussed the benefits, key principles, and steps necessary to create a code of conduct for marine conservation. From this initial discussion, and following a review of key policy documents, a draft code of conduct has been created. Information on this draft is available as a policy brief and as a scientific publication in the Journal Marine Policy.

This draft code of conduct for marine conservation is separated into three main objectives and includes details on how to achieve each objective. The first objective is to ensure fair conservation governance and decision making processes, the second objective is to guarantee socially-just conservation actions and outcomes, and the third objective is to assure accountable conservation initiatives and organizations.

The authors recognize that the development and implementation of a universal code of conduct for marine conservation requires the support of conservation donors, NGO’s, and global conservation organisations. The type of support needed includes discussions with key stakeholders, production of guiding documents and the consideration of additional accountability mechanisms.

This post was created with details from “An appeal for a code of conduct for marine conservation.” The featured image was taken by Nathan Bennett.

To address this, Dr. Andrew Merrie orchestrated the Radical Ocean Futures project. For this project, Dr. Merrie, who recently received his PhD in sustainability science, utilized various forms of art (Science Fiction, graphics, and music) to communicate sustainability in alternative ways, that may resonate more strongly with communities than academic papers.

The project highlights four different sci-fi stories which describe four possible futures for our oceans. These stories are grounded in science, referencing current peer-reviewed publications, news articles and credible websites, and describe what our oceans may look like in the future. To further convey the scenarios described in Dr. Merrie’s work, images of these possible futures were created by graphic artist Simon Stålenhag with musical interpretations provided by K. La Luna (also known as CCRN member Dr. Kaitlyn Rathwell).  The goal of this project is to help us understand the complexity of our oceans and how unexpected changes and responses to these changes can influence the future of our oceans.

The first story “Oceans back from the brink – May 2070,” is told from the perspective of a transcript of a talk presented by a renowned ocean sustainability researcher and activist. This story describes how the oceans were once heavily polluted and what series of events took place that allowed the Oceans to be clean by 2070.

The second story “Obituary: Astrid Amundsen, CEO of FISH Inc. – January 2070,” is written as an obituary of a CEO from a company that maintained significant control of the world’s aquatic resources. In this scenario, the world is in the midst of an environmental crisis. The human population  is sustained by bio-engineered tuna and jellyfish paste.

The third story “Rime of the last fisherman: Dispatches from a dying ocean – 2070” is a series of diary entries by the world’s last fishermen. Through these transcripts, the fishermen describes the death of the oceans.

The forth story “Rising Tide – Visiting Tarawa station” is told from the perspective of a journalist who describes how sea level rise forced parts of humanity to learn how to live under the sea. In this future, a treaty has been created between nations to ensure the sustainable harvest of aquatic resources, and the ocean is slowly recovering from past transgressions.

The art work showcased in the featured image was created by graphic artist Simon Stålenhag

View the complete CCRN’s Les Village Community Story as a PDF

Humayra Secelia Muswar and Arif Satria

Key Messages

• Les Village’s marine environment was devastated by a cyanide traditionally used for catching marine ornamental fish, leading to a decline in the local economy and fishers’ livelihood.
• Local conservation began when eco-friendly approaches to catching fish were introduced to restore local marine resources.
• Local fishers easily adapted to these new community-based conservation approaches as they were in line with karma (Hindu-Bali’s belief) and their way of life.

Community Profile

Les Village is a fishing community located in the east of Buleleng Regency of Indonesia (Figure 1). Les Village consists of 25.57km of coastline comprised of rock, gravel, and sandy beaches. Locals mostly depend on fishing for their livelihood, as the land is very dry and not fertile enough for agriculture. However, residents can find other work as construction workers, merchants, businessmen or in the non-formal employment sectors of farming and animal husbandry. Tourism is not a significant livelihood source for locals.

Figure 1: Map of Les Village (circled), Buleleng district (outlined). (Adopted from Google Map)

Marine ornamental and seafood fishers have fundamental differences in the way they fish, such as fishing gear, fishing time, fishing pattern, fishing location, the post-capture treatment of fish and their income scheme (Table 1). One important characteristic of the marine ornamental fishers of Les Village is their closeness to their religion. One of the most fundamental belief-systems for Hindu-Bali is ‘karma’, the idea of a balance of life: if  Mother Nature is respected, nature will give you the best of what it has, and vice versa. The belief system also plays a role in characterising the fishers, such as their knowledge, role of women, the social structure, and social position of fishers⁽¹⁾.

Conservation and Livelihood Challenges

Initially, nets were used to catch ornamental fish in Les Village. However, an increasing demand in the 1980s prompted the fishers to look for ways to improve their catch. In 1985, the cyanide method of fishing was introduced to support marine ornamental fish market demand^(2,3,4). Fishers discovered that cyanide makes fish lethargic, thereby making them easier to catch^(2,3). Fishers kept the cyanide in a bottle (Figure 2) and sprayed the cyanide in the ornamental fish habitats⁽⁴⁾.

Table 1 Key differences between seafood fishing and ornamental fishing

Beginning in the 1990s and into the 2000s, marine ornamental fish began to be a lucrative commercial commodity. Fishers concentrated on fulfilling their household needs and generating income, while exploiting Mother Nature to satisfy marine oriental fish markets⁽⁵⁾. The use of cyanide made fish easier to catch; however, environmental deterioration began to be felt by fishers in the 2000s. The use of cyanide negatively impacted the local marine environment as live coral coverage fell below 10%, ornamental fish population decreased to under 20% and population of all species decreased to an estimated 10% of their 1986 population⁽⁶⁾.

Figure 2: Fisher sprays the cyanides directly to the reefs to make fish lethargic.

Coral reefs became bleached and only unique ornamental fish were left. Not being able to meet market demand, this development depleted fisher’s income and devastated their social and economic life. Lack of government concern created a sense of abandonment among marine ornamental fishers. Fishers said that the government is only punishing them because of their use of cyanide, but gave no instructions on how to change their ways or preserve the environment. Three reasons, in particular, relate to the root causes of the destructive fishing methods:

1. Fisher’s knowledge. Les Village fishers did not know of any other way to catch fish. Locals possessed limited information about fishing methods, especially since they have no senior high school or higher education. This concern was most frequently raised by fishers. Using cyanide had become transmissible knowledge. Fishers faced a dilemma to survive and had to choose to keep catching fish with cyanide or not be able to eat at all. The use of cyanide eventually became unlawful and Les Village fishers were often detained for violation of the law of using cyanide in an attempt to catch fish. Yet, the government offered no solution, without which fishers would continue to violate the law in order to support themselves and their families. The combination of lack of education and lack of guidance from the state thus established a livelihood dilemma for fishers.

2. Market demand. The ornamental fish trade is part of the global and international market, and whether wanted or not, local fishers are a part of globalised market system. To maintain a livelihood, they must meet a demand that comes from first-world countries. The greater the market demand – in this case, via the middlemen (Figure 3) – the more fish must be caught. Thus, Les Village fishers and the local environment are exploited and marginalized in order to meet the demand of more powerful countries and peoples⁽⁵⁾.

Figure 3: the middlemen and the collected fish.

3. Lack of public and stakeholder awareness and involvement. The marine ornamental fish trade is part of international trade, which involves stakeholders. This means that capitalist industrialisation brings constant pressures on individual firms (big or small) to keep down costs⁽⁷⁾. One of the main ways firms do this is by “externalizing” the costs of their impacts (including environmental, social, and health impacts) – in other words, finding a way to make someone else pay those costs. In fisheries, firms benefit from the environment – they profit from the fish – but they do not pay the full costs of the impact their fishing has on the local fisheries or the environment. In the case of Les Village, fishers were pressured to continue to use cyanide in order to meet market demand. Fishers were put in a difficult dilemma: wanting to conserve the environment when it began to degrade, but lacking the education to know the negative impacts of cyanide and, even worse, lacking support or knowledge about solutions. However, fishers continued to fish as they needed to support their livelihood. Others would profit from their environment and take whatever they conserved if they did not ^(5,7).

Community Initiatives

This situation continued for nearly 20 years. In the early 2000s, when reefs were already damaged and degradation reverberated, government still did not come to help; however, the NGO Yayasan Bahtera Nusantara (YBN) came and provided much needed support to the fishers. Originally engaging the fishers under the guise of a buyer, the YBN provided fishers with training and new equipment for environmentally friendly fishing, thus moving from cyanide to using nets and barriers only. The approach that the NGO helped to implement was particularly successful since it acknowledged the fisher’s belief system, thus helping Les Village fishers transform from the destroyer to the guardian.

The value of environmentally-friendly fishing that was implemented brought back fishers’ consciousness about the balance of life. They realized that using cyanide meant demolishing their own natural resources, since they suffered from the effects of using cyanide: diminished fish stocks, disappearing coral reefs, and heavy debt. Thus, Les Village’s ornamental fishing community worked with the NGO to restore their marine livelihood.

The initiative consisted of the following actions:

1. Establishment of a new marine ornamental fish group that committed to ecologically-friendly fishing practices (no cyanide), and community-based marine environmental management.
2. Creation of artificial reefs to enhance Les Village’s marine diversity.
3. Designing a community-based no-take zone.
4. Improvement of the belief that ‘karma’ does exist, and that “if we treat our nature good, nature will give us good fish”.

Around 2005, YBN worked with the Marine Aquarium Council (MAC) to legitimise the environmental-friendly transformation on marine ornamental fish trade in Les Village. Not only fishers, but also the middlemen and exporters were certified as eco-friendly actors. Although the certification expired in 2008, fishers continued to apply the sustainable eco-friendly fishing methods. Now, LINI (Indonesian Nature Foundations), an environmental NGO, works with Les Village fishers to continue this sustainable way.

Practical Outcomes

The success of this conservation movement by Les Village’s communities of marine aquarium fishers was a collective effort. Several factors and important actors were involved:

Leadership – The NGO’s leadership was the most powerful tool for motivating this community to move from using cyanide to using environmental friendly fishing practices.
Community Social Capital – The community has very high social capital and unity due to their interrelatedness and common history (Figure 4). Together, they inadvertently destroyed their marine environment, suffered, and are recovering their livelihood. Togetherness and trust is the biggest part of this community’s social capital.
Fisher’s Belief System – Their beliefs as Hindu-Bali teach them to put trust on ‘karma’.
Support Networks – The village has an extensive support network with NGOs, researchers (from universities) and trade chain actors that buy and sell their eco-fish.
Timing – The conservation was done just in time. The NGO came in at a critical ecological time, when fishers were getting more confused and frustrated from suffering from their sinking livelihood and questioning what they were doing to their environment.

Figure 4: Fisher’s family starts their day.

References