Involving local communities in protecting natural and cultural heritage
Full Solution
Charles Town Maroon Drummers and Dancers performing at 2015 National Park festival
Susan Otuokon
The Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park and World Heritage Site (BJCMNP), in protecting the natural and cultural heritage of the site just inscribed on the World Heritage List, works closely with the Windward Maroons who revere these mountains which provided all they needed to establish their culture and secure their sovereignty through guerilla warfare and eventual signing of a Peace Treaty in 1739. The Park provides capacity building and support for alternative livelihoods and projects.
Last update: 02 Oct 2020
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Context
Challenges addressed
Poverty, harmful agricultural practices, limited PA management and funding were the three main challenges. The rural communities of the Blue and John Crow Mountains are mainly poor, small farmers whose agricultural practices threaten the values that the National Park was established to preserve. The Government of Jamaica has limited funds for management of the National Park. There is a need to generate support and income for the National Park and the local communities using sustainable approaches.
Location
Hope Bay, Portland Parish, Jamaica
Caribbean
Process
Summary of the process
The three building blocks are closely related and operate in an integrated fashion. Building relationships requires listening and understanding community needs and interests and helping them to achieve their development goals (in ways that will also benefit National Park management). The first step however, is building the relationship – meeting and communicating. This will eventually lead to working together on mutually beneficial activities particularly those which strengthen the ability of local communities to generate income to improve their livelihoods in ways which preserve and promote natural and cultural heritage.
Building Blocks
Building Relationships with Communities by Working Together
Our most successful examples of community groups engaging in the preservation and promotion of cultural and natural heritage are those where we have built strong relationships between the Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust (JCDT) as National Park manager and community leaders - in one case, a community leader was a former employee of the JCDT. Relationships go beyond just a project or activity to spending even personal time e.g. attending community cultural events on a weekend. Relationships are two-way so there need to be activities where each organization does something that benefits the other – again, in our two most successful examples – the two community groups play key but different roles in the National Park’s cultural festival – one as performers and the other for food preparation. One of the groups is also responsible for calling into the office on sighting of an endemic species of animal found mainly around that community – this information would not otherwise be available to the National Park.
Enabling factors
The Protected Area Manager must be willing and able to listen to the needs of the local community stakeholders and point them in the right direction if assistance cannot be provided directly. Use informal discussions as well as formal meetings and workshops.
Lesson learned
• Building relationships requires building trust and accountability – both parties need to know the other can be relied on e.g. to provide the funds and/or support promised in a timely fashion. So for example, if JCDT invites a group to participate in an event – they turn up on time and provide a professional performance and JCDT ensures they are paid on time after the event but with a mobilization fee so that they can pay for transportation to attend the event.
• Don’t promise more than you can deliver and ensure as Protected Area manager that you explain your constraints.
• Don’t expect community groups to provide free services to the National Park – the National Park and community group must have a professional, business relationship – a discount can be requested but value must be placed on the input from the community group.
• Benefits must be mutual.
Addressing Community Income Generation Needs through Tourism
Local communities live around the National Park and are generally poor, rural farming communities whose populations are reducing as children grow up and move away because there are few employment and/or income generating opportunities in the communities. The communities are seeking to improve their livelihoods and living standards. If National Park management can help by introducing and facilitating environmentally and economically sustainable livelihoods which promote the preservation of natural and cultural heritage then it benefits both National Park management and the local communities. This is the case in our most successful communities where two quite different sustainable tourism ventures have developed with some assistance from the National Park with project funding e.g. facilitating national level skills training and certification, provision of computer and office furniture, provision of small grants to assist with improvement of tourism ventures. The tourism ventures (attractions, cultural activities, guided trail tours) also link to the agricultural produce in the area e.g. provision of meals, sale of fruit juices and wines.
Enabling factors
Short-term successful projects with direct benefits to the communities
Introduction of these community groups to the relevant government and other agencies so they can access additional support
Lesson learned
Do not assume that all income–generating ventures can and will work – this will depend on the interest of the community and the building of their capacity. On-going monitoring keeps Park management involved in success and sometimes Park management may play the lead role until the community shows interest and/or capacity to take over.
The ventures must support preservation and promotion of cultural and natural heritage and this will require training/awareness raising to familiarize the groups with opportunities and best practices.
Preparing business plans will likely be challenging as the community groups may not want to share/discuss financial information. Therefore the group must be provided with the tools and skills to prepare their own plans with external technical assistance. Only request information that the Park management organization would also be comfortable providing to others.
Strengthening Capacity through Training and Responsibility
Many communities in our part of the island do not have the capacity (social, financial, educational, technical) to implement activities that will help them improve their livelihoods in a sustainable manner that will also support National Park management; nor to fully participate in Park management. Therefore, the National Park seeks to build local capacity through awareness raising, knowledge building, skills training and project implementation. We conduct presentations in local schools and teacher training workshops as well as community meetings and skills training workshops whether in sustainable tourism and/or sustainable agriculture. We also seek the funds or help groups seek the funds to implement what they have learned or made plans for in workshops. We try to ensure that the community implements activities with minimal assistance, or at least with reducing assistance over time.
Enabling factors
Capacity building must be practical and meet the participants at their level and build up from there.
There must be benefits to community members from participation in capacity building e.g. knowledge, skills, experience.
Lesson learned
Building capacity is a long-term process – usually taking place over several years
Persons within communities may leave to take advantage of new opportunities once their knowledge, skills and experience have been improved – but this can also be good for the community as they see additional benefits to participation in training and also, these people are likely to continue to support their community further.
Impacts
The BJCMNP is managed by an NGO, the Jamaica Conservation and Development Trust (JCDT) on behalf of the government. The JCDT’s community outreach focuses on the Windward Maroon communities because their cultural heritage is being protected and has helped protect the natural heritage of the site. The involvement and benefits to these communities have made them supporters of the park. The additional income and new livelihood approaches have created greater interest from community youth resulting in cultural heritage and traditional practices being passed on more strongly and have created new economic benefits. The participation of the Maroon communities on committees helps ensure that they are kept informed and are able to provide information and recommendations on management plans and approaches. This allows the Maroon communities to guide Park management based on their knowledge and concerns and to participate in management activities e.g. monitoring and education/ public awareness. Park management support for the 4 festivals of the Maroon Councils and groups has helped strengthen the relationships between the organisation and communities.
Beneficiaries
Windward Maroon communities and other local communities.
Story
A visit to Ambassabeth, the eco-resort operated by the Bowden Pen Farmers’ Association (BPFA), is an experience which combines the warm hospitality of a rural Jamaican community with the cultural traditions of a community proud of its Maroon heritage and views into the both ranges of the Blue and John Crow Mountains National Park. The visit will likely entail a hike on the historic Cunha Cunha Pass Trail, a walk to Sacred Site crossing Quaco River after paying respects to the Maroon warrior after whom the river is named and hopefully a sighting of the Giant Swallowtail Butterfly (Papilio homerus).The BPFA is a community-based organization formed in 2000 by a group of citizens from Millbank, Portland, in response to their concern for the destruction of forest and land degradation they saw occurring in the Rio Grande Valley. The group self-formed out of the Local Advisory Committee which the National Park management (including JCDT) had established in the area and much of their concern was based on what they had learned during meetings and the visits of researchers and observed for themselves. In addition, the group’s coordinator (Mrs. Linette Wilks) had obtained the JCDT’s technical experience in the mid-1990s regarding the possibility of an eco-resort at the site and she had later worked with the JCDT for several years as a Community Outreach Officer. In addition, JCDT assisted with writing of the proposal and support from National Park Rangers for the establishment of the Cunha Cunha Pass Trail. JCDT has worked closely with the BPFA – facilitating skills training and business planning and bringing visitors who have been able to assist the BPFA in many ways. The BPFA is usually present at the National Park’s “Misty Bliss” cultural festival and the JCDT provides a small grant towards hosting of the BPFA’s Emancipation Day event. JCDT continues to support the work of the BPFA by directing possible funding and other assistance it. The BPFA reports sightings of the Giant Swallowtail Butterfly and any breaches of legislation as well as raising awareness of their visitors about the National Park. The most recent collaboration includes a set of poster exhibits for the Visitors Centre at Ambassabeth which the BPFA contracted JCDT to produce with funds they sourced.
