The heritage authority staff coordinate continuously with the interdisciplinary team of the Herculaneum Conservation Project
Parco Archeologico di Ercolano
In response to severe decay across the archaeological site, in 2001 a process of change was initiated by a philanthropic foundation, the Packard Humanities Institute. Twenty years on the public-private partnership which emerged, the Herculaneum Conservation Project, continues to conserve and enhance ancient Herculaneum and its relationship to the surrounding area, including the modern city of Ercolano and the wider Vesuvian region. The partners’ activities today unfold within the management system of the dedicated public heritage authority responsible for the site, the Parco Archeologico di Ercolano. The partnership has also benefited from significant collaborations with many other local, national and international stakeholders.
Each partner brings its particular strengths to the initiative: for example, the democratic mandate and long-term commitment of the public authority and the responsiveness and vision of the private partner. A team of Italian specialists from different disciplines and specialist contractors have worked alongside public heritage officers to identify and tackle the problems faced at Herculaneum, reinforcing the existing management system from the inside.
The public-private partnership found fertile ground to commence thanks to a first phase of management autonomy that the local heritage authority gained from the central Ministry in 1997 which created a more responsive and flexible public partner. Even more significant results have been obtained since a dedicated management authority was created for Herculaneum alone in 2016.
At the heart of improvement at Herculaneum in the 21st c. has been the private partner’s commitment to long-term partnership as the means to achieve enduring change.
The public sector can suffer from a lack of intellectual resources, an excess of administrative hurdles and inappropriate distribution of risk and responsibility. The international element of the partnership helped in these areas, also by increasing neutrality and reducing the impact of short-term political agendas.
In a sector at times closed and self-referential, public-private partnership has been a catalyst for reinforcing and opening up the existing management system to new forms of cooperation with diverse interest groups.
External support is often judged by the scale of funding when often the time parameter defines effectiveness of multilateral initiatives. Good planning of the use of long-term support can secure solutions capable of surviving long after the lifetime of a partnership.
Delays in finding a legal framework for the partnership to flourish seemed an obstacle. In reality, the 3-year lead-in time to real action on site proved an advantage in building mutual understanding and dedicating quality time to understanding the needs of the site and the management system.
Sustainable conservation and management approaches for large sites
Heritage as a shared responsibility
Creating the conditions for values-based and participatory management that supports sustainable development
WSR Nomination Process
Each year, Save The Waves accepts one new World Surfing Reserve from surf communities all around the world. The application process requires significant work from local communities and their inquiry is based on the following core criteria:
1) Quality and consistency of the wave(s);
2) Important environmental characteristics;
3) Culture and surf history;
4) Governance capacity and local support;
5) Priority Conservation Area
Each application is reviewed by an indepedent Vision Council made up of professionals in the conservation, business, nonprofit, and surf fields. Once the World Surfing Reserve is selected based on the rigorous criteria, they undergo the Stewardship Planning Process and the other building blocks to formally dedicate the World Surfing Reserve.
Score highly in the WSR criteria (see above)
Excellent local support and capacity to carry out conservation projects
Excellent communication between Save The Waves and the applying World Surfing Reserve
Local support is absolutely essential in a successful application
A diverse set of stakeholder involvement is needed for the program
Stewardship Planning at Bahia de Todos Santos World Surfing Reserve
Save The Waves
Stewardship Planning at Santa Cruz World Surfing Reserve
Save The Waves
A Local Stewardship Council (LSC) is the main representative of a World Surfing Reserve and is in charge of implementing the Local Stewardship Plan. The LSC works together with Save The Waves Coalition to Protect, Steward, and Defend their surf ecosystem.
LSC members work on the ground and with the local community to carry out activities that result in the long-term conservation of the reserve as well as celebrate and honor the tradition of surfing and ocean recreation. The Stewardship Planning Process brings together the LSC and important community members to map out the the critical threats to the region and come up with long term goals and objectives for permanent protection.
The Stewardship Planning Process generally follows the outline in "Measures of Success" that includes building a Conceptual Model, developing a management plan that identifies goals, objectives, actions and timelines based on the threats to address.
Enabling Factors include:
A well developed Local Stewardship Council
Support from the local government or municipality
Maps of the region and coastline
A well developed inventory of threats to the environment
A comfortable physical meeting space
Our lessons learned from this project include:
Relationship building between the stakeholders is key
Celebrating the indigenous history at World Surfing Reserves
Save The Waves
STW has demonstrated success as a leader of surf conservation and coalition building. We create strategic coalitions to carry out conservation projects at World Surfing reserves that have real impacts. In selecting partners on the ground, we find common interests, fill capacity gaps based on strengths, and set common goals to have an outsized impact in the places we work. Through this work, STW has built a reputation of trust working with local partners around the world.
For World Surfing Reserves and at Bahia de Todos Santos, we built a coalition between local surfers, environmental NGO's, local government agencies, businesses, artists and neighborhood groups to create holistic vision for the protection and enhancement of the region and coastline.
Conditions that are imperative to this building block include the development of a relationship between Save The Waves and leaders of the World Surfing Reserve effort, community cohesion and capacity in the World Surfing Reserve, and inclusive and diverse stakeholder engagement process that invites many voices to the table.
We have learned many lessons through years of building coalitions.
1. Communities must be at the heart of any conservation project or it will not work.
2. A coalition must include a broad and diverse group of actors in the community.
3. A coalition must share power equally and must also have an agreed upon local leader or institution.
“Surfonomics” aims to document surfing’s economic contributions to local and regional economies. Through Surfonomics research, we determine the economic value of a wave and surfing to local communities to help decision makers make better choices to protect their coastal resources and waves.
Using a beach survey of surfers in San Miguel, Ensenada, we were able to quantify that an average tourist spends approximately $111 US dollars a day. As the average surfer spends 10 days per year in the area, it is calculated that a visiting surfer spends $1,151 US dollars a year in Ensenada.
These figures show that surfing helps drive the local economy of Ensenada and that decision-makers must take into account the importance of the surf zone in terms of coastal management.
Volunteers to carry out the survey instrument
Partnerships with academic institutions
A broad coalition of stakeholders is needed to carry out a rigorous academic study like Surfonomics. Relationships and trust must be built with local hotels and rental agencies, business owners, tourism agencies, surf shops and businesses, and most importantly, the surf community itself. All of these stakeholders must share information and participate in the study in order to get an accurate picture of the economy of surf tourism in a given area.
Key lessons include:
Understanding the economic contribution of surfing is key to getting stakeholders to agree on conservation initiatives.
Running a surfonomics study can help practitioners understand the attitudes and perspectives of visitors to the area.
Surfers spend a significant amount of time and money traveling and bring big economic contributions to local communities.
