Adaptive, community-driven and resilient co-management plan

Full Solution

by Raphaël Glémet, International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN)

Aerial view of the Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary

IUCN/Sun Kong

The process to develop an adaptive, community-driven and resilient co-management plan for the Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary (PKWS) in Cambodia addresses the need for climate change adaptation through a participatory approach. This plan will support ecosystem and social resilience through maintenance and restoration of mangrove areas; the development of alternative livelihoods, as well as conservation of key species.

Last update: 02 Oct 2020

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Context

Challenges addressed

Loss of Biodiversity

Sea level rise

Tsunami/tidal wave

Ecosystem loss

Infrastructure development

Lack of alternative income opportunities

Physical resource extraction

Changes in socio-cultural context

Lack of infrastructure

climate change impacts, decreased fish productivity, mangrove loss and pollution Climate change will provoke stronger winds, higher waves, sea-level rise and increased storm frequency as well as higher sea temperature, changes in salinity, acidity and turbidity. Other challenges affecting livelihoods at site level include declined fish productivity due to an increased number of fishers, the loss of mangrove areas, pollution and infrastructure developments incl. sand mining.

Scale of implementation

Local

Ecosystems

Mangrove

Theme

Adaptation

Local actors

Culture

Fisheries and aquaculture

Tourism

Location

Peam Krasop Wildlife Sanctuary, Cambodia

Southeast Asia

Process

Summary of the process

Regional climate projections were downscaled to the provincial level. This information was shared with local government and communities. A dialogue platform was built to develop a long-term management plan for the site including conservation plans for specific zones, improved scientific knowledge through long term studies and monitoring, and law enforcement support and protection by training and supporting local rangers. Local adaptation plans are developed including installation of rain water harvesting facilities. To decrease the direct pressure on natural resources and the communities’ dependency, new forms of livelihood are developed: marine product processing, improved fish trade marketing, certification for sustainable fisheries. Concurrently the project also tested technical activities in the field to obtain lessons learned for a better design of the management plan. Effective solutions and good practices are disseminated under a shared regional platform. High-level national officials involved in the process use the sanctuary as a local example of climate change adaptation and community-led approaches and bring it to national attention.

Building Blocks

Understanding local impacts and threats

Detailed studies and surveys on climate change vulnerability of and human-related threats in the sanctuary generated the pre-requisite knowledge needed to develop the management plan and bring stakeholders to a same level of understanding. It generated an improved understanding of the potential impacts of climate change based on local downscaled climate change projections. This work also identified the ecosystem values of the sanctuary with regards to biodiversity, fisheries and other aquatic and non-timber forest products production.

Enabling factors

- Availability of data in the literature, from local governments and active involvements and coordination of sub-national governments, esp. relevant provincial departments and commune in field data collection and information sharing. - Qualified technical staff to analyze results from scientific monitoring on local climate change, biodiversity and livelihoods.

Lesson learned

A strong management and adaptation plan has to be based on good scientific knowledge of the site. This requires in general more time than the actual drafting of the plan. Data sources should be a good balance between scientific sources and studies as well as local knowledge and stakeholder consultation (especially on climate events, hazard timelines, local changes in crop productivity, rainfall patterns, etc.).

Creating ownership

To build a long-term and lasting management plan, all perspectives, uses and needs are taken into account. Provincial workshops facilitate a collective understanding. Community input is ensured through the use of participatory risk assessments (rural appraisal tool) at village level. Provincial workshops connect the local knowledge to the official level. Working groups and workshops held during the drafting phase of the plan ensure a strong governance system.

Enabling factors

- Use of adequate communication tools like community stories to bring local knowledge to an institutional level and tools like cartoons, movies, and stories to bring scientific/policy related information to communities. - A qualified coordinator to ensure a balanced participation of all stakeholders and off-site discussions to prepare workshops.

Lesson learned

The governance system has to be built during the consultation period and should ideally involve representatives of all types of stakeholders related to the site. It is important to address local governance issues in existing communities, such as land tenure, as most land does not belong to the communities. It is difficult to encourage communities to restore local natural habitats and undertake other conservation issues without clear perspective. The participation of national government representatives could be a limitation to the participation of the grassroots level. The participatory approach is a new process for very centralized government systems, where top-down approaches are preferred.

Testing of conservation and rehabilitation techniques

The testing of the techniques enabled the team and working group to obtain lessons learned from management activities directly influencing the design of the management plan and also to answer immediate concerns and threats faced by local stakeholders. Techniques included the rehabilitation of a waterway inside the mangrove forest to protect villagers from storms on the coast (canal dredging), re-planting zones affected by coastal erosion, implementation of a zoning system regulating uses in the site. Feedback and lessons learned for a better management plan are compiled.

Enabling factors

- Preliminary participatory approach to identify priorities and activities most needed by local stakeholders - Sufficient scientific information to ensure the activities tested are “no regrets” activities and won’t impact the site - Capacities for close monitoring with local stakeholder to draw lessons learned in common

Lesson learned

The technical activities, in particular the secured access brought by the rehabilitated canal, enabled a shared and mutual trust in the process and also informed the management plan drafting process. The beach stabilization was rather difficult to achieve through re-plantation only, therefore the management planning committee is now studying other green techniques.

Resources

Immense benefits of channel dredging in Koh Kapik

Developing a management plan of shared solutions

The joint identification of priority areas for intervention and solutions, using already existing (local) ideas and set-ups, is key. Livelihood diversification and adaptation technique are developed in order to decrease the direct pressure on natural resources and decrease the dependency of communities to these local resources, threatened by climate change (e.g. developing various forms of aquaculture, marine product processing, improved fish trade marketing, supporting certification for sustainable fisheries, ecotourism, etc.).

Enabling factors

High-quality preliminary work (1) to ensure a shared understanding of issues between various types of stakeholders and strong ownership (2) are providing the basis towards a successful management plan. Local commitment and involvement in the implementation phase is key, as well as willingness to replicate in new areas. Local NGOs are actively working to support local communities to diversify and expand livelihoods activities.

Lesson learned

It is also vital to encourage local communities and local authorities to identify issues and come up with their own solutions which can be applied at the local level. The involvement of National government representatives is also a guarantee that the project will follow national guidelines and policies on protected areas management, climate change and wetlands management.

National upscaling and transboundary exchanges

Building this project within a larger regional project (incl. Thailand and Vietnam), enables the sharing of experiences among countries (fisheries market development, coastal protection) and facilitates the understanding of climate change as a global concern with localized solutions. Collection of effective solutions, good practices and lessons learned are shared at regional level under a regional platform. High level national officials are involved in field visits and local discussions to bring community-led examples of climate change adaptation to national attention.

Enabling factors

The participation of some national government representatives was a guarantee to bringing local examples to a national platform. Good communications and information sharing about data on the status of biodiversity and climate is a pre-requisite for conservationists and policy makers to make an informed and right decisions for the conservation and management.

Lesson learned

Exchange of site visit by local communities and local media to the neighboring countries is also a good strategy for allowing them to learn about the issues in terms of biodiversity protection and conservation, climate change issues and local adaptation and local response mechanisms. In addition, they can share successful and unsuccessful lessons learned and best practices which can be applied in their localities. In addition to this, media can also play an important role in disseminating issues about climate change and local solutions to the wider audience. Sanctuary zoning with clear zones of core zone, conservation zone, multiple use zone and community use zone and signed by the prime ministerial sub-decree is a model for other protected areas and countries to follow. It restricts the attempts by private companies to obtain economic concessions from the government.

Impacts

The channel dredging intervention will bring two main benefits to the people of Koh Kapik. Firstly, it will result in socio-economic benefits. It will enable the local community members to gain better access to health care, education and a fresh water supply. In addition, it will also improve livelihoods of local people, as they can go fishing every day without the struggle of boat navigation and they will spend fewer amounts of time and money on fuel. Besides this, it will improve the exchange of goods and services, such as bringing in rice and other basic commodities and getting goods out from the capture fisheries. Twenty-four hour access to this channel will help local people reduce their vulnerabilities to natural hazards such as storms, as they can use the channel to escape. Prior to the channel, they had to use sea routes which were more exposed to hazard. Secondly, it will bring environmental benefits to community dwellers. The dredging will improve biodiversity resources by facilitating movements of some aquatic species and by improving the water quality. It will also help increase aquatic resources living in the mangrove forests.