Co-management bridging Biodiversity Conservation and Fishing Rights
Full Solution
Nakorovou village consultations (© IUCN)
The Nasoata Island Co-Management is a partnership that brings together formal and informal management systems (national, provincial & community) for the conservation of biodiversity in Nasoata Island supporting the traditional fishing rights owners of Nakorovou Village, Rewa Province, Fiji Islands.
Last update: 30 Sep 2020
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Context
Challenges addressed
The development of the management plan aims to help the villagers address challenges that they are facing as landowners such as poaching of resources on the island and surrounding inter-tidal area, unsustainable cutting practices of mangroves and coconut trees by outsiders, and lack of proper management framework and the need for monitoring and enforcement.
Location
Nasoata Island
Oceania
Process
Summary of the process
The biodiversity surveys provided a better understanding of the diversity and the many important species that are hosted on Nasoata Island. The Island has extensive areas of mangrove areas with important species from East Melanesia of which many are under threat. In Fiji the community, government and the provincial office were made aware of the biological importance of the island in the face of anthropogenic pressures.
With IUCN taking the lead, multiple consultations between IUCN, the government, the provincial office and the communities helped the villagers understand the importance of the island. Equal representation from community members is important to ensure all voices are heard and all impacted by the management plan and possible changes are involved. Further revisions of the management plan have to go through villagers and provincial office consultations.
Using the scientific studies and village consultations, a final management plan was ultimately proposed to help govern the use and extractions around the Island (through the MESCAL project). The management plan will complement the designation of Nasoata Island as a Ramsar site.
Building Blocks
Providing the scientific and legal Evidence Base
Biodiversity assessments were undertaken by project partners following the site’s designation to be a prospective Ramsar site for wetlands. This provided scientific evidence on which to build the management plan on. National plans and policies relating to mangrove management in Fiji were also reviewed to feed in to the development of an adequate management plan.
Enabling factors
- Availability of data in the literature, from local and national authorities
- Qualified technical staff to analyze results from scientific monitoring on biodiversity and livelihoods and assessment of existing national policies and regulations
Lesson learned
Involvement of all stakeholders in the assessments is important (University staff, Dept. of Forestry staff, NGO staff, Dept. of Fisheries Staff, IUCN and villagers (as guides and support).
In order to provide the legal basis on which to develop the management plan, a better understanding of the traditional governance system and how it fits into formal (national Government) management system is vital. For example, mangroves in Fiji belong to the state, however, Nasoata Island belongs to the villagers of Nakorovou (freehold land). This understanding is best acquired through a proper consultation process, see (2). This includes the need for prior understanding of community dynamics, including community structure, land ownership, village conflicts and tenure conflicts.
Repeated Community Consultations
Community consultations were undertaken by IUCN with relevant government departments, the provincial office and researchers. They served the purpose of discussing next steps and identifying appropriate channels to follow in order to achieve an outcome that is desirable to all relevant stakeholders. Repeated consultations also included communities. This prevented the communities doubting or questioning the management plan. Consultations where held in different locations, e.g. the village of Nakorovou as well as IUCN office.
Enabling factors
- High-quality preliminary work (1) to ensure a shared understanding of issues between stakeholders
- Use of adequate communication tools and appropriate consultation settings (e.g. Government/NGO, Provincial and, village meeting)
- An experienced consultant to undertake the process of planning the meetings and drafting the co-management plan
- Interest in achieving a collective agreement by relevant players
- Buy-in from the customary fishing right owners
Lesson learned
Community commitment & buy-in: Nasoata is an initiative which was initiated by the communities after observing that outsiders continue to illegally enter the island to collect resources unsustainably. Repeated consultations are important to ensure community-buy in. Equal representation from community members is important to ensure all voices are heard and all impacted by the management plan and possible changes (i.e. representatives from women, men, youth, fishermen/women, church) are involved.
A future nature investment: The communities bought back this island after it was sold during the colonial times to coconut plantation owners as a future investment as a heritage for the future generation.
Visualizing first-hand Challenges and Solutions
Village visitation and site visitation by relevant stakeholders served the purpose of allowing the representatives from IUCN, government and provincial office to discuss and more importantly witness firsthand the challenges faced by the villagers in the management of Nasoata Island.
Enabling factors
- The villagers agreed to accept outsiders into the village.
- Stakeholders’ willingness to attend dialogues.
Lesson learned
It is very useful to take stakeholders out to witness the destruction on the island. This helped convincing them of the purpose of the co-management plan. The community/village members have to be the tour guides.
The field trip needs to be well organized (i.e.) planning in advance, plan according to tide tables, invest in the local transport businesses.
Facilitating multi-input Management Plan
Preparation of co-management plan was developed by IUCN taking into account resources, different user groups, traditional and formal governance arrangements and issues. A draft co-management plan was sent to stakeholders (Government and NGOs) for comments. These were further consolidated and brought to the village for consultation. IUCN handed over the final co-management plan to the Department of Environment which was taking over the lead and presented the plan one final time to the community (5).
Enabling factors
- Mandate for relevant authorities to develop a legal arrangement to provide a legal protection for the island and the surrounding intertidal areas.
- Clear intend of handing over the process to the national regulatory body (to handle the processes after the drafting of the co-management plan. This gives the Government ownership of the process while ensuring a strong relationship between landowners and Government to ease the implementation steps.
Lesson learned
Divisions within the village had caused strained relations amongst certain villagers. However, by following traditional protocols and the proper channels with which to enter and conduct consultations in the village, the team managed to work in the village without hindrance.
Different stakeholders will have different interests in the process. It is important to find a common objective that all stakeholders are interested in, this could ultimately speed up the achievement of the desired objective. In our case it was the Ramsar process (Department of Environment (DoE) who are the secretariat of the Ramsar process in Fiji.) Having Nasoata nominated as a Ramsar site also involved other important stakeholders/implementing NGO partners such as Department of Forestry, University of the South Pacific, WWF, etc. The Ramsar designation would also assist in achieving the objectives of the co-management plan.
Ensuring Endorsement of End-product
After repeated community consultations (2) and the development of a co-management plan benefiting from multi-input sources (4), the management plan was taken to the community for endorsement. The community showed it to the Paramount Chief of the Province for her approval. This was very important to ensure adequate buy-in and engagement for the implementation process.
Enabling factors
- Involvement of local leaders (e.g. Paramount Chief, village elders) who are the traditional fishing area or qoliqoli custodian, to give consent to the management rules agreed upon by the Nasoata community and government.
-Involvement of all relevant stakeholders who have a vested interest in the area proposed for management (government, NGO and community)
Lesson learned
It is key to have all parties involved from the early stages and not added in during parts of the process of developing the co-management plan. In this building block we failed to include a small group that ultimately slowed down the process of approval as they had a dormant conflict with the majority of the village. Had they been involved in the earlier stages, the development of the co-management plan would have been much faster.
Seeking international Management Status
The project seeks international management status for the area in question by having submitted the management plan under the Ramsar application process, currently awaiting outcomes. The management plan will enhance the chances of Nasoata being chosen as the second Ramsar site in Fiji as it outlines the planned management framework for the Island.
Enabling factors
- Nasoata Island meeting the criteria that is set by Ramsar.
- Successful drafting of co-management plan as it is part of the Ramsar process.
- DoE implementing the Ramsar process on the ground.
Lesson learned
A special recruitment of a consultant to complete the Ramsar Information Sheet (RIS) was necessary. The RIS is very comprehensive and needs the attention of a full time person to collate all the available information.
Impacts
This effort has resulted in
- the government’s proposal of designating Nasoata Island as Fiji’s second Ramsar site and the development of a Management Plan that outlines the framework for the conservation of the Island
- increased community engagement and interest in conservation efforts for the Island
- increased and renewed collaboration between the stakeholders on conservation efforts for the Island after a lapse of 3 years
- renewed and increased trust of the landowners placed on government and provincial stakeholders to successfully implement the management strategies
Beneficiaries
The landowning village community, tourists and students as well as neighbouring villages.
Story
Mr. Seru Serevi is a renowned local musical composer and artist in Fiji and in the South Pacific region. Seru was born and raised in the village of Nakorovou and is the nephew of the Village chief, Turaga na Tui Waina. All his life he has lived in close association with the “vanua” (land), the people and the “yau bula” (natural resources). Seru is well connected with Nasoata as his parents and those before them had always harvested mud crabs, bi-valves, and medicinal plants amongst other things from the Island. The island used to belong to several families of European and also of Indian decent. During this time the island was used as a coconut plantation where herds of cattle were kept. People of Nakorovou had to buy back their land for around two thousand pounds in the late 1970’s which was first bought off them by a pirate for only one shilling in the 1800’s. The villagers now realize the importance of Nasoata, not only due to its rich historical value to his people but the livelihoods that the island sustains - as in the past, the island still supports the villagers with fish, food and income. The biggest threat villagers have seen over the years is poaching and disrespect by neighboring villagers on the “tabu” (taboo) zones. Seru says that, “Our people have respected the need to protect the island, its people from outside who are not respecting our taboos even though we have spread the word from village to village and even up to the provincial council". The issue with monitoring Naosata is the distance from the village to the island and the need for someone to police the island full-time. Seru feels that through the management plan, the proposed framework and the now evident strong cooperation between the villagers, the Provincial Office and the relevant Government departments, the future of Nasoata is brighter. The villagers often accommodate flocks of students from the local university (University of the South Pacific) who visit the island to study its biodiversity and learn how the villagers use the natural resources. The protection of Nasoata, the inclusion into Ramsar and some eco-tourism activities is what Seru hopes will be the best outcome for the island and this is mostly thanks to the effective consultative process.
