Community-Based Approach
Example from Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea
The resilient MPA network design for Kimbe Bay, Papua New Guinea, is one example of incorporating scientific resilience principles into MPA design structure. It also highlights the many social and economic implications for MPA networks. The community of Kimbe Bay, working with local partners, attempted to address these socio-economic implications in their MPA design. The socio-economic design principles were aimed at maximizing benefits and minimizing costs to local communities and sustainable industries. These principles were applied to four distinct categories that affected the Kimbe Bay community:
Socio-economic design principles were used in the development of the Kimbe Bay MPA network. Photo © Chris Crowley
- general social and economic issues
- local and commercial fishing industries
- sustainable tourism venues
- issues related to the heavy shipping traffic that Kimbe experiences
The principles for each category are described below.
General social and economic issues:
- Recognize and respect local resource owners and customary marine tenure systems.
- Recognize that local communities are the decision makers and custodians over marine resources.
- Understand and incorporate local knowledge, traditional fisheries management and conservation practices.
- Minimize negative impacts on existing livelihood strategies.
- Protect areas of cultural importance to traditional owners.
- Ensure costs and benefits are fairly distributed within and between communities.
- Minimize conflicting uses, such as tourism and extractive use.
- Consider current and future population trends and changing resource use.
Local and commercial fisheries:
- Ensure the MPA supports sustainable and artisanal fisheries for local communities by recognizing diverse livelihood strategies, and spatial and temporal variations in resource use and values.
- Consider costs and benefits to local communities (and sustainable industries) in management of commercial fisheries.
- Conserve marine resources, which local communities identify as important to their livelihood.
- Conserve marine resources for local communities by prohibiting destructive fishing methods.
- Conserve marine resources for local communities by prohibiting unsustainable commercial fisheries, particularly the live reef fish trade (LRFT) and other fisheries for species particularly vulnerable to exploitation (e.g., sharks and rays).
Sustainable tourism:
- Protect high priority tourism sites from conflicting (extractive or destructive) uses.
Shipping traffic:
- Accommodate existing shipping infrastructure (wharfs, channels) in MPA design (avoid placing highly protected areas in the vicinity of these areas).
By addressing socioeconomic impacts of the MPA Network on the community, the local stakeholders can share their knowledge and concerns as the network is implemented. For a full report on the design of the Kimbe Bay MPA network, including socio-economic design principles, please consult:
- Green, A., Lokani, P., Sheppard, S., Almany, J., Keu, S., Aitsi, J., Warku Karvon, J., Hamilton, R. and Lipsett-Moore, G.. 2007. Scientific Design of a Resilient Network of Marine Protected Areas. Kimbe Bay, West New Britain, Papua New Guinea. TNC Pacific Island Countries Report No. 2/07 (download pdf, 2,130k)
Resources
Village-Based Marine Resource Use and Rural Livelihoods: Kimbe Bay, West New Britain, Papua New Guinea (download pdf, 1,227k)