Fish Spawning Aggregations: A Reef Resilience Toolkit Module

Local NGOs

Though national governments often have the ultimate authority for the management of natural resources within their sovereign nations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are playing increasingly important intermediary and facilitation roles in conservation actions.

Fishers, NGOs, scientists, and government agencies participating in FSA workshop in St. John, USVI. Photo © S. Wear/TNC

NGOs can be engaged to assist in:

• Facilitating stakeholder involvement over relatively long time frames
• Synthesizing existing information and data, and collecting new information
• Providing alternative skills training to maintain or enhance economic income for displaced fishers
• Identifying alternate food resources
• Drafting legislation for site and area closures for consideration by stakeholders and policymakers
• Co-managing protected areas
• Monitoring and enforcement
• Supporting local and national management efforts

Since NGOs often receive private funds, they can bring additional human, technical, and financial resources to support management issues. They can serve as non-political conveners of stakeholder groups, and help as co-managers of protected sites. Additionally, their funding structure may allow them to have long-term interests in a site, unlike scientific research grants which are normally designed to accommodate shorter-term goals.