Rivera Ramos, J. C.

Research project design and concept

2014

San Juan, Puerto Rico

Centro para la Conservacion del Paisaje, Inc. (CCP)

6

Progress Report 2

"Providing the socio-economic analysis to a broader multidisciplinary research that has as its main goal informing the development of a coherent management plan for the maritime zone of the Northeast Ecological Corridor, in Puerto Rico, our research project strives to acknowledge, and understand, the perceptions of communities and interest groups within the Corridors geographical area. Therefore, in order to illuminate the creation of a robust and more inclusive management plan for the region, a methodology that focuses on the perceptions of its main stakeholders becomes necessary. As an historical analysis of marine protected areas in Puerto Rico argues: Identifying the communitys perceptions about an incipient protected area is of crucial importance for facilitating the discussion between the community and government authority; accordingly, leads to the successful planning and management of marine resources. It is also imperative to understand the dynamics of resource use and perceptions and uses of the seascape or territories.? (Aguilar-Perera, Sharer, and Valds-Pizzini, 2006). Following this, we have decided to complement an array of qualitative techniques (interviews, focus groups, field observations, document analysis) with survey data. This combination of methodological approaches will deepen the analysis and will produce the necessary data to describe and understand local communities, NGOs, and other main stakeholders views, feelings, and interpretations of the present and future of the natural resources in the area. Thus, being for the most part a qualitative study, our research design needs a wider and less confining idea of design?. In this sense, we acknowledge that the study will evolve and could reformulate different strategies or questions as we advance in our data collection and analysis."

FY2012 CRCP Project ID 527, Product 216; Project Title: Scoping for North-East Corridor Natural Reserve Integrated Management Plan; Principal Investigator: Antares Ramos