Conservation International

Final Project Report: Expanding Community Marine Managed Area Networks and Institutional Capacity to Support Coral Reef Conservation in Papua New Guinea and the Solomon Islands

2022

Conservation International; Coral Reef Conservation Program

"In both the Solomon Islands and PNG, local communities have constitutionally protected tenure of marine resources and are the primary decision makers on management of inshore marine resources. Under the Coral Triangle Initiative (CTI), the National Plans of Action for both countries focus heavily on the role of communitybased management as the key to long-term conservation success for coral reefs and to achieve sustainable fisheries and food security. In both countries, national policies on marine management emphasize supporting community-based marine management areas as the most important approach to achieving conservation of marine biological diversity, ecosystems services, and food security. Given the pivotal role of communities in management, strengthening existing CMMAs and creating networks of CMMAs is the best way to bring large expanses of coral reefs under management. In both Solomon Islands and Papua New Guinea (PNG), the scale of support to communities for establishment of Community Marine Managed Areas (CMMAs) remains limited and has primarily been pursued by international NGOs directly training communities on management. However, in numerous cases when support from the international NGO ends, so does the conservation activity. While some capacity may be built in specific communities, little lasting capacity for the long-term delivery of management support has been established. As we work to expand the numbers of communities that establish CMMAs and move to create CMMA networks, it is particularly important to develop the capacity of local permanent institutions. In this way, they can then directly train and mentor local communities over the long-term. This has been the basis of Conservation Internationals (CI) work in the Coral Triangle and is the focus of this proposal. This project will invest in existing and new CMMAs and in the creation of CMMA networks, where several CMMAs are developed relatively near one another. CIs long-term goal is to establish CMMA networks through the Solomon Islands and PNG. However, we also support the creation and strengthening of individual CMMAs as this is often a first critical step to creation of CMMA networks."

coral reefs, coral reef conservation, community marine managed areas, Solomon Islands, Papua New Guinea

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OCM

FY2018 CRCP Project ID 31212; Project Title: FY18/FY19 - International Coral Reef Conservation Cooperative Agreements; Principal Investigator: Scot Frew; Grant NA18NOS4820014.

NA18NOS4820014