Local awareness as an instrument for management and conservation of seagrass ecosystem: Case of Berau Regency, Indonesia

Abstract

Berau Regency in East Kalimantan has one of the intact seagrass ecosystems in Indonesia which is increasingly under pressure. Threats to this ecosystem mainly derives from anthropogenic activities such as land conversion and tourism activities, which can lead to ecosystem degradation and carbon emissions. This study explores the indirect and direct drivers by analyzing the locals' awareness of the benefits of seagrass ecosystem services through semi-structured interviews and a random sampling questionnaire in several areas in the Berau Regency, namely Derawan, Tanjung Batu, and Tanjung Redeb. Highlights of this research include evidence on occupation's correlation with resource utilization and awareness, with fishermen showing higher utilization of the seagrass ecosystem from the provisioning aspect and government employees having a high capacity for knowledge of various seagrass ecosystem services. Insight from this study provides further understanding on the influence of aspects such as resource utilization and the involvement of the local government, in regards to the local awareness of seagrass ecosystem. The role of fisherman and government can be critical to raise the awareness and to support the communities' efforts to manage the seagrass ecosystem.