Mangrove ecosystem for sustainable tourism in Dampier Strait Marine Protected Area Raja Ampat

Abstract

Mangrove forests are considered very productive ecosystems in tropical coastal areas. They consist of valuable resources which provide services in terms of physical, biological and socio-economic functions. Human intervention and development have impacted the coastal ecosystems. The research was carried out to assess the biodiversity of mangrove ecosystem for sustainable tourism in Dampier strait, Raja Ampat. The data collected in Manswar islands, Gam islands, and the southern part of Waigeo island, and Batanta islands. Mangrove sampling was carried out at 7 (seven) stations which were selected randomly. The baseline data were used to develop the model of integrated and sustainable mangrove forest management in marine protected area Raja Ampat. The maximum number of visitors to each mangrove destination in Dampier Strait MPA ranged from 376 persons per year for Pandawa Resort to 39,486 person per year for the Nature Reserve Waringkabom. Two management areas were designed for mangrove ecotourism, namely Batanta management area and Gam island, Manswar islands, and South of Waigeo management area. These areas could be assigned as mangrove ecotourism based on resort management, based on property right of local community management and local customary management, and based on partnership and collaboration management.