Strengthening Family-Based Local Cultural Values in the Conflicting Area and Marine Ecotourism of Situbondo Indonesia

Abstract

The people of Banongan, a business rights dispute and ecotourism area in Situbondo, were marginalized and lacked attention from the government. Whereas some ecotourism researches have been mostly about opportunities, potentials, and community-government roles in ecotourism development, this community service aimed at mentoring and empowering the people to be involved in marine ecotourism development and to strengthen family-based local cultural values for facing negative ecotourism impacts by the use of Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) method. The stages include: introduction, to the situation studies, listing a participatory action plan, and carrying out action. The utilization of this method was useful to ensure active participation of the people in identifying their problems and planning alternative solutions. The community service resulted in: 1) Advocacy da’wah and community mentoring for the people to get their rights back so as to create community welfare; 2) Community mentoring for the people to be involved in marine ecotourism development in Banongan Beach; and 3) Strengthening family-based local cultural values in facing negative impacts of ecotourism. Among the values is “Selamatan Rokat” that strengthens people solidarity in rejecting nature exploitation which damages the environment and life for the sake of tourism. The suggestion is for the ecotourism management at Banongan Beach to involve people participation and provide economic benefits for the local welfare by giving attention to full-of-religious-values local wisdoms. Implications for stakeholders as a map of potential natural and cultural resources for ecotourism development. Keywords: Local Cultural Values, Banongan Beach Ecotourism Area, Participatory Rural Appraisal Method, Community Participation, Conflicting Area