What Constitutes Success in Pacific Island Community Conserved Areas?

Joanna C Axford,R W (Bill) Carter,Marc T Hockings

doi:10.5751/es-02540-130245

Abstract

In recent years, few if any community conserved areas (CCAs) in the Pacific island region have been regarded as being successful. However, as success is rarely defined, what constitutes “success” is not clear. This paper reports an investigation into the way “outsiders” perceive success in Pacific island CCAs. An exploratory survey revealed six umbrella themes of success: the locus of control; local benefits; resource aspects; management; external stakeholder involvement; and sustainability. Multivariate analysis distinguished two groups, a Big picture group and a Locally focused group. These differ in how they define success, as well as their organizational alignment. The Big picture group, largely from funder agencies and international NGOs, were focused on the broad issues of success, especially the sustainability of CCAs. The Locally focused group was concerned with the practical workings and needs of successful CCAs in the Pacific; many in this group were based with Pacific island governments and NGOs or CCAs. The study concludes that success in CCAs should not be defined solely on project objectives, especially when these have been developed by an external entity or under their guidance. If they are, high rates of failure are to be expected.

Highlights

Community conserved areas (CCAs) are a protected area approach where the indigenous people and/or local community voluntarily conserve their land or sea area through customary or other effective means, and in which they have a central management role (Borrini-Feyerabend et al 2004)
Given the perception that Pacific community conserved areas (CCAs) are failing and the lack of clarity as to what success means, this study investigates the nature of success in Pacific island CCAs
We investigated the following questions: q How is success in Pacific island CCAs perceived by outsiders? and q Do outsiders share a vision of success or are there multiple perceptions?

Summary

Introduction

Community conserved areas (CCAs) are a protected area approach where the indigenous people and/or local community voluntarily conserve their land or sea area through customary or other effective means, and in which they have a central management role (Borrini-Feyerabend et al 2004). Failure has been attributed to a lack of capacity to sustain CCAs in the absence of external support and a general lack of community ownership and effective management to achieve conservation objectives (Sekhran 1996, van Helden 1998, Baines et al 2002). This reflects international trends reporting a dearth of successful integrated and community-based initiatives (Lepp and Holland 2006, Berkes 2007, Garnett et al 2007). A lack of perceived success by those outside the local CCA community could lead to a withdrawal of support for the community-based approach to conservation (Pollnac et al 2001, Horwich and Lyon 2007)

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Discussion

Conclusion