Willingness Of Local Community Research Articles

Willingness and drivers of community participation in mangrove conservation in the Rufiji Delta, Tanzania

Promoting local community participation in recognition of their indigenous knowledge is important for effective resource conservation. The aims of this study were to evaluate local community willingness and drivers of participation in mangrove conservation activities in the Rufiji Delta. Data were collected through focus group discussions, key informant interviews, semi-structured household interviews and participant and non-participant observations, across three designated management blocks - Northern delta (ND), Central delta (CD) and Southern delta (SD). Qualitative data were analysed using content analysis while quantitative data were analysed for descriptive and inferential statistics. Overall, the majority of respondents (88 %) agreed that it was important for the community to participate in mangrove conservation activities and 50 % of them expressed immediate readiness to participate if called upon. Zone wise, 50 % of respondents in ND and CD, and 42 % in SD indicated a moderate level of community willingness to participate in conservation. Age of household head, education level, source of income and awareness of mangrove governing laws were the most significant drivers positively associated with community willingness to participate in conservation activities. These findings suggest that for long-term management of mangroves, local communities should be adequately recognized as partners rather than as foes.

A survey on the local community willingness to participate in the cooperative management of nature reserve: A case of Snake Island-Laotie Mountain National Nature Reserve, China

This paper investigated local resident and enterprise participation willingness in the management of Snake Island-Laotie Mountain National Nature Reserve (SILMNNR). The questionnaire is designed through examining local resident needs, and their behaviour, and knowledge of SILMNNR, and the willingness to participate (WTP) in the nature reserve management and its influencing factors. It is concluded that: a) the level of local community’s knowledge on SILMNNR is lower; b) increase of social progress and local resident income leads to plenty of environmental price, then, economic development becomes one of the factors effecting ecological deterioration; c) local residents would not be involved in the reserve management until their needs of “health”, “safety”, “housing” and “food and clothing” are satisfied; d) local resident and enterprise administrators’ attitude on ecological conservation are positive, but currently their level of environmental behaviour and the participation willingness is still low; e) main factors of influencing local groups’ WTP in the cooperative management are resident education, age, sex, and enterprise annual net income. Therefore, through understanding their needs and factors affecting their WTP, local community’s capability and level of participating in nature reserve cooperative management could be improved.

Upscaling ecotourism in Kisumu city and its environs: Local community perspective Authors

Kenya’s quest to be among the top ten long-haul tourist destinations globally require strategic focus as envisaged in Kenya’s Vision 2030. Ecotourism is emerging as an alternative development path that can enhance environmental conservation, promote preservation of cultural heritage as well as provide an alternative source of sustainable livelihood. Alternative livelihood in ecotourism provides a sustainable development path for Kisumu City and its environs. However, sustainability in ecotourism transformation is a concern; that is how to motivate the local community to participate in this venture? This study discerns these significant sustainability factors as perceived by the local community. The objective of the study was to discern the local community’s perception on significant sustainability factors for ecotourism transformation. And the research questions: What is the local community’s perception on significant sustainability factors for ecotourism transformation? This research design used both qualitative and quantitative research. The qualitative research design focused on site specific analysis of ecotourism sites of Dunga (Kisumu), Miyandhe (Bondo) and Seka (Kendu Bay). The quantitative research entailed data collection administered through questionnaire in eco-tourism outlets represented by 10 Beach Management Units (BMU) selected through purposive sampling. Principal Component Analysis was used to discern the significant sustainability factors for ecotourism transformation. A total of 28 items converted into variables were subjected against 326 respondents in the PCA analysis. The results indicated a total of seven (7) significant sustainability factors: First factor was willingness to participate in ecotourism ventures; second Factor was upscale ecotourism initiatives in the neighborhood; third factor was women and youth empowerment; fourth factor was youth and women employment in the neighborhood; fifth Factor: Natural Artifact factor; sixth factor was nature and culture under threat; and seventh factor was sex and importance of culture. The paper concludes that local community willingness to participate must be up-held through direct engagement and prioritization of critical issues and recommend that ecotourism prototype will facilitate public engagement and the empowering process. Culture-based ecotourism venture was rated highly by the local community and the blend should achieve quality product that is acceptable to the local community and the visitor.

Local acceptance and heterogeneous externalities of biorefineries

Biofuels can potentially reduce lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions from energy use and help address the climate change problem. However, the siting and operation of a biofuel production facility can impact the members of the host community both positively (e.g. local jobs and income) and negatively (e.g. pollution and noise). Such ambivalent and heterogeneous external impacts result in either local support or opposition to the facility, which in turn becomes a key factor affecting biorefinery location decisions, and subsequent success of biorefineries. While a number of prior studies have analyzed economic and environmental impacts of biofuels, systematic analysis of local acceptability of biofuel production facilities is lacking. Our study explores factors that influence community attitudes towards biofuel facilities. We assess the strength of acceptability or opposition by estimating the local community's willingness to pay (WTP) either to support or to oppose a proposed biorefinery. We posit that such WTP estimates provide a more comprehensive measure of local acceptability. Results also suggest that county level socio-economic characteristics significantly influence these attitudes and WTP.

Knowledge Sharing and Stakeholder Collaboration Practice in Solo City Planning and Development: Notes on Urban Community Nurturing Processes

This paper shares the experience of an ongoing research on stakeholder-based planning and development in Solo City. The goal of the research is to find the connectivity among actors and the aspect that makes collaboration in Solo City happened. What makes the collaboration happened is hypothetically a growing trust and a good leadership with sense of entrepreneurship. The objective of the paper is to externalize and share the documentation of collaborative practices in city planning and development process, as lessons learned for other Indonesian cities. The observation indicates that trust from the community to the city hall is acquired as the city hall is consistent to the collaboration process in carrying the plan into implementation. The willingness of local community to participate and to deliver innovation in the process indicates a supportive foundation for the growing collaboration.

Planning for the community? The early experiences of the implementation of Edinburgh City Council’s Community Plan

Labour governments from 1997 to 2010 sought to promote joined-up thinking with the goal of ultimately improving governance and service delivery. It is within this context that this article analyses the emergence of New Labour’s Community Planning agenda in Scotland during the period 2003–2004. More specifically it focuses upon the early stages of the implementation of Edinburgh City Council’s Community Plan. An examination of the policy background to Community Planning is undertaken, presenting the key impacts of Labour’s modernisation agenda on local governance and democracy. Through the analysis of the implementation of Edinburgh City Council’s Community Plan, this article considers the extent to which the Community Planning agenda practically impacted upon public participation. It concludes by arguing that the South Edinburgh pilot demonstrated that some services can be delivered more efficiently and effectively, specifically those which are more responsive to local residents’ views and needs. This research argues that the implementation of Edinburgh’s Community Plan generated a new dynamism in local politics if only for a short period of time, most notably in local community willingness to engage with key issues which affected them. This approach resulted in tangible improvements within the public realm. There were also opportunities to use community plans to reinvigorate and restructure local governance in new and more democratically accountable ways. The case study also indicated some of the tensions and opportunities contained within the Labour Government’s modernisation agenda.

Sustainability Challenge for Small Scale Renewable Energy use in Yogyakarta

Abstract To increase share of renewable in energy mix and to increase decentralized nature of the energy system, Yogyakarta needs to improve energy technology applications that utilize a variety of local renewable energy resources. In this spirit, this paper describes examples that demonstrate challenges in the application of small-scale renewable energy installations based on bio-energy, hydropower and small-scale photovoltaics system in Yogyakarta. Discussion was focused on the challenges of benefit sustainability in utilizing renewable energy technologies. The study was conducted on three biodig2ester systems based on cattle waste: two systems utilizing waste from tofu small industry and a system using human faeces. From socio-cultural point of view, the study showed tendency of willingness of local community to use biogas instead of fossil-based energy and indication of the willingness of local community to run and maintain existing biodigester systems. However, there was still lack of proper operation and maintenance standard. The study showed that three cattle manure-based biodigester could reach 91%, 78% and 85% of theoretical level respectively. Two biodigester systems based on tofu industry waste achieved 72.78% and 0%, respectively, while the human faeces biodigester reached level of 95.6%. Furthermore, it was shown that six biodigester systems studied were unable to meet economic feasibility criteria. Study was also conducted on a micro-hydro power plant built in Van Der Wick irrigation channel. The power plant was of 11 kW installed capacity. The study was focused on debris being blocked by trash rack and its influence on the power plant's performance. The result showed that the debris accumulation could lead to blockage of the trash rack that could, in turn, decrease water discharge flowing into intake of the power plant. In one observation during the study, the power plant even stopped working in less than four hours due to total trash rack blockage. Meanwhile, another set of detail study was also conducted on 20 of 60 solar home systems (SHSs) which were in operation for two years. They were distributed and installed by the government of Yogyakarta to districts of the province as a grant. The SHSs are of 50 Wp and are designed to power three lights. The study showed that all SHS under study could, in average, only achieve 68.05% of designed performance level. Besides, the problems in solar panels, wiring, inverter and light ballast were also found. The last one occurred in 50% of SHSs under study. Principle of the holistic framework of the technology diffusion and the supporting network should be implemented to keep benefit of small scale renewable energy infrastructures in Yogyakarta sustain. It needs comprehensive and long term program touching both technological and non-technological aspects.

Externalities, NIMBY syndrome and marble quarrying activity

Marble quarries like any other mining project are faced with NIMBY (‘not-in-my-backyard’) reactions, since some negative externalities are inevitable. The paper presents a contingent valuation survey aimed at investigating a local community's willingness to accept (WTA) compensation for allowing the establishment and operation of a marble quarry in its surroundings and exploring the determinants influencing NIMBY reactions against marble quarrying activity. The valuation scenario used involves an annual monetary payment to a community fund in order to be more realistic and to lessen the so-called ‘bribe effect’, which is common in compensation schemes.