WCS funded a piece of work to look at the extent to which marine conservation agreements were being used as a tool by the tourism sector to partner with the local communities.
Three products have been now been completed which is hoped will be useful for engaging with a range of stakeholders (e.g. key government agencies, FLMMA network partners, conservation practitioners, communities, the tourism sector, provincial offices).
The first is a full report, with 10 case studies within – this also provides valuable data for Fiji on “marine protected areas” that have been set up through tourism sector-community agreements which can be used for national reporting to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
- Sykes H, Mangubhai S, Manley M (2018) Contribution of Marine Conservation Agreements to Biodiversity Protection, Fisheries Management and Sustainable Financing in Fiji. Report No. 02/18. Wildlife Conservation Society, Suva, Fiji. 98 pp.
The second is a scientific paper which looks at marine conservation agreements through a payment for ecosystem services framework.
- Mangubhai S, Sykes H, Manley M, Vukikomoala K, Beattie M (2020) Contribution of tourism-led marine conservation agreements to natural resource management in Fiji. Ecological Economics. 171: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ecolecon.2020.106607
And finally WCS have just produced guidance for the tourism sector as well as policy makers, interested in setting up/promoting these partnerships with local communities. The guidance helps to answer key questions like:
- What is a Marine Conservation Agreement?
- Why are MCAs important?
- What are the benefits?
- How much will an MCA cost?
- Who should be part of an MCA?
- WCS (2020) Marine Conservation Agreements Guidance for the Tourism Industry in Fiji. Wildlife Conservation Society, Suva, Fiji. 4pp
We hope this is useful to some of you, and welcome feedback anytime. (1) and (3) can be downloaded from WCS Fiji’s website: https://fiji.wcs.org/Resources.asp
