Dirk J. Steenbergen

MSc(Wageningen) Forest and Nature Conservation Policy and Management

Indonesia’s shallow inshore seas are under increasing pressure. Shifts taking place at global scales resulting from climate change, globalizing fishery markets and international politics, alongside changes occurring at local scales driven by livelihood needs, changing technologies and governance frameworks, are seriously impacting upon vulnerable ecosystems and the artisan-fishing communities that depend on them. Preventing scenarios of resource depletion or collapse requires that local communities be actively engaged in sustainable marine resource management, and that they be equipped with the necessary tools to ensure maintenance of their livelihoods and environment. Successes in participatory marine conservation initiatives worldwide are relatively few, which in turn reflects the magnitude of the challenges involved in governing these highly contested coastal zones.

The current Phd research project examines governance frameworks and participation of local artisan-fishing communities in the functioning, management and implementation of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) in Indonesia. The research defines these environments [where social systems and marine ecosystems are in constant interactive exchange] as Social-Ecological Systems (SES). In doing so, the research intends to provide insights into why so often conservation initiatives with good intentions fail to produce self-functioning sustainable conservation models. Through an SES approach, MPA governance structures in eastern Indonesia will be examined in terms of complexity, resilience and social capital.

My previous research on marine and coastal conservation policy investigated the participation levels of indigenous fishing communities in MPA management in Wakatobi National Park, in S.E. Sulawesi. It formed the basis for an MSc thesis, as a part of a degree in Policy and Management in Forest and Nature Conservation (FNP), at the Wageningen University in the Netherlands. After staying on as a junior teacher/research associate with the FNP group at Wageningen in 2007, I was offered the opportunity to gain hands-on experience in conservation work in S.E. Asia in 2008 as a socio-economic specialist in a project that was part of a Regional Biodiversity Corridors Initiative (BCI) in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS). Stationed in N. Thailand, the work involved socio-economic appraisals, biodiversity perception studies and alternative livelihood analyses of local forest dependant communities residing in and around protected areas at selected case-study sites in five countries of the GMS (Thailand, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Vietnam, and S. China - Yunnan & Xihuangbanna provinces).

Through integrating past experiences in participatory conservation and policy with sociological approaches to studying natural resource management issues, ultimately this research seeks to contribute to a better understanding of how governance structures function (or malfunction) to support (or undermine) conservation of the local marine ecosystem for coastal communities.

This PhD research is part of a larger comparative Australian Research Council funded project entitled ‘Social Capital, Natural Resources and Local Governance in Indonesia’.

Postgraduate Researcher, Asia Research Centre, Murdoch University, South Street, Murdoch, WA 6150. Fax: 9360 6381, Email: d.steenbergen@murdoch.edu.au