Factors Influencing Progress in Establishing Community-Based Marine Protected Areas in Indonesia

Concerns are being raised about high failure rates of community-based small-scale no-take marine reserves that are proliferating in the Southeast Asian region. Factors hypothesized to influence success include intrinsic community characteristics, project input levels, and change agent characteristics. An empirical analysis of these hypotheses was conducted using a sample of 24 villages in North Sulawesi, Indonesia, where marine reserves were in early phases of establishment. Factors found to influence the rate of progress were village complexity, level of development, project input levels, characteristics of community organizers, and degree of community organizer homophily relative to the community. These findings are important for community-based marine conservation initiatives conducting simultaneous interventions in multiple communities. It provides insights in how project strategies can be adjusted to increase the probability of success, obtain economies of scale, target communities more amenable to community-based interventions and result in a better return on project investments.