Advocacy for Marine Management: Contributions to a Policy Advocacy Initiative in the Maldives Neal Collins SIT Graduate Institute
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
SIT Graduate Institute/SIT Study Abroad SIT Digital Collections Capstone Collection SIT Graduate Institute Spring 5-2013 Advocacy for Marine Management: Contributions to a Policy Advocacy Initiative in the Maldives Neal Collins SIT Graduate Institute Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/capstones Part of the Biodiversity Commons, Environmental Health and Protection Commons, Environmental Policy Commons, Marine Biology Commons, Natural Resources and Conservation Commons, Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons, and the Sustainability Commons Recommended Citation Collins, Neal, "Advocacy for Marine Management: Contributions to a Policy Advocacy Initiative in the Maldives" (2013). Capstone Collection. 2608. https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/capstones/2608 This Thesis (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by the SIT Graduate Institute at SIT Digital Collections. It has been accepted for inclusion in Capstone Collection by an authorized administrator of SIT Digital Collections. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ADVOCACY FOR MARINE MANAGEMENT i ADVOCACY FOR MARINE MANAGEMENT: CONTRIBUTIONS TO A POLICY ADVOCACY INITIATIVE IN THE MALDIVES Neal M. Collins PIM 71 A Capstone Paper Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for a Master of Sustainable Development at SIT Graduate Institute in Brattleboro, Vermont, USA. May 2013 Advisor: Dr. Preeti Shroff-Mehta © MWSRP ADVOCACY FOR MARINE MANAGEMENT ii Consent to Use of Capstone I hereby grant permission for World Learning to publish my Capstone on its websites and in any of its digital / electronic collections, and to reproduce and transmit my CAPSTONE ELECTRONICALLY. I understand that World Learning’s websites and digital collections are publicly available via the Internet. I agree that World Learning is NOT responsible for any unauthorized use of my Capstone by any third party who might access it on my Internet or otherwise. Neal Collins May 10, 2013 © MWSRP ADVOCACY FOR MARINE MANAGEMENT ii Table of Contents ABRSTACT ................................................................................................................................ III LIST OF ACRONYMS ................................................................................................................ IV INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 1 OVERVIEW ................................................................................................................................. 3 CONTEXT ...................................................................................................................................................... 3 Historical Perspective. ........................................................................................................................ 4 Modern Economy & The Environment. ........................................................................................ 7 South Ari Atoll. .................................................................................................................................... 10 POLICY ISSUE ............................................................................................................................................ 13 THE ADVOCATES ...................................................................................................................................... 16 POLITICS .................................................................................................................................................... 20 Primary Target. .................................................................................................................................. 21 Ally. ........................................................................................................................................................... 22 Influential Stakeholders. ................................................................................................................. 23 STRATEGY ................................................................................................................................................. 25 CONCEPTS & METHODS ....................................................................................................... 28 THE PRODUCT ........................................................................................................................ 30 EVALUATION ........................................................................................................................... 46 LESSONS LEARNT ................................................................................................................... 49 BIBLIOGRAPHY ...................................................................................................................... 52 APPENDIX A – SOUTH ARI ATOLL MPA REGULATIONS ............................................. 55 APPENDIX B – MALDIVIAN WHALE SHARK TOURIST ENCOUNTER GUIDELINES ..................................................................................................................................................... 56 APPENDIX C - WORLD LOCATION OF MALDIVES ....................................................... 59 APPENDIX D – MAP OF THE ATOLLS OF THE MALDIVES .......................................... 60 APPENDIX E – MAP OF THE SOUTH ARI MPA ............................................................... 61 APPENDIX F – ORIGINAL PROPOSAL PRESENTED TO THE EPA ............................. 62 APPENDIX G – EXAMPLE MWSRP RESEARCH ACTIVITY ........................................... 63 APPENDIX H - WHALE SHARK INJURIES FROM BOAT STRIKES ............................. 64 APPENDIX I – PERSONAL COMMUNICATION LIST ...................................................... 65 ADVOCACY FOR MARINE MANAGEMENT iii ABRSTACT On June 5, 2009 a 42-km2 area of coral reef situated in the Alif Dhaalu (South Ari) atoll of the Republic of Maldives was designated the South Ari Atoll Marine Protected Area (S.A. MPA) due to a globally significant whale shark aggregation site. The whale shark is notorious for its gargantuan size and docile nature, which has led to a burgeoning tourist industry that gives people the opportunity to swim with the gentle giants in tropical sites such as the Maldives. The S.A. MPA receives tens of thousands of visitors a year that engage in whale shark excursions, however, there is a dearth of monitoring and enforcement of the protected area and no formal Management Plan has been implemented since the declaration of the MPA. The lack of management has led to overcrowding of vessels engaging in whale shark excursions, thereby making it dangerous for the safety of tourists while also jeopardizing the sustainability of the critical whale shark habitat and the area’s natural endowment. This paper is based on my personal contributions to an advocacy initiative coordinated by the Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme to lobby the Environmental Protection Agency to adopt a collaborative Management Plan for the S.A. MPA. A contextualization of the issues surrounding the S.A. MPA is given. Details of the advocacy strategy and methodology used are presented. And a policy paper with a corresponding evaluation is put forward. The paper concludes with lessons learned from working on the initiative. ADVOCACY FOR MARINE MANAGEMENT iv List of Acronyms AEC Atoll Ecosystem Conservation Project DAM Divers Association of Maldives EPA Environmental Protection Agency GDP Gross Domestic Product GEF Global Environment Facility IUCN International Union for the Conservation of Nature LAM Liveaboard Association of Maldives MPA Marine Protected Area MRC Marine Research Centre MWSRP Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme NGO Non-governmental Organizations S.A. MPA South Ari Atoll Marine Protected Area UN United Nations UNDP United Nations Development Programme UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization ADVOCACY FOR MARINE MANAGEMENT 1 Introduction This paper expounds my personal contribution to an initiative that aimed to lobby the Maldives Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to enact a collaborative Management Plan for the South Ari Atoll Marine Protected Area (S.A. MPA) in the Republic of Maldives1. It is the final product that consummates the degree requirements for a Masters of Arts in Sustainable Development from the SIT Graduate Institute in Vermont, U.S.A. As such, it is consistent with SIT guidelines for Policy Advocacy course-linked capstones. I was fortunate to secure a graduate practicum with the Maldives Whale Shark Research Programme (MWSRP) for a six-month intermittent period starting in May 2012 and finishing March 2013. My responsibilities were in organizational development and in- field coordination of marine research that primarily focused on the whale shark (Rhincodon typus). While there I became particularly interested in marine management issues surrounding the primary whale shark research site for MWSRP. The area, known as the South Ari Atoll Marine Protected Area, faced increasing anthropogenic related threats and had no formal monitoring or enforcement of legal regulations. I was intrigued by the issue not only because of a personal and spiritual connection to the beautiful seascape after spending hundreds of hours conducting research above and below the ocean surface, but also because I found innumerable parallels between