Tomini Bay Sustainable Coastal Livelihoods and Management

Results achieved as of the end of the project (October 2012) include: The project has helped to establish 22 village groups that are managing and sustaining 24 income-generating and resource management activities (e.g. fish cages bamboo furniture) 19 of which are generating a profit. Beneficiaries have started repaying the loans they received. Village mangrove forests are being rehabilitated and maintained. Approximately 927 hectares of mangroves have been rehabilitated 102 hectares funded directly through this project and 825 using expertise provided through the project. Villages have adopted regulations to manage local access to and control over mangrove resources. Awareness about the importance of mangroves has increased and collective action to conserve them is taking place not only in the eight villages that participated in the project but also in neighbouring villages which are voluntarily replicating what they have observed. District governments have publicly acknowledged the key role of mangroves in sustaining livelihoods and coastal development and have declared a ban on mangrove clearance. Some of the four mangrove working groups established through the project have secured government funding for rehabilitating mangrove areas. These working groups have established mangrove information centres completed ecological surveys and developed and implemented environmental education curricula. Stakeholders from three provinces worked collaboratively to develop Tomini Bay’s State of the Coast Report using experience on community-based mangrove management provided through the project. By the end of the project these provincial stakeholders were developing an action plan to implement a strategic plan for managing the resources of Tomini Bay.