Natural Resources Decision-Making in Wanggameti: A Collaborative Research and Convening Process

Abstract

"This paper documents the research and multi-party decision-making process convened around the long-term management of an uplands protected area located on the island of Sumba in the dry Nusa Tenggara region of Indonesia. The Wanggameti Conservation Area (KKW) is regarded as a conservation priority due to its high level of biodiversity, role as a water catchment area, and importance for marginalized communities living in and around the protected area.

"A broad network of NGO, government, university, and community stakeholders implemented a broadly inclusive research and convening process in KKW during 1997. Researchers incorporated participatory research methodologies (especially Participatory Rural Appraisal) to collect base-line data, to build capacity among communities and government, and to facilitate stakeholders towards consensus-based management planning for the protected area. Meetings sponsored by the Nusa Tenggara Community Development Consortium (NTCDC) stimulated advanced, inclusive planning for the participatory research in KKW. The Conservation Working Group of the NTCDC is active in promoting community based natural resource management and hosted annual conflict management trainings involving stakeholders from KKW. Planning continued through a preliminary survey in the village of Wanggameti and a subsequent workshop.

"To maintain the principle of participation through the research's implementation required capacity building among research participants and among the marginalized upland communities to prepare them for complex, multi- party negotiation at a conclusive management planning workshop. At the planning workshop in Waingapu, the results of the research and community meetings provided a wider audience with a common set of base-line data that aided both in voicing community perspectives and in supplying a foundation for collective analysis. Seven substantive areas were covered in the research: forest boundary and land use issues; forest management and degradation; dry-land agriculture; livestock management; gender and women's participation; local traditions and perspectives on natural resource management; inter-agency coordination aspects in environmental management and community development.

"It is hoped that the lessons learned with regards to methods for capacity building and strengthening relationships around natural resource management, in addition to the challenges encountered in their implementation, can provide insight to colleagues in other contexts engaged in similar approaches."