Are you game for this? Assessing local stakeholders' perceptions on conservation and intention to participate in a proposed dugong protected area in Johor, Malaysia

Successful Marine Protected Areas (MPA) management, both economic and physical sense, are dependent upon flexibility in governance strategy and changes in human behaviours. Human behaviours are affected by many-sidedness of... [ view full abstract ]

Successful Marine Protected Areas (MPA) management, both economic and physical sense, are dependent upon flexibility in governance strategy and changes in human behaviours. Human behaviours are affected by many-sidedness of social, psychological, institutional, and financial elements that need to be comprehended for successful implementation of conservation management strategies. Positive attitudes toward MPAs are a potentially valuable component of any such rationale especially in the growing country where human pressure on natural resources is often high. In Peninsular Malaysia, MPAs are typically operated and managed using a top-down approach whereby its management is largely under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government with little to no participation or synergy with the State governments and local communities. In the Peninsular Malaysia state of Johor, proposed dugong (Dugong dugon) protected area will soon be gazetted, causing local stakeholders to be concerned that an additional layer of space-based legislation in addition to existing Marine Park boundaries would result in an increased restriction to their daily activities. Therefore, we conducted a study designed using the concept based on Theory of Planned Behaviour (TPB), to elucidate the psycho-social factors that drive stakeholders’ intention towards participation in the conservation planning and policy for the new proposed protected area. Our study intends to provide baseline information on local stakeholders’ perception and feedback and for the development of unprecedented co-management practices in the new dugong protected area. Informal interviews and questionnaires were conducted with five communities and other stakeholders that worked within the new proposed area for dugong protected area along the Johor east coast and adjacent islands. Total of 347 respondents was interviewed. Results show that current systemic top-down operating mechanism and confusion between overlapping Federal and State jurisdictions limited the participation of the previous stakeholder in MPA management. It was found that societal influences, stakeholders' perceived ability to perform the action, attitudes, and the distance of the proposed dugong protected area to their home drive stakeholders’ intention to participate. Recommendations resulting from our study included that a provision of tangible benefits such as the improvement of local facilities and creation of alternative livelihood programmes for local villagers enable them to integrate into the new protected area’s management planning and improve their participation and support for conservation. Additionally, enabling community co-management in the new dugong protected area can boost successful conservation and optimize the efficiency and effectiveness of the protected area.