Co-Designing Protected Areas Management with Small Island Developing States’ Local Stakeholders: A Case from Coastal Communities of Cabo Verde

The Small Island Developing State, Cabo Verde, is one of the most important marine biodiverse hotspots in the North Atlantic. One of its national conservation strategies has been the declaration of protected areas, and currently, the country has 47 declared protected areas and only 26 have been full...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Published in:Sustainability
Main Authors: Naya Sena, Ana Veiga, Adilson Semedo, Mara Abu-Raya, Rute Semedo, Iwao Fujii, Mitsutaku Makino
Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023
Subjects:
civil initiative
collective actions
co-management
community participation
protected area management
small island developing states
Environmental effects of industries and plants
TD194-195
Renewable energy sources
TJ807-830
Environmental sciences
GE1-350
North Atlantic
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.3390/su152015178
https://doaj.org/article/3caa2ee20d76430c9a0a935e4ef1e5e9
Description
Summary:The Small Island Developing State, Cabo Verde, is one of the most important marine biodiverse hotspots in the North Atlantic. One of its national conservation strategies has been the declaration of protected areas, and currently, the country has 47 declared protected areas and only 26 have been fully implemented. The latest protected area, Baía do Inferno e Monte Angra Natural Park, is the first protected area proposed by a civil initiative, and the local people strongly support the declaration of this protected area. Therefore, this study aims to better understand the mechanisms behind strong local support, explore the lessons learned from this case and how it can help improve the implementation of other protected areas in Cabo Verde. We conducted 7 semi-structured interviews with previously identified community leaders and 480 questionnaires with the general population of the local communities. The results show that 78.6% of the questionnaire respondents chose co-management as the desired management model. We also found that non-governmental organizations and local leaders have played a crucial role in sharing knowledge with local populations and helping them to have a critical and informed view about the future implementation of the protected area.

Similar Items