Protected Area Governance: Moving Malaysia Forward
In previous articles, we have looked at three inter-linked themes affecting management of marine resources:
The article on co-management highlighted governance as an emerging theme of importance, and that is the subject of this piece.
The IUCN approach
The IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) manual on Governance of Protected Areas describes governance in the following way:
“Wherever decisions are being made and power and authority are exercised, some form of “governance” is in place.”
This puts understanding governance at the heart of effective conservation.
The power and the capacity to take decisions have a major influence on the achievement of protected area objectives, the sharing of responsibilities, rights, costs and benefits, and the generation and maintenance of support – be it financial, political, or from the communities in and around the protected areas in question.
The IUCN and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) recognise four types of governance:
Governance of Malaysia’s Marine Parks is firmly seated under governance type A, with governance overseen by the Marine Parks section of the Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture.
How does governance measure up against relevant benchmarks?
What is good governance and where is Malaysia?
Achieving good governance is critical to the success of all four main governance types. Good governance is a measure of how far certain principles and values are adhered to.
The quality of governance of a protected area can be evaluated against a number of broad principles of good governance that have been developed by a variety of people, nations and UN agencies. The simpler and more compact formulation of such principles, referred to as “IUCN principles of good governance for protected areas” includes:
Legitimacy and voice
Direction
Performance
Accountability
Fairness and rights
A fair assessment of how Malaysia is doing against each of the principles needs to be conducted, perhaps through a multi-stakeholder workshop with relevant government agencies and other key stakeholders. However, a quick review serves to indicate that there is room for improvement.
Why do we need to do this?
As noted in the IUCN’s Governance of Protected Area manual, there are numerous benefits to be gained from improving governance.
For governmental actors, the benefits of opening up to more diverse governance types and enhancing governance quality can include:
Meeting targets for greater protection coverage of areas important for biodiversity and ecosystem functioning.
Greater ability to build networks of protected areas leading to protection of larger landscapes/ seascapes.
More effective conservation.
Greater savings and/or generation of resources.
Expanding capacity for meeting a variety of commitments under international law.
More resilient systems.
More people actively involved in conservation.
Contributions to social harmony and peace and the recognition of rights.
For non-governmental actors, the reasons for becoming involved in the governance of protected areas possibly vary even more widely than for governmental actors, including:
Securing livelihoods via local strategies for natural resource management.
Obtaining recognition and support for their own conservation achievements.
Clarifying roles and managing conflicts
Seeking better respect for local rights, values and identity.
In general, a key motivation of many actors to engage with protected area governance is to improve governance quality - i.e., achieve more equity, legitimacy and accountability in the decision-making processes that affect natural resources, livelihoods and society in general.
In the next piece we will look at how policy intersects with governance and management, and what policy changes might help to strengthen both in Malaysia.