Social acceptability of a marine protected area: The case of Reunion Island

Abstract

a b s t r a c tThis paper examines variations in social acceptability of a Marine Protected Area (MPA) prior to implementation. The influence of a number of factors, including socio-economic characteristics, perception of coral resources state of health and attitudes towards non-compliance with regulations are analysed. During May 2006, 640 questionnaires were distributed to school children around Reunion Island, Western Indian Ocean, for completion by their parents, following an informal educational activity made in school. From a 73% (n ¼ 469) response rate, results showed that 78% of participants were in favour of the MPA. Analysis further identified that those supportive of the MPA were generally from higher socio-professional categories, had a negative perception of the coral reef ecosystem's health and were not originally from Reunion. In contrast, locals (born in Reunion) from lower socio-professional categories or with no employment activity and having a positive perception of the health status of coral reefs offered no opinion on the MPA. Attitudes towards enforcement and compliance highlighted that SCUBA divers, fishers and jet skiers attributed a higher value to the protection of the coral reef environment through enforcement of MPA regulations than to their own use of the coral reef resource. When asked about the use of penalties to deter non-compliance, swimmers were awarded the lowest fines, followed by SCUBA divers, fishers then jet skiers being awarded the highest fines. Thus, the more severe the act of non-compliance by a resource user group was perceived to be, the more these users themselves disapproved of non-compliant behaviour and supported use of high penalties. The survey design through focusing on school children's parents, demonstrated a simple and cost-effective method for data collection while providing environmental education, which could be employed in similar case studies elsewhere.

Management priorities for seawater desalination plants in a marine protected area: A multi-criteria analysis

“…Systematic assessments of quantitative preferences are commonly missing. Engaging coastal stakeholders, including local residents, in the early stages of the planning process provides critical information on management preferences for these plants and offers insights into social acceptability and support [25,35,37,66].…”

Motivation for compliance with environmental regulations related to forest health

“…Pro-environment behavior has been studied in contexts where consumers have ongoing long-term interestsdfor example, recycling programs (Valle, 2005), protection of marine environments (Thomassin et al, 2010), and residential water conservation (Corral-Verdugo, 2006). It has also been studied in contexts where consumers have primarily sporadic or short-term interestsdfor example, recreational fishing in protected areas (Read et al, 2011), vandalism in national parks (Cialdini et al, 2006), and environmental conservation in hotels (Goldstein et al, 2008).…”

Local Expectations for Future Marine Protected Area Performance: A Case Study of the Proposed National Marine Conservation Area in the Southern Strait of Georgia, Canada

“…Stakeholder input enhances understanding of local opinions on the design and performance of an MPA (Suman, Shivlani, and Milon 1999;Himes 2007), and increases the likelihood that policy decisions are based on an accurate understanding of local social and environmental conditions (Pomeroy, Mascia, and Pollnac 2007). More specifically, the involvement of stakeholders in the early stages of the planning process helps to address concerns towards the estalishment of a MPA (Salz and Loomis 2004), provides insights in local issues that need to be addressed by new MPAs (Charles and Wilson 2008), and indicates social acceptability and support for a future MPA (Thomassin et al 2010).…”

“…Previous work on proposed MPAs, for example, has focused on social acceptability for a proposed MPA (Thomassin et al 2010) and saltwater anglers' attitudes toward fishery regulations in several hypothetical MPAs (Salz and Loomis 2004), but not local expectations on desired future MPA performance.…”