*4.3. Management Strategies of Blue Carbon Ecosystems*

In recent years, marine ecosystems in Busuanga have improved due to the presence of regulatory boards (i.e., PCSD), local authorities (i.e., MAO), and NGOs (i.e., C3 Philippines). There is also the creation of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources Management Councils (FARMCs) and different POs (i.e., fishers' association) which empowers communities to join management-related activities. However, despite the presence of different organizations, the residents prefer that organizational strengthening and capacity development and law enforcement should still be prioritized first in the list of management strategies (see Table 5). These perceptions agree with findings of [73] that community-based management has not been successful because communities lack self-sufficiency and their participation is merely rhetorical. There is a need to strengthen and capacitate communities in coastal management. Previous studies have documented that the ecosystems' (i.e., mangroves) conditions in Busuanga Island have improved through collaborative protective management with the POs [74] and a stronger presence of NGOs in the communities [73]. To further strengthen management strategies, FARMCs and POs have encouraged local constituents and members to actively participate in management-related activities such as coastal clean-up and mangrove planting. The positive reception of the locals in these initiatives could explain why around 50% of the respondents said locals should manage their BCEs (see Figure 4). Other areas in the Philippines have had practices where locals are active stakeholders in the management of BCEs [26].

The continued degradation of coastal resources on the island has also been linked to the weak presence and enforcement of habitat protection and management interventions [49]. Field observations and stories from the locals revealed that some illegal activities like mangrove cutting are still ongoing partly because of weak law enforcement. Ref. [44] documented the lack of strict implementation and law enforcement in their coastal governance and management system. There is also a concern for the ambiguity and overlapping roles of government organizations and NGOs, which can cause frustration and even conflict in the community [73]. Thus, it is important to establish different policies and plans for organizations in the community. For the lowest priority strategies, residents ranked information and educational campaigns and coastal zoning at the bottom (see Table 5) since these programs are already implemented on the island. Awareness campaigns are done by C3 Philippines, an NGO, for coastal communities around the island (C3 program coordinator, personal communications, 19 July 2020) while PCSD regulates the use of coastal zone [44].

The governance system in Karimunjawa has an overall weak performance in terms of addressing conflicts and meeting objectives to protect fishery resources from unsustainable and destructive practices [48]. The lack of stronger resource management on the island

is reflected in the perceptions where locals recognized the need to prioritize the marine sanctuaries, habitat, and fisheries management (see Table 5). Almost half (47%) of the population on the island are fishers [45]; therefore, it is expected that residents prefer to prioritize management strategies affecting their livelihoods. Communities that have a high dependency on marine resources are generally more supportive of strategies related to fisheries management. There is also a need to carry out more information and educational campaigns to increase their awareness of BCEs. Although the results of this study show relatively high awareness of the benefits, the overall assessment reflects a lack of knowledge, which could result in weak participation in conservation activities (see Figure 4). For instance, the communities have relatively low motivation for participating in managementrelated activities because of poor awareness about the advantages of mangroves and the impacts of their degradation [59]. In addition, communities are not interested in joining the conservation activities due to a lack of direct economic incentives [75]. Moreover, the communities prefer that all stakeholders (i.e., residents, government, private sectors) should participate in managing their coastal resources (see Figure 4). This collaborative management approach on the island has long been implemented since 2007 [48]. In Indonesia, there are only a few cases of marine resource management that are co-managed by communities and the government [76]. The governance system should respect the customary knowledge, rules, decision-making process of the local communities to get the support of the communities [48]. Meanwhile, the lowest priority is coastal zoning. There is already a strict zonation policy that is being implemented and followed on the island [66] thus, the residents placed this strategy at the bottom of the list (see Table 5). The zonation of the island allows regulatory controls on different uses outlined in the management plan, like issuing permits to harvest some natural resources sustainably and conduct activities related to education and research purposes.
