**5. Implications to Management of Blue Carbon Ecosystems in the Coral Triangle Region**

Despite the gaining momentum of the "blue carbon" discourse and collaborative action in the international and national arenas, there is still a lot of work to be done at the local level, particularly where local governments and implementers are the ones interacting with these ecosystems. This study presents an opportunity to level off BCEs perceptions at the local level in the CTR, particularly in the countries of Indonesia and the Philippines. People's awareness level, utilization rates, and perceived threats and management strategies are used as proxies to determine the familiarity of coastal communities with BCEs. The results of this work show that local communities are aware of the services they can get from BCEs. However, their awareness depends entirely on the type of benefit they directly receive. For instance, provisioning services (i.e., food source) is fairly acknowledged in Busuanga while poorly recognized in Karimunjawa. Personal experiences of the residents also greatly influence their perception of the BCEs.

Factors affecting their perceptions were explored in this study as well. Although the effect of socio-demographics on awareness and utilization in this work is inconclusive, it is important to consider these factors when looking at the role of communities in coastal management. Not only the quantitative aspects of the effect but qualitative aspects can be analyzed applying text mining methods to the interview results of locals [77,78]. The willingness of the locals to actively participate in management-related activities depends on their awareness level. In Busuanga, where locals have high regard for BCEs, they are willing to manage them. In contrast, residents in Karimunjawa prefer their local government or a multisectoral management scheme since they have low comprehension of the BCE services. This observation is a useful indicator in strategizing advocacy campaigns and the levels of engagement of local stakeholders in the CTR. It is noteworthy that engaging local communities in ecosystem service assessments helps define their role in multi-governance of the environments as well as the importance of ES and the factors that influence social preferences and trade-offs related to land-use change and decision-making [38].

Another implication of this study on BCEs in the CTR is the perceived threats. To enable the sustainable management of these resources in the region, threats that destroy them should be identified first. Damages caused by natural disturbances are hard to address but restoration and rehabilitation of BCEs after a catastrophic event can be done [1,55] while anthropogenic threats are the ones that can be prevented and addressed directly. This study documented that human activities (i.e., cutting, coastal development) are concerning threats to BCEs in Busuanga and Karimunjawa. Through the locals' responses, different stakeholders can have an opportunity to address present and future threats at local scales where management strategies are often weak compared to the national level. Reducing or prohibiting these activities can ensure the proliferation of BCEs in the CTR.

This perception study, particularly on the section where locals were asked to prioritize management efforts, to some extent, served as (a) a feedback mechanism on the impact of prior and/or existing BCE management activities; and (b) an assessment tool that helps identify the gaps of the management plans and programs for the two countries. First, it was made evident that in both sites, the least prioritized management actions are the ones that are already being strongly and widely, if not effectively, implemented such as information and educational campaigns in Busuanga and coastal zoning in Karimunjawa. Second, the locals' responses collectively revealed that certain management activities, like the ones perceived to be prioritized—organization strengthening and capacity building in Busuanga and habitat management and fish sanctuaries in Karimunjawa—are the activities or programs that are less felt and experienced. This study is a crucial learning in how collective perceptions can be used moving forward in BCE management strategies in each country as well as a tool for identifying common grounds that can be shared and are transferrable across the CTR.

**Supplementary Materials:** The following are available online at https://www.mdpi.com/2071-105 0/13/1/127/s1, Texts S1: Factors influencing the awareness and utilization of blue carbon ecosystem services, Table S1: Multiple linear regressions of socio-demographic profile and awareness level of (S1a) mangroves and (S1b) seagrasses' ecosystem services, Table S2: Multiple linear regressions of socio-demographic profile and utilization frequency of (S2a) mangroves and (S2b) seagrasses' provisioning and cultural services, Table S3: Correlation analysis of locals' awareness and utilization of (S3a) mangroves and (S3b) seagrasses' ecosystem services.

**Author Contributions:** Conceptualization, J.M.D.Q., Y.U., and R.K.; methodology, J.M.D.Q., K.M.L., and Y.U.; validation, J.M.D.Q., K.M.L., and Y.U.; formal analysis, J.M.D.Q. and Y.U., investigation, J.M.D.Q., Y.U., and K.M.L.; resources, J.M.D.Q., K.M.L., and Y.U.; writing—original draft preparation, J.M.D.Q.; writing—review and editing, J.M.D.Q., Y.U., K.M.L., and R.K.; supervision, Y.U. and R.K.; project administration. Y.U. and R.K.; supplementary materials, J.M.D.Q.; funding acquisition, R.K. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

**Funding:** This research was funded by JSPS KAKENHI, grant numbers JP20K12398, JP16KK0053, JP17K02105, JP17H01682, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) through the Science and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development Program (SATREPS)—Comprehensive Assessment and Conservation of Blue Carbon Ecosystems and Their Services in the Coral Triangle (Blue CARES) project; Toyota Foundation (D17-N-0107); Foundation for Environmental Conservation Measures, Keidanren (2020); Kurita Water and Environment Foundation (20C002).

**Informed Consent Statement:** Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.

**Data Availability Statement:** The data presented in this study are available on request from the corresponding author. The data are not publicly available since this study is part of an on-going research project.

**Acknowledgments:** The authors would like to thank the key informants from different government units of Busuanga, Philippines and Karimunjawa National Park, Indonesia for their support in the conduct of the interviews.

**Conflicts of Interest:** The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
