**2. Research Methods**

### *2.1. Study Sites*

This study was conducted in the municipality of Busuanga in Busuanga Island, Palawan province, Philippines, and Karimunjawa Island, Jepara Regency, Indonesia (Figure 1). The two sites present a good opportunity to show how locals perceive BCEs, their services, and management status because of large communities depending on them. Both sites have relatively the same characteristics (i.e., economic activities, presence of a zonation system, and different stakeholders) that could potentially influence communities' perceptions. These site-specific settings can reflect how BCEs are locally managed, which is critical to understanding and achieving sustainability goals across the CTR.

In terms of economic activities, 70% of the activities in Busuanga town comes from fishing, forestry, and agriculture [44] while 74% comes from fishing and farming in Karimunjawa Island [45]. Fishing-related activities in the sites can be supported by the presence of BCEs: the former has an estimated 4738 ha of mangroves and 3726 ha of dense and sparse seagrass beds [44] while the latter has roughly 400 ha of mangroves and 404 ha of seagrass meadows [46]. Despite the economic importance, BCEs in the sites are still subjected to a lot of human-derived stresses (i.e., illegal cutting), thus, several management schemes are in place to protect and conserve them. For instance, Busuanga Island has been identified as a partially protected key biodiversity area (KBA) along with Calauit, Culion, and Coron Islands [47] with an ecological zoning plan being followed under the strategic environmental plan (SEP or Republic Act No. 7611). The environmental conservation in the island is, among others, governed by a special institution called the Palawan Council

for Sustainable Development (PCSD). Meanwhile, Karimunjawa Island, along with the 26 islands, comprise the Karimunjawa National Park (KNP), a protected marine park, which was established under the Plantation Decree no. 78/kpts-II/1999 by the Ministry of Forestry [48]. A stringent zoning system that consists of eight zones is implemented on the island [48]. The zonation system in the sites governs where and how the coastal resources should be used.

**Figure 1.** Location map of the study sites.

The sites also reflect the potential role of different stakeholders like local residents, people's organizations (POs), non-government organizations (NGOs), government agencies, and private sectors in the management of BCEs. In Busuanga, the municipal agriculture office (MAO) is in charge of the management of land and marine resources of the town. Following the mandates from the provincial and national offices, the MAO oversees programs and collaborations with other agencies. The MAO directly supervises the barangay fisheries and aquatic resources management council (BFARMC) and coordinates with POs (i.e., fishers' associations). The presence of these grassroots-led groups encourages the active participation of the community in management-related activities [49]. Another important stakeholder present in Busuanga is C3 Philippines, an NGO which empowers local communities to manage sustainably their coastal resources. These various groups in Busuanga are important in achieving a better integrated coastal management system [49]. Meanwhile, in Karimunjawa, the work of [50] has documented that 67.74% of managementrelated activities in the island are performed by relevant government agencies like Balai Taman Nasional Karimunjawa while a small fraction belongs to residents or community and NGOs, about 22.6% and 8.6% of the activities, respectively. Government agencies usually lead and collaborate with other organizations to conduct activities on the island. For instance, Karimunjawa National Park Authority has collaborated with NGOs like the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), Taka (local), and the University Diponegoro in conducting spatial planning and stakeholder consultation processes to revise the zoning system [48]. On the other hand, community-led and NGO-led activities are often limited since they are dependent on funding agencies [50].
