Komodo National Park Collaborative Management Initiative

The project will experiment with a privatization scheme in park management through a Joint Venture (JV) between the Nature Conservancy (TNC) and a local tourism company (JPU) who will implement a collaborative management strategy based on a 25-year park management plan. The JV will obtain a tourism concession from government to authorize this private sector-NGO partnership to set and collect gate fees, establish and implement tourism carrying capacity limits, and to develop a tourism licensing system. The overall strategy seeks to make Kmodo National Park a self-sustaining entity with its management costs being covered by tourism revenue. The project includes substantive positive incentives (a micro-enterprise fund for local family-based business, research and development of sustainable methods of marine resource use, and a community small grants fund) and will enforce negative incentives (regulations and fines) to encourage local communities to switch from the current destructive fishing practices to sustainable livelihoods based on the rational use of park resources. Innovations brought in by this project include: the testing of new park management and financing models; the partnership of an international NGO with a local tourism operator to form a Joint Venture and their using of a collaborative management approach with strong links to local community and private sector stakeholders; and the adoption of an adaptive management approach. The Joint Venture is established as a for-profit company whose revenues will be re-invested in the park.