WAKATOBI RESORT

WAKATOBI RESORT
A collaborative community-based reef management programme
Company Background
Collaborative Community-Based Reef Management Program
The Wakatobi Dive Resort in Southern Sulawesi, Indonesia
is the realisation of a lifelong dream of its Swiss founder,
Lorenz Mäder: a dive resort, far away from the tourism hot
spots, where he could establish a new way of running an
ecotourism operation. At the luxurious Wakatobi Resort,
diving is combined with concern for the environment.
The diving and hotel operations started in 1996, with
a capacity of only 12 guests, all of them housed in the
same building. At that time travelling to the resort
was difficult, located around 2 days from gateway
towns like Singapore. The resort therefore completed
its own air-strip runway in 2001, reducing travelling
time to 2.5 hours from Bali. The resort now has 26
luxurious villas and bungalows and operates the
Pelagian, widely regarded as one of the premier dive
yachts in the Southeast Asia/South Pacific region.
Wakatobi provides full employment to a workforce
of about 140 locals, with the same salaries for men
and women, dependent only on performance.
In the Wakatobi area, divers can experience some of the world’s
most pristine reefs. The resort is ranked by many as the most
excellent land-based coral reef dive resort. Wakatobi Resort was
created with the mission of establishing a win-win situation for
the reefs, the local community, and the resort by implementing
sustainable sound eco-tourism principles. The resort’s mission
statement describes the issues of marine conservation and
community development as the key inspiration and driving
force for all its operations. W akatobi is one of the world’s most
proactive eco-tourism resorts and has won several awards for
being among the most conservation-minded tourism operators
in the Asia-Pacific region.
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The Collaborative Community-Based
Reef Management Program
With more than 100,000 people living in the Wakatobi
Archipelago, conservation cannot be carried
out without the support of the local population.
The area around the resort is one of the world’s
largest privately-funded marine protected areas.
It took several years to achieve mutual trust and
understanding between the resort’s management
and the local community. Talks on all levels were
conducted to prepare Tomia, the local community,
for the Collaborative Community-Based Reef
Management Program. Even before the resort was
founded, Lorenz Mäder established a close contact
with Haji Baharuddin, the son of the last Sultan of
the area. Their subsequent friendship helped build
confidence in the project, developed in close
consultation with the local leaders and village
elders. It is a programme designed to motivate
the people living within the marine park to realise
the value of the reefs by providing an economic
alternative to fishing and giving incentives to
those who help protect and manage the reefs.
Cooperation between local fishermen and visiting
divers is promoted by generating an income
from tourism that is channelled directly into the
community. The income is shared with the local
population through employment, opportunities
for local suppliers and direct reef-lease payments.
Before the implementation of the project, many
of the local fishermen had to make a living by
selling their catch of fish to foreign commercial
boats that came to the area, without paying local
taxes or contributing to the protection of the
reefs. Since Wakatobi Dive Resort now provides a
real alternative, the villagers have become strong
supporters of marine conservation, recognising these
benefits as the basis of their future well being.
Based on the success of an initial pilot project
implemented between 1998 and 2002, which turned
6 km of reef into an effective no-fishing sanctuary, the
Collaborative Reef Conservation Program has been
extended even further. It currently includes all of the
17 village communities around the resort, with 20 km
of some of the finest reefs of the world, protecting
dozens of the top dive sites.
Implementation Process
Reef protection in Wakatobi was carried out successfully because the project aims to empower the
stakeholders. All parties involved reached consensus on how to manage the area. In order to achieve
these goals, the following activities were carried out:
• A management plan for the reef resources was developed and enforced with the
fishermen’s association. This zoning plan creates areas for fishermen and sanctuaries for
the fish to reproduce. These fish breeding areas also serve as dive sites for careful divers.
• Installation of “rampongs,” fish aggregation devices outside the reef. Rampongs are
floating platforms made of bamboo, anchored out in the deep water. Plant materials
such as palm fronds are suspended from them, attracting the bigger pelagic fish around
them and providing a hiding place for smaller fish. This method allows the fishermen to
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catch more fish in shorter periods
of time than on the reef. The
faster growth and reproduction
rates of the pelagic species also
result in greater quantities being
harvested sustainably when
compared to the slower-growing
reef species.
The constant stream of lease
payments has turned the reef into
the most valued real estate of the
community. Monthly payments
go directly to the village councils,
who decide in public meetings
how the funds are to be spent. In addition, all projects are scrutinised by the public.
Every citizen is entitled to inspect accounts. The payments improve public infrastructure
and health, through a cleaner village environment, raise the village spirit, stabilise local
politics, and raise awareness of conservation issues among the people.
Fishermen not complying with the community and government-approved rules are
reported to the village authorities and councils. The patrols are sponsored by the resort.
Rangers, police and military personnel have joined the community-initiated patrols to
help arrest criminals, particularly
fishermen, who destroy the reef by blast fishing. These patrols
are financially supported by the
resort as well.
The resort installs and maintains
moorings for the dive operations
to avoid anchor damage. Reef
monitoring and cleaning is
conducted if needed. All dive
guides are fully committed to
contributing towards conservation.
Guests are not permitted to fish,
harass animals, touch the reef, or walk on the seagrass.
‘Local traditional skills are used to build and maintain the resort, where local products
are also sold’.
• Wakatobi sponsors bringing electricity to the village (500
people) on the island in exchange for the villagers honouring
a 3 km reef sanctuary on their traditional fishing grounds. It
also sponsors public projects for all of the 17 communities in
the area.
• Recognising that the poorest people need the most
support to refrain from traditional but destructive practices
such as reef gleaning, the resort employs 50 widows to
produce natural roof tiles for the resort buildings and funds
scholarships for orphans.
• Sponsoring of public awareness meetings on conservation
issues and the employment of staff to promote conservation
programmes in villages.
To increase compliance, a small credit scheme for small businesses is sponsored, giving
credits to small neighbourhood shops, small restaurants and fishermen.
Wakatobi Dive Resort invests several hundred thousand U.S. dollars into the
Collaborative Community-Based Reef Management Program annually, thereby helping
the local communities to perceive tourists as contributing visitors who care about their
environment.
Key Challenges
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Introducing the radical new idea of conservation to a society which had only known
exploitation and short-term benefits. The problem was solved by using the ‘Collaborative
Community based reef Management Program’ approach.
Convincing the local community of the long-term value of conservation. The villagers
concerns were allayed by offering the immediate benefit of alternative employment
Resistance by NGOs, which did not see a financial benefit for themselves.
Benefits
With the Reef Management Program, Wakatobi Dive Resort has successfully created a mutually
beneficial situation with immediate gains for all stakeholders: the local communities, the reefs and
the resort itself.
The resort benefits through the unique environment, which is considered to be one of the mostrenowned dive sites worldwide. The reefs in the Wakatobi area are exceptionally bio-diverse.
Through the reef management activities, the resort has not stopped destructive fishing methods and
unregulated exploitation that threatened this very sensitive habitat, but it has actually improved the
quality of the resort surroundings, the seagrass beds and the reefs. This matchless and untouched
environment attracts wealthy, highly educated nature lovers who are willing to help the marine
environment by making a significant financial contribution for their visit to Wakatobi. The efforts
towards conservation have been recognized with several awards, generating publicity and, thus, a
higher brand value.
provides the chance for a stable future.
The Wakatobi Dive Resort Collaborative Reef
Conservation Program is a work in progress,
constantly expanding and being fine-tuned as
the community undergoes changes and as new
threats and opportunities emerge. “However,
we are confident that the Collaborative Reef
Conservation Program is a sound, self-sustaining
program that will protect the reefs of Wakatobi
Islands for generations”, says the resort’s founder,
Lorenz Mäder.
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The awareness of the local villagers about the reef
lease project is increasing as the people begin to
understand the importance of the sustainable
use of their natural resources and the long-term
preservation of the local ecology. People are more
aware that it is an important social obligation
to be the guardians of this natural resource.
The local community has pledged compliance
with sanctuary rules in exchange for financial
support and employment. Thus, instead of
taking livelihoods away, Wakatobi conservation
Contact Address
Mr. Lorenz Mäder
Mail: Phone: Sources
Founder and Director
of Operations
[email protected]
+62 361 759 669
(Bali Office)
www.wakatobi.com
Lorenz Mäder: Win-Win-Win in Wakatobi through
Eco-Tourism. Wakatobi, 2007
Wakatobi Dive Resort: Win-Win-Win with Collaborative Reef Conservation
Impact on Island Life – Interview with community leader Haji Baharuddin. Wakatobi, 2005
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