25 Sep Building Local Stakeholder Capacity on Marine Resource Management in Timor-Leste

CTC, in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture & Fisheries (MAF) in Timor-Leste, conducted a two day training on the essential concepts of marine protected area (MPA) establishment and management. The training, which was conducted in Dili on September 25, 2017, serves as the basis to increase the local community stakeholder capacity to manage an MPA and also serves as stakeholder socialization and engagement in developing an MPA Network in Timor-Leste.

The participants consisted of representatives from government, non-government organizations in Dili and several of the Village Heads from Atauro Island and Liquiça, as well as representatives of community organizations including fishermen’s group. The participants learned basic knowledge about the establishment and design of an MPA such as ecology and habitat connectivity, MPA objectives, process of MPA establishment and; success stories of MPAs in supporting fisheries and tourism sector.

Participants were very interested about the topic specifically related to the process of determining zoning in an MPA, how to engage stakeholders, law enforcement, and the MPA success stories in supporting sustainable tourism and expressed willingness to be part of the process in developing MPAs in Timor-Leste.

Apart from the training, CTC also facilitated the first public consultation to develop a roadmap towards the establishment of an MPA network Atauro Island on September 8, 2017. Previous scientific surveys showed that Atauro has one of the highest reef fish biodiversity in the world.

The consultation, held on the island, was organized in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and Roman Luan Foundation. It was attended by 39 participants from the district government, head of villages in Atauro as well as fishermen, women, youth and local NGO representatives. CTC will further support the Atauro MPA establishment through an MPA management training through a biophysic and socio-economic survey in October, as well as public consultations in Dili in the coming months.