Marine Natural Resource Management in Bazaruto Archiopelago National Park, Mozambique 2006-2008

Background
The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has been providing support to the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park (BANP) for nearly 20 years through various projects. BANP is one of only two marine national parks in Mozambique and extends over an area of 1,430 km

Over the years development of the tourism industry and community natural resource utilisation has led to clashes with sustainable development and conservation efforts.

2 , covering five islands and the surrounding waters and provides an important habitat to the largest and only remaining viable population of dugongs in the Western Indian Ocean, five species of sea turtles, coral reefs, whales, dolphins and other endemic marine and terrestrial animals. The Marine Natural Resource Management in the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park started in 2003, with a three year phase from 2003-2005. Following review in 2005, a second phase was designed for the period 2006 – 2008. The goal of these two phases has been that "Local communities benefit from and contribute to the conservation of coastal and marine biodiversity in the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park, Mozambique" while the purpose of the project was to actively involve Community-Based Organizations in the protection, management and sustainable use of the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park.

Purpose and objective of the evaluation
WWF-Norway carries out independent evaluations of each phase of every project as a matter of course. The main purpose is to assess the relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impact and sustainability of projects. These evaluations serve to guide future project development and implementation for WWF-Norway but they also contribute to organizational learning within the larger WWF network and forms part of a strategy to promote transparency.

Methodology
The final evaluation was conducted by an independent consultant over a 25 day period in November to November 2008. The consultancy was divided into a preparation phase, a 12 day field evaluation phase and a report writing phase. The field visit included meetings/interviews with different community beneficiary groups; BANP and project staff; local tourist operators; district authorities; staff from government ministries of fisheries, tourism, environment and education; NGO partners, schools and other relevant stakeholders. Data was analysed using content analysis and pattern-matching to discern coherent descriptions and explanations

Key findings and lessons learned

Design and relevance 
The project design and internal reporting structures were found to be adequate and aligned with WWF global and regional frameworks, national and local objectives on biodiversity conservation and improved community livelihoods, which underscores the project’s relevance at all levels. The project would however have benefitted from including mainland institutions into the design, as well as a dedicated Communications Officer. The staffing budget was not enough to attract the necessary CBNRM expertise.

Effectiveness
Despite some important results, overall project effectiveness is considered to have been poor. This is mainly a consequence of initial staffing problems and the lack of an efficient project monitoring and evaluation system, which resulted in late implementation of many of the activities with no time to consolidate results.

Efficiency
Overall, project efficiency towards achievement of the outputs was found to be moderate at 62%. Project adherence to budget and budget control was good but delays in budget disbursements from the donor to WWF contributed to some of the general implementation delays. Efficiency was affected by staffing issues, the lack of a dedicated project monitoring system, and natural disasters such as Cyclone Favio in 2007.

Impacts
Short-term impacts
The project has had short-term positive impacts on people and nature through capacity building initiatives and increased patrolling effort which resulted in reduced number of illegal activities. It has also contributed to the revised BANP Management Plan, which is in turn expected to contribute to the long-term protection of the Bazaruto seascape and its constituent components in the area such as dugongs, turtles, coral reefs and other biodiversity elements.

Long-term impacts on nature
A major impact of the project has been its contributions to the successful revision of the BANP Management Plan (December 2008). The project has however already contributed to a decrease in the number of illegal activities since 2005 due to increased patrolling effort supported by the project and improved environmental awareness. As a result, population of dugongs has increased since the last count of 59 in 2004 to 500 in 2007. The Marine sea turtle populations are believed to have increased from approximately 300 in 2003 to about 700 in 2008. The introduction of Management Orientated Monitoring System (MOMS) is expected to further contribute to effective park management, but will also require government commitment to provide the necessary resources and political support to the Park Administration

The adult literacy courses and provision of scholarships for school children are long-term investments. As adults begin to know how to read and write, and the children go up the ladder in education, they are likely to begin to appreciate the value of nature, conserve it, and seek alternative livelihood strategies that are not exclusively dependent on extraction of natural resources.

Long-term impacts on people
It is too early to judge the impact of the training and environmental awareness campaigns but it is hoped that investment in skills development will contribute to weaning individuals from dependency on marine resources. The recovery of different marine populations is expected to help attract more tourists to the area, hence improved income levels for both tourist operators and local households. The project has already left a mark in terms of public attitudinal change towards environmental conservation.

"I have been coming to Bazaruto since 1997. I have seen changes in attitude among people who come here. Tthey all now respect the environment, thanks to WWF"

Tourist from Scotland, Bazaruto Lodge, 14/11/2008

Lessons learned
i. Experienced project staff is essential for project success and particularly important in CBNRM projects.
ii. When designing archipelago based projects it is important to take a seascape approach and involve both mainland and island stakeholders.
iii. Provision of training in alternative livelihoods should be preceded by detailed livelihoods and market assessments to determine the most appropriate and feasible income generating activities within a given local setting.
iv. Consistent communication is key to sustaining relationships with stakeholders. This function is often overlooked or downplayed in CBNRM practice, and requires special expertise.

Specific results:

Protection of flagship species

Governance and improved access and benefit sharing

Three Fishermen’s Associations, the Thomba Yedho (TY), the Kanhi Kwedho (KK) (established during the first phase of this project) and the Bazaruto Archipelago Fishermen’s Association have been established and strengthened through capacity building activities. They now have work plans (although these still focus on development works rather than natural resource management activities) and financial transparency and accountability has also improved. Examples of equitable distribution of resources for all community members include:

Thomba Yedho (TY)and Kanhi Kwedho (KK)are using community funds to pay scholarship programme for the Island children and to by foodstuff for Bazaruto boarding pupils in Zenguelemo ;

Small credit is given to locall people to carry small income generating activities (sewing, embroidery and carpentry schemes) and project trainees are earning income from use those skills.

The project also played a critical role in lobbying government to ensure that the local associations get their fair share of the tourism revenues derived from use of natural resources as stipulated by the law (20%). From 2006 to October 2008, the local associations KK, TY and Magaruque received the equivalent of USD 29,244.

Capacity building within the community

The project trained 86 individuals in different income generating activities for alternative livelihoods including carpentry, masonry, embroidery and sewing, and tourism guiding and cultural performances. It also provided scholarships to children, implemented adult literacy classes, formed two cultural groups, and implemented a pineapple production scheme

Through its environmental awareness campaigns and interactions with different stakeholders (including local authorities and communities), the project has left a mark in terms of public attitudinal change towards environmental conservation 

Gender equality

HIV/Aids awareness

The project also undertook strategic partnership with CARE and KUKULA (two local NGOs in Vilankulo) to train association and user group members on HIV/AIDS and with mainstreaming HIV/AIDS in their activities. This approach is likely to lead to a high degree of sustainability of achievements after completion of the project.

Recommendations

Comments by WWF-Norway

In a landmark decision for conservation in Mozambique the Ministry of Tourism, on the advice of the Ministry of Environment, approved the revised Management Plan for the Bazaruto Archipelago National Park in November 2008. Work on the plan has been controversial at times, and it took almost one year to just agree on the TORs and another two and a half years for the plan to be developed and agreed. Through the plan the Ministry is committing to a series of Limits of Acceptable Change (LACs) (number of dives, flights, boats, cars, etc) including the extremely controversial limit of 610 beds. Bazaruto Community Based Natural Resource Management (CBNRM) Project has contributed actively to this very important document. As WWF is planning on reducing its direct support to the BANP, the organisation leaves behind a quality document which, if implemented properly, will contribute to the conservation of biodiversity resources in the Bazaruto archipelago. As for the communities living within the archipelago and the seascape, continued support for environmental awareness and engagement in resource management activities will still be needed for some time to come, although on a less intensive basis. CBNRM is a process, and with its multi-faceted nature, usually requires sustained effort and resources over a considerable period of time to consolidate results. In this respect 6 years is a short time. The Bazaruto communities are therefore likely to require additional long-term support in order to consolidate progress made during this project. The consultant also recommends that WWF continues direct funding towards the Bazaruto archipelago, and in addition to further support for communities also focusing activities at the seascape level, such as (a) promoting environmental education on the mainland, from where most of the environmental problems emanate, (b) supporting increased patrolling effort by the navy in the area, (c) the monitoring of some resources at seascape and park levels – using MOMS in the Park, aerial surveys for dugongs, fisheries data bank for the seascape and work closely with District and Provincial entities to strengthen strategic environment assessment, monitoring and implementation.