Developing community-derived indicators of economic status in the coral triangle: A management support tool

Environmental management initiatives commonly fail because of a lack of compliance from local communities, due largely to actual or perceived economic losses. Management should therefore aim to maintain or improve the economic status of local people. Development of economic performance criteria (EPC), as testable parameters through which changes in economic status can be identified, provide a mechanism for assessment of the economic impacts of management. Community perspectives of wealth, and potential applications for the design of locally relevant community-derived EPC were explored in a biodioverse and multicultural region within the coral triangle. A methodology is demonstrated for the development of locally relevant and locally comprehensible indicators. Household interviews and participatory wealth ranking exercises were conducted from which extensive socioeconomic data was generated to identify and test a series of potential EPC. An Economic Score (ES) was calculated and provided a simple mechanism for ‘at a glance’ spatial and temporal comparisons. Household income was used to verify EPC and ES. The participatory identification of EPC represents a novel tool with potential for application in the development of environmental management initiatives that aim to maintain ecological wealth and support sustainable resource utilisation, whilst maintaining or improving local economic status, and hence compliance.