The Bunaken National Marine Park Co-Management Initiative

Bunaken National Park in Indonesia is a medium-sized (89,000 hectare), developing country MPA that has suffered a history of insufficient stakeholder involvement, leading to frequent conflicts and ineffectual park management. Since 1998, USAID’s Natural Resources Management Program (NRM) has been working actively to implement a co-management initiative in the park and instill a sense of pride and ownership in the primary park stakeholders. The following executive summary outlines the primary components of the Bunaken co-management initiative and presents select achievements to date. Moreover, it lists a number of important lessons learned over the course of the co-management initiative that may prove useful to other MPA managers currently utilizing or considering a co-management approach.