Acciaioli et al asaa 2014 paper v5 jc_Regionalism

From the Sulu Zone to the Sulu Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion: Regionalising the Marine Interface of Borneo, Sulawesi and the Southern Philippines

GREG ACCIAIOLI (THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA)

JULIAN CLIFTON (THE UNIVERSITY OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA)

HELEN BRUNT (WORLDFISH)

WOLFRAM DRESSLER, UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE

MICHAEL FABINYI, JAMES COOK UNIVERSITY

SARINDA SINGH, THE UNIVERSITY OF QUEENSLAND

The University of Western Australia

Regionalisation of Insular Southeast Asia

Arbitrariness of this region

• Alternative designations

• Archielagic Southeast Asia

• The Malay Archipelago

(Wallace)

• Tamadun Melayu

Included nation-states

• Brunei Darussalam

• Indonesia

• Malaysia

• Philippines


Regions within Insular Southeast

Asia: Biogeographic

Wallace Line as faunal boundary

• Demarcating biogeographic zones

• West: – Asiatic species

– Sunda shelf

• East:– Australian species (with some Asiatic)

– Sahul shelf

Transition areas:

• Wallacea: islands not connected to

dry land of either land mass– Between Wallace’s line and Lydekker’s Line

• Weber’s Line: tipping point

between dominance by Asian

species against those of Australia

origin


Regions within Insular Southeast

Asia: Cultural

Shelly Errington’s Centrist

Archipelago within Insular

Southeast Asia

• Composition:

• Java

• Bali

• Borneo

• Sulawesi

• Philippines

Differentiated from Exchange

Archipelago

• Sumatra (except Javanese-

dominated Lampung)

• Eastern Indonesia– Lesser Sundas

– Maluku


Regions within Insular Southeast Asia:

Economic, Political, Cross-cultural

The Sulu Zone (James F. Warren)

In part an economic trade-oriented Zone

• Extraction of raw products from southern frontiers

– Land products: birds’ nests, etc.

– Marine products tripang, etc.

• Northeast Borneo

• Coastal Sulawesi

• Central and Western Mindanao

• Assembly and exchange at Sulu Sultanate’s entrepot, Jolo

– Transhipment to China and Elsewhere

Trade also entail political dimensions

• ‘ … not just a “spatial site” of economic, cross-cultural and symbolic contact … a meeting ground and arena of potential antagonism and ... coercion, inequality and conflict’ (Warren 2011)

• Piracy: response to colonial restrictions

• Slave raids for labour

• Continuing process of reconstructing ethnic identity

Links to pressures from wider economic world of colonial capitalism and free trade


‘The Sulu Zone constituted a

Southeast Asian economic

region with a multi-ethnic pre-

colonial Malayo-Muslim state,

and an ethnically

heterogeneous set of societies

of diverse political backgrounds

and alignments that could be

set within a stratified hierarchy

of kinship oriented stateless

societies’, maritime nomadic

fishers and forest dwellers.’

(Warren 2011).

Sulu Zone definition


Emergent Conservation Zones in Insular Southeast Asia Region

Global biodiversity hotspots

• 4 of 35 global hotspots found in Insular Southeast Asia/Melanesia

Coral Triangle (Indonesia, Philippines, as ‘the hotspot for marine diversity’ (Biodiversity Hotspots: Distribution and Protection of Conservation Priority Areas, Zachos, Frank E., Habel, Jan Christian (Eds.). Springer, 2011)

• (Indonesia

• Philippines

• Malaysia

• Timor Leste

• Papua New Guinea

• Solomon Islands

Figure 1. Species richness and endemism in Southeast Asia. The four biodiversity hotspots

overlapping Southeast Asia are highlighted in red. Bars represent the percentage

of species endemic to the respective hotspot. Numbers in parentheses represent total and

endemic species known to science, respectively. The island of Borneo includes the

political divisions of Brunei, Malaysia and Indonesia. The Indo-Burma hotspot includes part of

Bhutan, Nepal, eastern India, southern China, as well as islands such

as Hainan and the Andamans. Details of biodiversity hotspot boundaries, and numbers of total

and endemic species within each hotspot were taken from Conservation International [74].


The Coral Triangle Initiative


Nested Hierarchy of Conservation Zones:

Coral Triangle Initiative

Sulu Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion (NB: near overlap with Sulu Zone)

Semporna Priority Conservation Area

Tun Sakaran Marine Park


Hierarchy of Marine Conservation Zones and Partnerships:

Overlap and Complementarity in governance


• Multilateral partnership between the

Nation-State Governments of Indonesia,

Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines,

Solomon Islands and Timor Leste

• Secondary Partners: Asian Development

Bank, Conservation International, The

Nature Conservancy (TNC), and the World

Wildlife Fund (WWF), the United States

Government (USAid), Australian

Government


Hierarchy of Marine Conservation Zones and Partnerships:Overlap and Complementarity in governance

Lead Organization

World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

Key Parties

Indonesia

Ministries of Environment

Ministry of Forestry

Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries

Kehati Foundation

Foreign Affairs Department

Bunaken National Park

The Nature Conservancy

Development Planning Agencies of the Provinces of Manado and East Kalimantan

WWF Indonesia

Malaysia

Department of Fisheries-Sabah

Sabah Parks

Sabah Wildlife Department

Ministry of Tourism

Culture and Environment

Universiti Malaysia Sabah

Drainage and Irrigation Department-Sabah

Sabah Forestry Department

Department of Town and Regional Planning-Sabah

Department of Fisheries-Malaysia

Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment

WWF Malaysia

Philippines

Department of Environment and Natural Resources

Department of Agriculture

Department of Interior and Local Government

Government of the Autonomous Region in Muslim Mindanao

Philippine Council for Aquatic and Marine Research and Development

Other Partners

Packard Foundation

U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

U.S. State Department

Australian Department of Environment and Heritage

United States Agency for International Development


Stated Aims of Nested Conservation Areas: Overt Functions

The five goals in the Coral Triangle Initiative Regional Plan of Action

• Priority seascapes designated and effectively managed.

• Ecosystem Approach to Management of Fisheries (EAFM) and other marine resources fully applied.

• Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) established and effectively managed.

• Climate change adaptation measures achieved.

• Threatened species status improving.’

Foci of Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion

• Seagrasses

• Mangroves

• Live Reef Fish Trade

Foci of Semporna Priority Conservation Area

• Coral reef protection

• Shark protection initiative

• Tourism enhancement

Overall management goals of Tun Sakaran Marine Park

• Protect, maintain and enhance biodiversity and the health of the environment.

• Maximise opportunities for economic development and sustainable resource use.

• Ensure local people are involved in, and benefit from, the creation of the park.

• Build community and public awareness about the importance of establishing and maintaining the park.

– [Enviornmental Education for Inhabitants (Pride Program of RARE)]


Covert Functions of Marine Protected Areas: Securitisation

Overtly ‘to safeguard the rich diversity

of marine life found in the area’

(Chagos Conservation Trust)

• Resilience to climate change and

environmental disruptions

• 49% of reefs found in Indian

Ocean

Covertly a securitisation move

• Forestall the movement back of

Chagossians evicted in the 1960s-

70s and insulation of US Air Force

Base on Diego Garcia

‘…the [Chagossians] would find it

difficult, if not impossible, to pursue their

claim for resettlement on the islands if

the entire Chagos Archipelago were a

marine reserve’

(2009 UK diplomatic cable published via

Wikileaks)

Chagos Marine Reserve

• Declared 1 April 2010 as a ‘fully

no-take marine reserve’

• Largest such reserve in the world


Security concerns of Sabah

Illegal Migration in Sabah

• Labour migration from (eastern) Indonesia

• Stateless people from southern Philippines

• I.e. Maritime people of the Sulu Zone

– Refugees from sectarian conflict in the southern Philippines

– Sama diLaut (Bajau Laut)

– Tausug (Suluk)

‘Invasion’ of eastern Sabah on 11 February 2013

• 235 armed militants sent by claimant to Sulu Sultanship, Jamalul Kiram III, to reclaim eastern Sabah for the Sultanate

– Continuing annual payment of 5300 MYR ($1700 USD): cession payment or rent?

• Routed by Malaysian military after 1 month, 1 week, 6 days standoff

– Operasi Daulat (Operation Sovereignty)

Attempted resuscitation of sphere of influence of Sulu Zone


Creation of Eastern Security Zone (ESSZONE) – 25 March 2013


Conservation zones as another form of disciplining populations

WWF’s covert acknowledgement: ‘Furthermore, human migration and complex socio-economic factors pertaining to the development of Sabah contribute to ecosystem degradation.’ (http://www.wwf.org.my/about_wwf/what_we_do/marine/sulu_sulawesi_marine_ecoregion_programme/ )

Conversion of inhabitants of various conservation regions zones into regions into ‘stakeholders’

Stakeholder as a new sort of ‘subject’ (à la Foucault)

• Subject to new forms of discipline and hence domestication

Problems in ranking of stakeholders

Case study of Bajau Laut (SamadiLaut) of Sulu-Sulawesi Marine Ecoregion / Sulu Zone as doubly estranged stakeholders

http://www.wwf.org.my/about_wwf/what_we_do/marine/sulu_sulawesi_marine_ecoregion_programme/


Stateless stakeholders: the

Sama Dilaut (Bajau Laut)

Economic reliance on marine resources: food,

fuel and building materials

Reef and pelagic fishers

Cultural affiliation with maritime environment:

spiritual belief systemsConnectivity between Sama Dilaut communities dispersed across Southeast Asia

‘...[for Sama Dilaut], the eastern seas of island Southeast Asia are an intimately familiar space,

full of historically, culturally, and spiritually significant places’ (Nolde 2009)


Sama Dilaut statelessness in Malaysia (Sabah):

- classification as ‘Philippine’ according to historic origin

- movement between Malaysian, Indonesian and Philippine waters

- absence of birth certificates / ID cards

- public perceptions and official reluctance

Stateless stakeholders: the

Sama Dilaut (Bajau)


Differentiation of Bajau in Sabah

Bajau Laut (Sama Dilaut) as outsiders

Bajau Tempatan as insiders

• Malaysian Citizens

• Orientation to terrestrial settlements– Bajau Omadal

– Bajau Selakan

– Etc.

• Landholders– Some with land certificates

– Some with customary tenure

Ambivalent relationship to Bajau Laut

• Our ancestors were like that

• But now we are modern Malaysians

• Origins festivalised in Regatta Lepa

Bajau Laut label them ‘Bajau Kubang’

• ‘(Bajau of the [Pig/Water Buffalo] Sty’


Bajau Tempatan as Legitimate Stakeholders in Tun Sakaran Marine Park

Three populations resident in Park

• Bajau Tempatan [Malaysian citizens]

• Suluk (Tausug) [Stateless]

• Bajau Laut (Bajau Palauh, Sama Dilaut) [Stateless]

Continuing recognition of Bajau Tempatan land rights

• Rent to be paid by Sabah Parks for ranger stations

– Or located off the land

• Continuing performance of kenduri (i.e. MandiSafar)

– Possession by ancestral spirits of Bajau Tetagen and BajauSelakan as validating continuing ownership of land

• Official granting of permission for seaweed cultivation,

– Permit process requires a Malaysian identity card (i.e. Malaysian citizenship)

– Payment of a fee

– Restriction of 1 ha. / individual


The Peripheral Position of the Bajau Laut & Suluk

Inclusive policy of Sabah Parks

• Allowance of Bajau Laut settlements on islands

• Inclusion in some environmental education programs– Pride program of RARE (partner of TNC)

Tolerance of seaweed cultivation (without permit)

• Proliferation of Suluk seaweed cultivation in General Use Zone (Zon Guna Umum DARK BLUE)

– Bajau Laut (e.g. Sibuan) as gleaners of Suluk seaweed plots

– Patron-client relations

Bajau Laut (e.g. Maega) emerging as seaweed cultivators in own right

• Near shore plots without formal permits

No toleration of continuance of ‘traditional’ livelihood as reef fishers

• Continuing exclusion from No-Take Zones (NTZs)– Spawning Protection Zones (Zon Pemeliharaan RED)

– Conservation Zones (Zon Konservasi YELLOW)

• Continuing Fishing in – Pelagic fishing (Zon Pelagik LIGHT BLUE)

– General Use Zone where no under seaweed cultivation


Exclusion: Resentment by the Bajau Tempatan

‘Squatting’ by Bajau Laut on island Land owned by BajauTempatan

• Periodic evictions– Sibuan 2013

– Partnership of local Bajau Tempatan with local Chinese entrepreneur

– Projected dive resort

Resentment of tolerance by Sabah Parks of Suluk and BajauLaut seaweed cultivation

• ‘Why should they [Bajau Laut and Suluk] allowed to cultivate any amount of seaweed without a permit?’

– Malaysian citizens must pay annually for permit

– Restriction to 1 ha. / permit

Formation of a corporation under the auspices of LembagaKemajuan Ikan Malaysia (Foundation for Malaysian Fisheries Progress)

• Founded by a Semporna-resident Bajau Tempatan

• By banding together in a cooperative/company can gain a permit beyond 1 ha.

• Aim to displace Suluk seaweed cultivators from General Use Zone north of Sebangkat


Double Estrangement of the Stateless Bajau Laut (and Suluk): Who

constitutes ‘The Community’ in Community Conservation?

Problematisation of unity/harmony of community in community conservation

• Agrawal and Gibson (1999) ‘Enchantment and Disenchantment: The

Role of Community in Natural Resource Conservation’

Most notably locally resident Indigenous Peoples regarded as constituting

‘the community’ with whom to form joint/co-management

• E.g. Community conservation agreements in Lore Lindu National Park,

Central Sulawesi, Indonesia– Deal only with the Lembaga Adat of Indigenous To Lindu

– Neglect of local settlers (Bugis spontaneous migrants, local transmigrants, etc.)

Analogous situation in Tun Sakaran Marine Park

• Primary orientation to maintaining rights of Bajau Tempatan (Indigenous

People of the Semporna region)

• (1st level) Estrangement of Stateless Bajau and Suluk from this

Conservation Community– Tolerance of their habitation but restriction of livelihoods

– No protection against depredations of Bajau Tempatan


2nd Level Estrangement: Continuing Marginalisation of Community

Members in the Marine Planning Processes of the Conservation

Zones of Insular Southeast Asia

Continuing problems defined by:

1. How stakeholders are defined and

ranked in the nested conservation

zones/marine protected areas

2. How stakeholder participation is

implemented in these MPAs?

3. Continuing consequences of

statelessness and entailed marginality

for livelihoods, participation and

conservation enforcement for these

groups


1) Defining stakeholders in the Coral Triangle

In principle recognition of need to enable marginalised communities to participate, with

specific considerations relating to Indigenous peoples

In practice, priority afforded to ensuring and managing participation of ‘key stakeholders’ in

TNC/WWF projects

- Grouping and ranking procedures utilised that ensure local communities are not regarded

as key stakeholders

TNC/WWF (2008): ‘Individuals, groups or institutions who have a vested interest in the

natural resources of the project area and/or who potentially will be affected by project

activities and have something to gain or lose if conditions change or stay the same’

Source: TNC/WWF (2008) Capacity Action Planning for Protected Areas

Defining stakeholders in the

Coral Triangle

The University of Western AustraliaSources: TNC (2005) http://www.conservationgateway.org/file/methodology-rank-social-and-institutional-stakeholders

TNC/WWF (2008) Capacity Action Planning for Protected Areas

Explicit prioritisation of stakeholders favouring project

Clear potential for stereotyping

‘It is imperative to involve the right people and agencies from the beginning to ensure the greatest level

of support possible’

‘Just because someone is a stakeholder does not mean that you will want them on your project team’

Defining stakeholders in the

Coral Triangle (1)


Influence (power)

Importance to

project

Low High

Low

High

Group: Government

Strategy: Collaborate

Group: Local elite/media

Strategy: Inform/consult

Group: Local resource users

Strategy: Consult

Group: General public

Strategy: Inform

Source: TNC (2009) Protected Area Management Planning: A Target-Based Approach

Meaningful participation restricted to high influence, high importance group

Subsistence users: two-way communication, but no commitment to act – information

gathering exercises

Other groups: one-way communication

Implementing participation in the

Coral Triangle

The University of Western AustraliaSource: Adapted from Wesselink et al. (2011)

Normative rationale Substantive rationale Instrumental rationale

Who is to be included? Those who have a

stake

Those who have

additional knowledge

Those with blocking power

and those needed for

implementation

What is included? Participants’ concerns

and views

Policy makers’

concerns and all other

knowledge

Policy makers’ concerns and

selected others’ knowledge

How is it included? In all stages and issues Only when it adds

substantive value

Only when it ensures smooth

implementation

Implementing participation in the

Coral Triangle

Clear emphasis on instrumental rationale in Coral Triangle case

‘Key stakeholders’ are those judged to be in positions of power and influence

- goals and objectives reflect organisational priorities

- participation constructed to enhance chances of project success


Consequences for marginal

stateless groups and conservation

Stateless Sama Dilaut in maritime Malaysia

Sama Dilaut claims to marine resource tenure or

ownership rendered both

Illegal (view of government)

Illegitimate (view of Bajau Tempatan)

Unable to be recognised as ‘indigenous’ or

‘traditional’ culture

Exclusion from local stakeholder

community of Bajau Tempatan

Unlikely to be involved with legal or administrative

bureaucracy due to perceived personal risk

Peripheral minority group further marginalised

through statelessness

Dominant negative stereotype easily reinforced

Long term weakening of community identity through

continuing movements of Bajau Laut

Transitions of families to land / urban areas

in search of livelihoods


Continuing stereotypes

Evans (1922): ‘...the Bajau is a lazy spendthrift, a liar, a cheat, a thief, a wheedler, a blusterer and a swaggerer. Piracy, raiding and burning Chinese shops...is the Bajau’s highest kind of pleasure.’

Ali (2010): ‘[Bajau] children will end up doing something illegal or contributing to social problems in future as they do not receive proper education...By exposing these children to the importance of taking care of their health, manners and self discipline, they will become independent, aware of the importance to sustain nature and many more.’





- strengthening of State control over

borderlands and maritime space

- focused in region where borders are

diffuse, poorly enforced and actively

disputed

Marine conservation and management becomes symbol of State and alliance with powerful

international NGOs

- opposition or dissent implies rejection of State and rationale for conservation

- easy fit with historical and contemporary narratives of ‘sea nomads’

- non-participation outcomes may serve broader political objectives of controlling border

communities

Statelessness and conservation

Historically, Sama Dilaut communities maintained integrity through minimising outsider

groups’ influence and power




Statelessness and conservation

Many other areas of concern regarding CTI (finance, enforcement, political co-operation,

NGO influence)

- but CTI programme will inevitably impact stateless and marginal communities’ livelihoods

Research questions

- do stateless communities have the capacity to participate more effectively in management?

- will states recognise use rights outside of ‘traditional’ or ‘indigenous’ envelope?

- can influential NGOs represent all users regardless of citizenship when planning shared

marine resources?


CONCLUSIONS / RECOMMENDATIONS

Numbers of stateless stakeholders in Coral Triangle set

to increase: food insecurity, political instability, climate

change, individual mobility and willingness to migrate

Adherence to target-driven regional marine planning

engenders instrumental rationale for participation,

excluding local resource users

Concept of ‘stakeholders’ needs refining to reflect

differing political status of resource user community

Need to undo double estrangement/exclusion of Bajau

Laut

More expansive notions of local stakeholders not

necessarily seen as cohesive communities

States and NGOs must recognise benefits of more

inclusive approach for meeting long term conservation

outcomes

Conclusions

Acciaioli et al asaa 2014 paper v5 jc_Regionalism

Data & Analytics

Transcript of Acciaioli et al asaa 2014 paper v5 jc_Regionalism