A guide for planners and managers - IUCN

PART I
Site Planning and Management
specific expenditures. Clearly, it is best to activate the Advisory Committee early on
for advice in management and site planning.
Advisory committee members are usually appointed by the MPA administration.
Some members should be selected from among the local community. In any case, they
should represent the spectrum of stakeholders. They serve a useful function in
keeping the local population informed of activities within the protected area, and very
often they provide management with useful information and recommendations.
Once advisory committee members become involved, they also help ensure support
for the protected area since it tends to become “their” reserve or park. Administration
and management must take great care to be candid with committee members and
ensure they believe their advice is valued and is heeded (see also Section I-3).
The committee’s role should be carefully planned and limited because once such
committees are established it is very poor public relations to attempt to dissolve them.
Committees should remain in their advisory capacity and not play an active role in
management. If not they may become immersed in trivia, paralyze needed actions,
lose appropriate national or international perspective, and preempt the manager’s job.
Management decisions by a committee of village representatives may be required
in collaborative or community-based management cases. It is important in these
instances to ensure equitable representation on these committees by different
subgroups of the community; e.g., women, men, elderly, poor, wealthy, fishers,
farmers, and other concerned user groups. Where appropriate because of religious
doctrine, females may meet separately from males. Also in caste dominated cultures,
various castes may need special consideration.
Whatever the nature and composition of the advisory committee, it should be
supported and empowered by adequate legislation. In Tanzania for example, the
Marine Parks and Reserves Act, 1994, specifically provides for the establishment of
an Advisory Committee for each marine park. The functions of the Committee as
provided for in the Act are:
– To advise the Board [of Trustees] on the management and regulations of marine
parks;
– To oversee the operation of marine parks;
– To consult with the Warden on technical, scientific and operational matters
concerning the marine parks; and
– To propose names to the Board for the purposes of appointing a Warden.
See Box I-5 for details of Advisory Committee composition, tenure, and other
details. Note that no arrangements are made specifically for women, fishers, and other
groups (although women’s input was arranged in the field; see Case III-25).
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