1.Front section - IUCN

Communication as a means of building support for protected areas 14
Okavango in Botswana.
IUCN Photo Library © Jim Thorsell
community-based marine protected areas, and the
organization of about 134 community-based marine
protected areas across the country into a national
alliance called PAMANA Ka Sa Pilipinas. This makes
it the country’s premier national fisher folk
organization advocating marine conservation and
sustainability of near-shore fisheries (Lavides, 2003).
To achieve the Haribon Foundation’s goals of
protecting the marine environment, the process of
building local government and community support for
protected areas and building local and national
alliances is estimated to consist of 70%
communication and education activities. The
remaining efforts consist of research and other
functions. High value is put on the communication
skills of protected area champions such as the project
staff, particularly the community organizers, local
government liaisons, the biologists and the people’s
organization leaders who are all on the frontline in
support of protected areas and biodiversity
conservation in general.
As well as working at the community level, Haribon
generated support from the public through national
campaigns which advocated policy measures for the
sustainability of marine conservation efforts and nearshore
fisheries. Haribon conducted a market survey in
Manila to gauge the top environmental issues. It was
not surprising to see that air pollution and waste
management were the top two issues identified. This
revealed multiple sources for creating awareness for
environmental concerns with personal experience
highest in importance. Television was the most
important source of awareness for all issues for all age
groups, followed by the newspaper and radio. Haribon
embarked on a multi-media campaign in 2002 and
reviewed the impact, achieving an increase in total
awareness for biodiversity conservation from 11% in
2001 to 22% in 2002.
At the Tingo Maria National Park, Peru, the benefits
of the protected area (principally as a water resource)
and further potential benefits (in terms of tourism and
education) were emphasised by the Park management,
attempting to obtain a favourable change of attitude
towards the Park and begin integrating the population
towards the co-management. Among other efforts,
participatory workshops were developed in the
surrounding hamlets and the town of Tingo Maria,
building up a vision of the Park, the boundaries and
the definition of buffer zones. A Management
Committee was formed for the Park, made up of
representatives of the distinct sectors, and an
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