CASE STUDIES

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In Sangalaki island, a small island in the East Kalimantan province of Indonesia, a nest protection payment program which was established by the owners of the Sangalaki Dive Lodge between 2000 and 2002 only lasted for a brief period of time. The funds for the program were provided for by the Lodge and its clients. The program was started to protect sea turtle eggs as the government has a long record of selling concessions to citizens for sea turtle egg harvesting. As such, the resort operators introduced the use of incentives so that egg collectors would leave the sea turtle eggs to hatch rather than to collect the eggs and sell them in the market. The egg collectors were paid a competitive price of 3000 Indonesian rupiah per egg (approximately $0.33 USD), which was higher than the amount the sea turtle egg could fetch in the open market. However, such an incentive program was unsustainable as the resort failed to raise sufficient funds to pay for more than 20% of the nests. The resort then turned to working with conservationists to lobby the end of granting concessions for the collection of sea turtle eggs. This proved to be successful as the grant of egg harvesting concessions ended in 2002, also effectively marking the end of the incentive program (Ferraro & Gjertsen, 2009).

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In Pulau Serangan, Bali, the Turtle Center Working Group (TCWG) also turned to providing monetary incentives as a way of conserving sea turtles. Prior to the Kuningan festival where there will be a large pool of potential buyers of sea turtle meat, the TCWG handed out cash grants to 8 turtle-satay merchants who were the last operators in Pulau Serangan. These cash grants amounted to 600 thousand rupiah for each merchant. The merchants who accepted the cash incentive signed a pledge to stop selling turtle meat but it was later discovered that 3 out of the 8 turtle-satay merchants had broken their pledge and were selling turtle meat at the temple ceremony despite having accepted the cash incentive (Nakad, 2008).

Credit: WWF

In Jamursba Medi, Indonesia, World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) – Indonesia has been collaborating with the local government to protect nesting leatherbacks in the Saubeba and Warmandi communities since 1993. WWF-Indonesia initially hired some villages in these local communities to do patrolling and data collection. However, the incentive program to provide alternative livelihood for the locals failed as the benefits of the program was not fully distributed among the locals. Aside from the patrollers, the other locals failed to obtain any benefits, creating tension among the locals. In 2005, after actively engaging the villagers in discussions, WWF embarked on another incentive program where 13 three-year scholarships were awarded to village students in exchange for establishing a 280 acre no-take leatherback turtle nesting beach and 160 acre fringing forest reserve. The recipients’ families had to pledge their commitment to protecting the turtle nesting beach and forest habitats and if the pledge was broken, the student will then no longer qualify for participation in the scholarship programme. Village elders, landowners and leaders have also signed a statement ensuring their commitment to protect the nesting beach and forest reserve.

In Ayau, Indonesia, turtle meat and turtle eggs are a traditional staple food for the local community. Conservation International thus decided to offer substitutions for turtle meat for one village after discussion with the headman of one village who suggested that a suitable cultural substitution of turtle meat with a large communal protein source of meat would aid in conserving sea turtles. The village served as a successful example as the village committed to becoming an example of zero turtle take beginning Christmas of 2007 and managed to reduce the number of turtles harvested by 80-100 (Gjertsen & Niesten, 2010).

EVALUATION

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Incentives serve as a way to lower the barriers that prevent action (Gardner & Stern, 2002).  For the egg collectors and turtle-satay merchants, actions taken to conserve sea turtles would result in the loss of their livelihood. As such, by providing them with incentives, the barriers to conservation efforts are lowered as they are compensated for their actions. However, long-term granting is required to sustain such programs but most incentives are dependent on short-term grants. As such, when incentives are used alone, they might not be very effective in changing behavior. In the case of Sangalaki island, the incentive program is unsustainable and was aborted after monetary constraints. Also, in Pulau Serangan, the merchants do not necessary keep to their pledge despite having accepted the cash grant. This is because the use of incentives introduces extrinsic motivation for changing behavior and such a change in behavior is typically temporary. Furthermore, the incentive is not contingent on performance. Conservation performance should be measured and incentives should be withdrawn if the agreement is breached. This would then establish a strong conditionality link between behavior and incentive, evoking a change in behavior.

Also, the benefits packages need to be tailored to the needs of the local community since each community differs in their values, beliefs and way of life. As such, the motivation behind destructive behavior needs to be known and this would require active engagement of the local community in understanding their needs. In the case of Ayau, to bring about a change in behavior, this would first require knowledge about the reasons behind sea turtle harvesting (Gjertsen & Niesten, 2010).

Lastly, incentives are more effective when combined with information. This would serve to also change the values and attitudes of locals regarding conservation efforts, introducing intrinsic motivation for a change in behavior which would be more lasting.