PROJECT

The first year of this partnership project has seen the successful launch of Blue Ventures’ marine ecotourism model in Timor-Leste. The project has introduced a new form of tourism to the country, developed sustainable community tourism benefits and exceeded Blue Ventures’ preliminary targets by more than 100%. Alongside the tourism successes Blue Ventures has launched the country’s first long-term coral reef and seagrass monitoring program and initiated a dialogue with communities for the establishment of long-term local conservation interventions. In-country partnerships have developed quickly and government and community engagement and support have far exceeded their expectations as Blue Ventures has developed meaningful and influential strategic partnerships with ministries and authorities. The project has enjoyed a strong start, with significant successes as well as challenges during the reporting period. The remainder of the report explains in more detail the progress to date.

ACTIVITIES SUMMARY

1. Ecotourism model up and running:

• The Blue Ventures expedition ecotourism activities began on the 20th March 2016 on Atauro Island, Timor-Leste. To date six sequential 6-week educational expeditions have been completed.
• By establishing an ecotourism expedition, Blue Ventures has introduced volunteer ecotourism as a new tourism model to the country. Government and other key stakeholders have welcomed Blue Ventures’ work and the influence it will have on the tourism sector.
• A key aim of the project has been to establish a homestay accommodation model in Timor-Leste. Homestays have been hugely successful for Blue Ventures’ expeditions in Belize and provide direct economic benefits to host communities while offering volunteers a more authentic experience of the country they are visiting. A homestay pilot will begin on Atauro Island in January 2017 with eight host families. If the pilot is a success the program will expand to benefit further families Atauro, and replicate the model in at least one more community in 2017.
• Recruiting and training Timorese staff is crucial to achieving Blue Ventures’ aim of wider community involvement in natural resource management, conservation and local participation in resource monitoring. Their Timorese dive/science assistants, Jemima Gomes and Amos Da Costa, have each completed four levels of PADI dive certification since joining Blue Ventures in May; Open Water, Advanced Open Water, Emergency First Response and Rescue Diver. They will be moving on to their PADI Dive master programs shortly, a professional level certification.
• Above and beyond homestay benefits, Blue Ventures’ presence contributes to communities through ecotourism activities. Volunteers have contributed over USD1,000 in accommodation, food and Tara Bandu (Locally Managed Marine Area) access fees for diving and snorkeling in the village of Adara.
• An English language support programs has been developed with a language school on Atauro Island to help the teachers with English education. This has proven very successful with lessons and activities providing a stimulating learning environment.
• Feedback from volunteers has been consistently positive. Close monitoring of − and quick responses to − feedback from in-country and headquarters staff has been instrumental in continuously improving the volunteer experience.

Results to Date:

• 6 Expeditions with 51 volunteers hosted since 20th March 2016 from 13 countries, with a further group of 8 joining Blue Ventures’ last expedition of the year from 14th November – 19th December.
• 1,841 Eco tourist nights contributing to local businesses and the wider Timorese tourism industry.
• Over USD50,000 spent with Timorese tourism providers
• 6 Timorese and 3 international staff recruited and trained
• 12 coral reef sites surveyed
• 2 seagrass areas surveyed and mapped
• 5 communities engaged in marine conservation and management
• 25 students involved in English language programs.
• 2 formal community meetings with local stakeholders to introduce Blue Ventures’ work and objectives in Timor-Leste

2. Developing capacity for community based marine resource monitoring:

• Engaging community based monitors (CBMs): In October Blue Ventures hosted a stall at the Beloi market (Atauro’s weekly central market) to promote community involvement in natural resource monitoring and gather names of potential CBMs for dugong and seagrass monitoring. Over 20 people signed up for training from all over Atauro Island and even some from Dili (Timor-Leste’s capital city on the mainland). The first sensitisation and training sessions for those that expressed interest took place on 12th and 20th October 2016.
• In April 2016, the community of Adara inaugurated the first locally managed marine area (LMMA) in Atauro, designated through a traditional process known as Tara Bandu on a section of coastal reef directly in front of the village. The management system comprises a no take zone (NTZ) (reserve) and Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) anchored in the adjacent deep water, the latter aimed at attracting pelagic fish to the FAD, to help alleviate fishing pressure on overfished coral reef species. Blue Ventures has assisted the community and technical partners, WorldFish, in maintenance and upkeep of the FAD and provided income to the community by paying an entrance fee to dive within the NTZ. Discussions have begun with the community and Worldfish to offer Blue Ventures resources and expertise to carry out underwater visual census surveys to monitor changes in the reserve, and in fish populations around the FAD.

Results to Date:

• Over 20 people recruited as Community Based Monitors.
• 4 Community Based Monitoring training sessions planned by end November 2016.

3. Identifying priority sites for conservation of dugong and seagrass:

• Blue Ventures has carried out two informal ‘drop-in’ participatory mapping sessions at their stalls in the Beloi market. One that asked participants to identify areas where sightings of dugongs and other megafauna are most common, and one that asked participants to map and identify activities they carry out in seagrass areas. The sessions proved very successful, with over 25 participants.
• Blue Ventures has been asked by partner NGO Conservation International to assist with dugong surveys on Atauro. Training of CBMs for this will begin in November and surveys will follow.

Results to Date:

• Sites are not yet identified. Blue Ventures are mapping seagrass and coral reef resources on Atauro Island through ecological monitoring and participatory mapping exercises, with communities leading on identifying priority areas for conservation.

4. Identifying communities for co-management initiatives:

• Progress to identify partner communities for co-management activities has been slow in 2016. This activity has been delayed as the community leaders whose support is key to commencing discussions on co-management are approaching the end of their five-year terms in office. To ensure the retention of the political capital necessary to engage the wider community on matters of marine management and conservation, Blue Ventures plans to focus their engagement efforts with the new cohort of community leaders at the start of their terms of office in November.

Results to Date:

• Blue Ventures’ work to identify communities on Atauro that will engage with them in conservation initiatives is currently on hold. With elections for new community leaders imminent, this will be delayed until after the elections, in order to establish relationships with new leaders at the early stages of their six-year terms in office.
• Three focus groups/meetings/presentations with communities. The outcomes of these meetings included increased local awareness and understanding of Blue Ventures’ mission and objective in Timor-Leste, and an updated timeline of activities and outputs provided to attendees.

PROJECT

Blue Ventures has made strong progress in the second year of this partnership project, with particular success towards local economic development and marine conservation objectives. The pilot homestay programme in Beloi, Ataúro − the first such initiative in Timor-Leste − is already providing significant income and alternative livelihood opportunities for host families, inspiring the replication of the model in a neighbouring community, and strengthening resilience of the wider island economy. In addition, our strong relationship with the community of Ilik-namu has seen the creation of a new locally managed marine area (LMMA) governed by traditional tara bandu law. We’ve also seen encouraging progress building capacity of a new generation of local conservationists. The project has trained ten Timorese community seagrass data collectors, whose surveying, swimming and teamwork skills developed rapidly, enabling excellent progress in mapping key marine habitats around Ataúro. Finally, the Blue Ventures ecotourism programme has continued to exceed expectations throughout 2017. As we look forward to the remainder of 2018, they are continuing to explore new opportunities for growth of their expeditions, expansion and professionalisation of homestays, and strengthening capacity for marine resource management and conservation with partner communities across Ataúro.

ACTIVITIES SUMMARY

1. Ecotourism model up and running:

• The Blue Ventures expedition ecotourism activities began on the 20th March 2016 on Atauro Island, Timor-Leste. To date six sequential 6-week educational expeditions have been completed.
• The ecotourism project has continued to exceed our expectations through 2017, with homestays 
accounting for 1129 ecotourist nights (879 of which have been from BV volunteers), and generating a total income of around $18,000 by the start of 2018. There have been 7 expeditions in 2017, bringing the total since the start of the project in March 2016 to 14.
• Ecotourist engagement continues to be highly positive (see blog), and baseline reef data collection is progressing well, with 16 sites surveyed each expedition.
• The pilot homestay programme at Beloi, Ataúro, is running successfully; it is already providing direct economic benefits to host families, volunteers consistently give positive feedback on their homestay experience, and two members of staff will be living in homestays full time. Eight families in Beloi began running homestays in January 2017.
• Building on the success of the pilot, Blue Ventures are supporting expansion of the homestay programme to nearby Uaro-ana, where they are working with five host families.
• In July, ten community members from Beloi and Uaro-ana homestays attended a ten-day training workshop on how to provide guided tours, organised by the Ministry of Tourism, to give families the ability to diversify their income from tourism further.
• Peer-training on food preparation and nutrition was delivered in Beloi for the five families of Uaro-ana in August and a short nutrition workshop was delivered by Blue Ventures on 15th September to help families eat better and ensure that ecotourists were offered healthy meals.
• Additionally, Empreza Di’ak delivered a three-day business management training session in September for 12 people from Beloi and Uaro-ana to provide them with the skills to successfully manage their homestay business and income.
• Six people from Beloi and Uaro-ana took part in a week-long exchange trip to Raja Ampat at the end of January 2017. This took place earlier than anticipated due to a further funding opportunity to support this trip. A video of the exchange trip can be seen here. Blue Ventures are now exploring the possibility of a return exchange trip from Raja Ampat to East Timor and have applied to several organisations for funding.
• Community consultations on the ecotourism homestay work plan have been completed for Beloi, and are in progress in Uaro-ana, with meetings held on 21st March, 2nd and 23rd August with five community members.
• In November Blue Ventures supported a visit from videographer Paul Hilton and his crew, who spent five days in Ataúro collecting footage for a video featuring homestays and ecotourism to be released in mid-2018. In December a USAID crew interviewed homestay members on alternative livelihoods and seagrass conservation as part of a documentary on Ataúro’s communities.
• Amos Da Costa and Jemima Gomes (BV Dive and Science Assistants from Ataúro) are progressing well in their training towards professional PADI Divemaster certification (see blogs on Amos and Mima).

Results to Date:

• 14 expeditions with 95 ecotourists hosted since 20th March 2016 for a total of 3,858 tourist nights.
• 879 Blue Venture ecotourist nights spent in homestays, generating US$13,185 in income for the homestay families since the project began. In Timor-Leste, where over 40% of people live below the poverty line (2014 World Bank estimate), this income can make a significant difference to families previously reliant on subsistence fishing.
• A further 152 nights were spent by Blue Ventures staff in homestays. One member of staff moved into homestay accommodation in September, generating a regular income of US$350/month for the host family and a second staff member will move in early 2018.
• In addition, an estimated 41 independent (non-BV) tourist nights were spent in homestays; to improve accuracy, host families started using a new monitoring system for independent tourist nights in November.
• Ecotourism model continues to fund locally managed marine areas through park fees at Adara (to date 165 divers at US$1.50 a dive), the new Haru Ina LMMA (to date 252 divers at US$2.00 a dive), and Vila LMMA (to date 12 divers at US$2 a dive).

2. Developing capacity for community based marine resource monitoring:

• Training sessions on seagrass mapping, (as a first step before ongoing monitoring begins) were held with community members over three days in May, which resulted in eight community based monitors (CBMs) being fully certified. Field sessions were cancelled in June and July due to a dengue outbreak among Blue Ventures staff and adverse weather, but resumed in August, when two additional operators were certified, bringing the total to ten.
• Blue Ventures made strong progress integrating the ecotourism model with the community-based resource monitoring (CBRM): ecotourists now work with CBMs on seagrass mapping activities. Blue Ventures adapted the timing of mapping sessions to align with low tides and weaker currents, which resulted in much faster seagrass mapping and noticeable improvement in the CBM s’ skills, confidence, and leadership. The team has consistently carried out several transects each session, and having completed the mapping of Beloi’s seagrass meadows they began mapping Biqueli in November.
• Participatory seagrass mapping has now been completed at Beloi along approximately 6 km of coastline, and mapping has begun at Biqueli. Seagrass areas of particular importance (in terms of high biodiversity, health and importance for local fisheries or nearby coral reefs) identified at Beloi and Biqueli are covered by the Haru-ina and Ilik-namu tara bandu (customary resource management laws), respectively.
• Following communications on the importance of seagrass, homestay families expressed interest in joining the CBM team in November; a new seagrass training course will be offered in early 2018.
• Community consultations were carried out in Uaro-ana in August, and suggested that the village is currently more interested in developing alternative livelihoods (i.e. ecotourism) than marine management.
• Fisheries catch landing monitoring: Training started with one community member in Beloi in July. Monitoring was discussed in Ilik-namu (NE Ataúro) in July and September 2017, and methodologies were developed and agreed in December. Training and fieldwork will begin with local operators in early 2018 as a requirement to establish marine management measures.

Results to Date:

• 1 full community-based seagrass mapping training session delivered in 2017
• 2 Timorese staff members completed their seagrass mapping training, and started their Dive Master and Reef Check Eco Diver training.
• 10 Timorese community-based seagrass monitors are fully certified
• 7 seagrass habitat mapping sessions held
• 4 seagrass sites identified for conservation (Akrema, Biqueli, Beloi, Vila)

3. Identifying communities for co-management initiatives:

• Consultations started in Ilik-namu on 29 May with a women’s group representative and the local seaweed farming cooperative. These explored the potential for marine management in the village and were followed by meetings with the head of the cooperative in June, and with village leaders and fishermen, the women’s group representative, and a local priest in July, during which we discussed the option of establishing marine management measures in the village. The community then further discussed the options for marine management without Blue Ventures staff present in August, and approved a cyclical fisheries closure system on one of their reefs, with two-year closure periods followed by three-month open seasons for regulated fishing (see blog).
• On 14 June 2017, the Ilik-namu community formally invited BV to facilitate the implementation of a locally managed marine protected area (LMMA) based on tara bandu local laws, with the goal of protecting seagrass and coral and to increase the productivity of fish. We drafted the tara bandu legislation based on earlier consultations; the community reviewed and informally approved the document in December 2017.
• During four community consultations held in Ilik-namu in 2017, the community identified key species and areas to manage, including an area of reef (-8.203901, 125.630088). The borders of the new tara bandu-governed LMMA were mapped using GPS in October.
• Blue Ventures also held community consultations about natural resource management in Beloi in May. These discussions revealed the community is not yet ready to fully engage with BV on marine management, though in December they gained verbal agreements with Beloi and Vila recognising Blue Ventues as the organisation responsible for supporting the community to monitor the tara bandu- governed LMMAs. These agreements were formalised in early 2018.
• Blue Ventues held consultations in Behau in October, with the community identifying fisheries and management needs. They asked for support in establishing co-management measures based on tara bandu. Further engagement with the community began in early 2018.

Results to Date:

• Working with 1 community to develop marine management measures
• Supported development of 1 new LMMA governed by tara bandu laws, and carrying out dive 
monitoring at a further 3 
LMMAs.