Dr. Myron Shekelle ?Director, tarsier.org USA

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Dr. Myron Shekelle ?Director, tarsier.orgUSA

• Capacity Building for Sustainable Community-Based
  Ecotourism Development

Lessons Learned from Tangkoko
BIMP-EAGA Community-Based Ecotourism
Conference Driving Growth and Alleviation through
Community-based Ecotourism in the
BIMP-EAGA Strengthening EAGA Communities through
Conservation Manado, North Sulawesi,
Indonesia October 30th - November 1st, 2008
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Dr. Myron Shekelle ?Director, tarsier.orgUSA
A brief introduction . . .
1994 First visited Manado
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Dr. Myron Shekelle ?Director, tarsier.orgUSA199
4 began a long-term study of tarsiers
A brief introduction . . .
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Dr. Myron Shekelle ?Director, tarsier.orgUSAtra
velled Sulawesi for 14 years, researching
tarsiers
A brief introduction . . .
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Dr. Myron Shekelle ?Director, tarsier.orgUSA
A brief introduction . . .
Discovery of new, critically endangered species
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Siau Island Tarsier, Tarsius sp. New Species,
Critically Endangered Top 25 Most Endangered
Primates 2006-2008 Shekelle and Salim 2007, in
Mittermeier et al. 2007 http//www.primate-sg.org/
siau07.htm
Shekelle and Salim, In Press (Oryx)
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The Plan . . . v.1.0
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• Sulawesi is subdivided into 16 subregions,
  cryptic species
• Biodiversity underestimated by an order of
  magnitude?
• Most of which have an endemic tarsier, several
  threatened
• Tarsiers can serve as flagships to promote
  awareness and conserve habitat

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Why tarsiers?!?
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Why tarsiers?!?
Tarsiers are cool!!!
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Or, can tarsiers serve as flagships?
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The Force says Yes!
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Why tarsiers for BIMP-EAGA?!?
?Brunei ?Indonesia ?Malaysia ?Philippines
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Why tarsiers for BIMP-EAGA?!?
?Brunei ?Indonesia ?Malaysia ?Philippines
Tarsiers are found in all BIMP countries and only
in BIMP countries
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Why tarsiers for BIMP-EAGA?!?
?Brunei ?Indonesia ?Malaysia ?Philippines
Tarsiers are found in all BIMP countries and only
in BIMP countries
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Why tarsiers for BIMP-EAGA?!?
?Brunei ?Indonesia ?Malaysia ?Philippines
Tarsiers are found in all BIMP countries and only
in BIMP countries
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Promoting conservation of biodiversity through
the scientific study of tarsiers
tarsier.org
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Promoting conservation of biodiversity through
the scientific study of tarsiers
tarsier.org
Whats Happening North Sulawesi Tourist
Magazine Fall 2007
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Promoting conservation of biodiversity through
the scientific study of tarsiers
tarsier.org
Philippine Tarsier Field Biology
Workshop Corella, Bohol February 27 March 2,
2008
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Promoting conservation of biodiversity through
the scientific study of tarsiers
tarsier.org
Dreams into Action International Tarsier Action
Plan Workshop Manado, North Sulawesi November
1-7, 2008
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Lessons Learned from Tangkoko

• Sustained, community-based ecotourism has been
  the difference that has allowed partial success
  in habitat conservation.
• The recipe for successful community-based
  ecotourism is explored.

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Lessons Learned from Tangkoko

• Sustained, community-based ecotourism has been
  the difference that has allowed partial success
  in habitat conservation at Tangkoko.
• The recipe for successful community-based
  ecotourism is explored.

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Lessons Learned from Tangkoko

• Sustained, community-based ecotourism has been
  the difference that has allowed partial success
  in habitat conservation.
• The recipe for successful community-based
  ecotourism is explored.

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Tangkoko Background
Tangkoko Tangkoko-Dua Saudara Batuangas
Reserves
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Tangkoko Background
Tangkoko Tangkoko-Dua Saudara Batuangas
Reserves
approximately 8700 ha of mixed forest types from
sea level to 1300 m
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Tangkoko Background
Tangkoko Tangkoko-Dua Saudara Batuangas
Reserves
approximately 8700 ha of mixed forest types from
sea level to 1300 m Interesting wildlife
endemic mammals, birds, reptiles
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Tangkoko Background
Tangkoko Tangkoko-Dua Saudara Batuangas
Reserves
approximately 8700 ha of mixed forest types from
sea level to 1300 m Interesting wildlife
endemic mammals, birds, reptiles Nature
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Tangkoko Background
Located in North Sulawesi
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Tangkoko Background
Located in North Sulawesi About 2 hours from
Manado by car
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Tangkoko Background
Located in North Sulawesi About 2 hours from
Manado by car
(range of 1-4 depending on condition of roads)
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Tangkoko Background
Located in North Sulawesi About 2 hours from
Manado by car
(range of 1-4 depending on condition of
roads) Infrastructure
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Marketing your CBT/CBET/(insert jargon here)
product.
Great conference. Great exchange of ideas. Where
does my talk fit in? (. . . or, the improvised
part of my talk )
Brainstorming Howzabout a 30-minute
info-mercial on prime time Japanese television,
for 12 million Japanese viewers of above average
education and income for your ecotourism
business?
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Sunday Evening October 12, 2008
A 30-minute documentary on tarsiers filmed at
Tangkoko, using locally contracted workers as
expert assistants aired on NHK television.
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Friday Evening October 12, 2007
(exactly one year earlier)
A 60-minute documentary on tarsiers filmed at
Tangkoko, again using locally contracted workers
as expert assistants, aired on UK television.
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Friday Evening October 12, 2007
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Friday Evening October 12, 2007
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Weird Creatures The Real Gremlin subsequently
aired around the world on Animal Planet
The potential audience of Animal Planet is
CANADA 1,278,000
TOTAL LATIN AMERICA 17,316,955
TOTAL UK 10,502,275
TOTAL EUROPE 40,779,890
TOTAL AFRICA/ MIDDLE EAST 2,680,809
TOTAL ASIA 116,690,664
TOTAL INDIA 28,668,253
TOTAL WORLDWIDE SUBS 217,916,847
. . . excluding the USA (about 200 million)
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In the past 10 years I have been involved with 9
nature documentaries
1998 Wild Indonesia PBS, Discovery
1998 Wild Things Paramount
2001 Next Wave National Geographic
2005 Myths, Monsters, Hobbits Channel Five UK
2006 Myths, Magic, and Monsters Channel Five UK
2006 Expedisi Metro TV
2007 Weird Creatures Animal Planet
2008 "Tarsiers" NHK
2009 Life BBC
Eight of these were filmed at Tangkoko using
locally contracted workers as expert assistants.
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Take Home Message
There is enormous potential for sustainable
community based ecotourism in BIMP-EAGA with
this recipe

• Nature attracts scientists
• Scientists spend grant money locally and train
  local people as assistants
• Adventure tourists trickle in
• Former field assistants start small businesses as
  tour guides and open homestays
• Accessibility improves with infrastructure to
  exploit tourism
• Natural history documentary makers consult
  scientists about where and how to film nature,
  and scientists recommend their field site,
  resulting in television crew arriving and
  spending money locally, hiring former field
  assistants as laborers and expert assistants
• The nature television program provides free
  marketing about the ecotourism site to the
  worlds elite audience, in terms of education and
  income.

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How long does it take?
. . .the hitch.

• At Tangkoko, the process from the arrival of the
  first long-term science project to the present
  day has been more than 30 years.

But now that we know the recipe, we can hope that
future projects can become functional much more
quickly
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How well does it work?
. . . the other hitch. It only works so-so

• Partial conservation of nature Locals actively
  work to guard against illegal exploitation of the
  nature reserve in the parts that are profitable
  to them, but in other regions of the reserve this
  may not be the case.
• Partial fulfillment of economic needs Economic
  conditions in the village are aided by
  ecotourism, but still lag well behind
  expectations, but . . . the local people have not
  fully tapped the economic potential of Tangkoko.

It can work much better, yet.
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Whats been working . . .Tangkoko long-term
research primate ecotourism
Independent scientists and small NGOs are crucial
for the exploration stage and capacity building
and they work for free. Exploration and capacity
building are merely a by-product of their
projects. The projects themselves bring direct
economic benefits to the most local people, in
the same was as, but with much
greater effect than, ecotourism, because the
scientists money is coupled to capacity building.
Locals learn from world experts and are paid to
do so. Nature television programming comes as a
result of scientists work to explore nature,
habituate animals, and establish logistics for
the site, and these programs become free
advertisement for the CBET sites.
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Whats been working . . .Bohol tarsiers as
flagships
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Whats been working . . .Tarsiers in the popular
media!

• "The tarsiers seem to have such a huge fan base,
  as everyone who sees our film cant believe how
  beautiful they are!"
• Charlotte Jones, Icon Films, Director,
• Nick Baker's Weird Creatures

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What will make it work better?

• MORE!
• Cross-fertilize Bohols use of tarsiers as a
  flagship with Tangkokos use of tarsier
  tracking.
• Establish more tarsier sanctuaries, such as the
  one at Corella Bohol to provide sustainable
  low-cost tarsier ecotourism for low budgets and
  community education.
• More field sites for more tarsier scientists.

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Mind the Gaptwo very different sets of viewpoints
Pragmatism Idealism
What does the customer want from us? What do we want from the customer?
Bottom up Top down
Private Enterprise / Small NGO Government / Large NGO
Make the plan fit the situation Make the situation fit the plan
Wheres the balance?(Television can help us to
shape customer expectations)
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Acknowledgements
What can be done?

• The culmination of 15 years of work. Too many to
  thank . . .
• The community of tarsier field biologists, past
  and present
• The funders
• The longtime collaborators
• Sources of inspiration
• The organizers

• Local businesses could learn by example to earn
  more money from each tourist, offering more
  products, and more higher end products.

• Local government could as act advocates for
  science-based conservation and their
  community-based ecotour partners in relation to
  permitting from the national government.

• Central government could review the balance
  between the advantages of international
  cooperation in science and CBET versus the risks,
  and streamline the permitting bureaucracy where
  it favors national interests.

• Donor organizations could recognize the
  importance of small, science-based conservation
  as a critical partner for CBET, advocate for
  them, and, perhaps, even offer science-based
  conservation grants targeted at critical sites
  for CBET development.

• Almost no merchandise for sale at Tangkoko
• Gorilla Tracking in Uganda earns 500 for a one
  hour permit, plus 30x in indirect revenue.

• Scientists can bring hundreds of thousands of
  dollars to the region each year if the conditions
  for permitting and access to samples are
  favorable.

• The standards of international science require
  publications on a pace that is dizzying in
  comparison to the pace of government bureaucracy

• The success at Tangkoko, limited as it is, is
  much better than doing nothing, and it can be
  replicated elsewhere.

From Wild Indonesia by Tigress Films, 1998
filmed by Justin Maguire