Problem overview:

     Integrating stakeholders: The Giant Clam Community Sanctuaries have been initiated by the government but are run by local communities. These communities receive assistance from volunteers but are almost entirely responsible for running the sanctuaries themselves.

     Training and educational initiatives: From the programme, communities will be educated on the subject of sustainability and marine resources. Vice versa, marine officials will learn from fishermen because these men know better from first hand experience.

Background in summary:

     The need to initiate Giant Clam community sanctuaries programme: The Ministry for Lands, Survey and Natural Resources initiated a community marine sanctuary, in which would be implemented and managed by the people because they understand that Giant clams are an endangered species and agreed that there is the need for and usefulness of the sanctuary in order to increase spawning.

     Communities get to learn about sustainability and marine resources: On a longer-term basis, the project was a public education effort aimed at demonstrating the usefulness of coral reef reserves and sanctuaries. Tongan communities learned about sustainability of marine resources through the creation of village-based giant clam sanctuaries.

     Volunteers and villagers work together on the programme: The project encouraged villagers to establish a sanctuary for an endangered species of giant clam. Over a six-year period, volunteer researchers and the villagers monitored the population of giant clams in the island group. The villagers themselves detected the first evidence of recruitment of juveniles of the endangered species.

     Communities can see that they benefit from the programme: The Tongan project provided several important observations, including the need to involve communities into planning, development and management of marine parks and reserves. If parks are community projects and produce an obvious practical benefit to everyone, people will protect them and care for them.

Peer Review Committee Good practice rating: (1 for the best, 5 for the lowest score)
Sustainability		Efficiency
2	Improvement in either the environment of economic condition with no harm to the other.	2	Cost efficient.
2	Sustainable over time (not one-off)	Process
Adaptability		1	Participation of the community
4	Location adaptability (can the project be done in other places?)	1	Participation of resource owners/users
3	Socio-cultural adaptability.	2	Partnerships between various actors (Governments, NGO, Academia, Private)
2	Level of development adaptability.	2	Degree of coordination and cooperation between government departments.
3	Style of government adaptability.	-	Ability to attract political interest/support
2	Degree of decentralization adaptability.	2	Procedures for feedback and review.
Comments on this example:      Training and educational initiatives: Marine parks, reserves, and sanctuaries suffer from two common problems. When they are in remote areas, patrolling and protecting them from local poachers is difficult or impossible for smaller countries. There is little direct evidence that they actually improve stocks of protected marine creatures.      The solution to these two problems was to educate local people on the biology of the giant clam, and the usefulness of the sanctuary. Sustainability of the project:   Adaptability of the project to other situations:       The concept of community based wildlife sanctuaries is highly adaptable to almost any situation, providing the government is willing to decentralize authority to the community. Process of decision making and implementation:      Integrating stakeholders: The project relied on two theories: Local people will act responsibly if they understand the true nature of the problem and are empowered, and expected to deal with it themselves. No progress will be made towards sustainable development if people believe some "authority" will take care of the problem for them.      The most important tool in getting local people to understand the nature of the problem and their personal responsibility to deal with it was video, done in their local language with only local people appearing in it. Cost efficiency: