Pet-Soede et al. 1999. Many had argued that powerful economic forces and the socio-economic frameworks of the fishermen are driving the practices continued
Cesar 1996; Pet-Soede et al. 1999; Fauzi and Buchary 2002. A complementary approach in responding to the problem is by promoting
the sense of stewardship and the collective action of local fishers communities over the resources where their livelihood dependent upon. Resource users are
proved to be capable of managing common-pool resource, including coastal fishery Berkes 1985; Ostrom 1990; Dolšak and Ostrom 2003. Managing coastal
fishery means managing the way the resource is harvested in the fishing grounds, where coral reefs situated.
1.2 Rationale of the Research
Many programs and projects had been promoted by the government and supported by multilateral or bilateral donors, to promote sustainable coastal and
marine resources management. These initiatives include Marine Resources Evaluation Project MREP, Coastal Community Development and Fisheries
Resource Management CO-FISH, Marine and Coastal Resource Management Project MCRMP, which were funded by ADB, as well as Coral Reefs
Rehabilitation and Management Program COREMAP that funded by ADB and the World Bank.
2
Despite various initiatives to halt the destruction of coral reefs and to promote sustainable coastal and marine resource use, which also
endorsed by the community, the state of coral reefs in Indonesia remains poor or is getting worse. COREMAP estimation suggests that in 2000 overall within
Indonesia only 6.2 of the coral reefs remain in excellent condition with coral coverage between 76-100 Hanson et al. 2003; Dahuri 2003: 209.
On the other hand, the presence of social capital is considered important in promoting sustainability of resource use Ostrom et al. 1994; Grafton 2005.
Thus, it is appealing to investigate to what extent social capital has been promoted in and affected the coastal management projects, particularly in coral
reef use, management, and condition. Social capital is viewed as one important feature for long-enduring self-governance of common-pool resources. Many
empirical studies showed that common-pool resources can also be used and
2
Further assessment of donor-supported marine and coastal initiatives in Indonesia is described by Sofa 2000 and Hanson et al. 2003 in Annex G.
managed sustainably by the resource users themselves Berkes 1985; Ostrom 1990.
In this regard, social capital is defined as “the capacity of communities to cooperate for managing natural resources in a sustainable way” Birner and
Wittmer 2004. Moreover, with regard to dimension of social capital, it is generally understood that social capital has some combination of role-based or rule-based
structural and mental or attitudinal cognitive origins Coleman 1988; Putnam 1993; Serageldin and Grootaert 2000. Cognitive social capital embraces norms
and trust, while structural social capital consists of rules, networks, and organizations Uphoff 2000.
Another definition of social capital is trust, norms of reciprocity, and networks that facilitate the formation of collective action and institution Grootaert
et al. 2003. Trust, shared norms, and norms of reciprocity are important for the establishment of institutional arrangements. Shared norms can reduce the cost of
monitoring and sanctioning Ostrom 1990. Trust makes social life predictable, while it creates a sense of community, and it makes it easier for people to work
together Folke et al. 2005. These features known as social capital are important to lubricate or facilitate cooperation among individuals to develop and implement
rules or institutions, and resolve collective action problems that are needed to manage natural resources on a sustainable way Ostrom 1990; Agrawal 2001.
Based on this perspective, social capital may contribute to sustainable resource use, including that of common-pool resources such as coastal
resources and coral reefs. However, whereas social capital is defined differently by various authors and studies, it is largely disputable on which mechanisms
social capital has been manifested into sustainable resource use. This endeavor resembles to what had been investigated by Krishna 2002, even though the
focus was not on the natural resource management, notwithstanding coral reefs management.
On the other hand, along with a growing urgency on collaborative management in coral reef management, investment in social capital has been
promoted in island fisher communities whose livelihood dependent upon coral reef resources. Social capital investment is known as investing in social
relationships, in which the network that emerges can either focus on horizontal or vertical collaboration Folke et al. 2005; organizing stakeholder conferences, the
training of community leaders, and support for fishing organizations Isham
2001; building trust and the growth of social network Grafton 2005. This investment is considered to promote local rules or institution to govern coral reef
resources, therefore improve sustainable coral reef resource use. The capacity building of local communities in natural resources management is at the same
time regarded as social capital investment. Following this emerging perspective, a community-based management has
been promoted by local NGOs, university, and national and regional government, in small islands in South Sulawesi to spur shared stewardship among resource
users. It had advocated collective action of local fisher communities to promote among others, environmentally-friendly fishing practices and establishment of
community marine sanctuaries. Therefore, it is appealing to investigate to what extent investment in social capital of fisher communities can alleviate the problem
of overuse that generally associated with common-pool resources, and succeed in promoting durable collective action and institutional arrangements to govern
the resource.
1.3 Research Questions, Hypotheses, and Research Objectives Research Questions
