MPAs are often associated with high poverty, being by design targeted at relatively untouched areas with low economic potential. Establishing an MPA can thus create a financial and social burden on resource-dependent communities, even if the benefits of doing so would bring higher yields or revenue in the future. Some stakeholders may benefit greatly from commercial activities (e.g., tourism, sale of higher-value products), while at the same time others are left out of the management processes, sometimes even those having most at stake. 

Because MPAs will most likely affect user groups disproportionately, inequality issues among stakeholders can easily arise.  Some aspects of MPA design, implementation, and management may contribute to positive ecological and well-being outcomes, while others will require tradeoffs. This coexistence of both co-benefits and trade-offs among stakeholder groups leads to tricky questions of equity, justice, and power in the design, implementation, and management of MPAs. There is a general lack of knowledge regarding how inequalities influence MPA outcomes. 

In brief, MPAs are a driver of inequalities in communities that rely heavily on marine resources, and a powerful tool to help reduce them. While being an important aspect of the well-being of the people involved and of the success of MPAs, inequality assessments and metrics are currently largely absent in the design, implementation and management of MPAs. This research project aimed at a deeper understanding of the inequality dynamics in MPAs in Indonesia, drawing upon existing data and specific case studies. It helped us gain better knowledge of how inequalities influence biological and social outcomes in MPAs, and brought insights on how to integrate inequality assessments and indicators in existing MPA policies in the country, at every level of governance.

This project is part of the Extension of the EU-AFD Research Facility on Inequalities (RFI). Coordinated by AFD and financed by the European Commission, the Extension of the RFI will contribute to the development of public policies aimed at reducing inequalities in four countries: South Africa, Mexico, Colombia and Indonesia over the period 2021-2025.

This project first went through a scoping phase which enabled to better understand the role of MPAs and its link to inequalities. It then aimed to develop a framework for analyzing inequalities and their dynamics in MPAs in Indonesia, and a toolbox for mainstreaming inequalities in the design, implementation and management of MPAs. It has also fed into the policy dialogue conducted by the EU and AFD on marine resource management and environmental protection. 

This project therefore results in: 

• A working paper summarizing the current knowledge on marine protected areas and inequalities in Indonesia (carried out by LPEM).
• An in-depth research project on the links between inequality reductions and the management of marine protected areas, including cases studies of three MPAs (performed by the SMERU Institute).
• Training and capacity building activities with practitioners and MPA managers on the inclusion of inequalities in MPA management practices.
  
   

You will find below the different research papers related to this project :

• The benefits of Marine Protected Areas in fighting inequality and fostering environmental sustainability in Indonesia
• Balancing conservation and community welfare: Enhancing the management of Marine Protected Areas in Indonesia

Watch the replay of the "Research Conversations" webinar on this topic (July 2023) :

Contacts: 

• Oskar Lecuyer, AFD Research Officer
• Emmanuel Fourmann, AFD Research Officer

In South Africa, informal work is a feature of the labor market - one in six South African workers is employed in the informal sector. During the pandemic, millions of workers without legal or social protection were disproportionately affected by the negative impacts of measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 (loss of jobs, hours of work and income...). As a "forgotten" sector in many ways, it should not be forgotten that the informal sector provides livelihoods, employment, and income for millions of workers and business owners, and contributes significantly to the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 

In response to the social and economic effects of the pandemic on vulnerable groups, the South African government has further developed its social protection system. As part of the social assistance component of the COVID-19 stimulus package, it introduced a new Social Relief of Distress (SRD) grant in April 2020. This social assistance grant is for the first time targeted at many informal workers on the basis of their employment status.  

While the positive links between the subsidy and economic activity had already been studied, as well as the limits to this interaction, it remained to be understood whether and how the SRD had been used by informal workers and what economic effects had been generated. This project was conducted by CSDA as part of a larger program to analyze various components of the South African government's Covid and recovery stimulus package.

This project is part of the Extension of the EU-AFD Research Facility on Inequalities (RFI). Coordinated by AFD and financed by the European Commission, the Extension of the RFI will contribute to the development of public policies aimed at reducing inequalities in four countries: South Africa, Mexico, Colombia and Indonesia over the period 2021-2025.

To better understand the effects of the Covid and recovery public policy stimulus on reducing inequality, this study qualitatively analyzed the interactions and impacts of the SRD (as well as other subsidies, and the stimulus package more broadly) on local economies.

In particular, it focused on the experiences of women and men traders in the informal sector, who represent a significant proportion of informal sector workers. Through the data collected, differentiated patterns by gender, location, and level of the informal worker in his or her work organization have also been revealed.

 

You will find below the research paper related to this project :

The local economic development effects of income transfers. The Social Relief of Distress grant.

Contact: 

• Anda David, AFD Research Officer