Informing natural resources policy making using participatory rapid economic valuation (PREV): the case of the Togean Islands, Indonesia

Policy makers in Southeast Asia rarely have complete information to guide their land-use and development decision-making. This paper presents participatory rapid economic valuation (PREV), a practical tool that: (1) provides decision-makers with enough information of adequate quality to guide land-use and development decisions; (2) helps ensure decisions reflect the best available research findings; (3) be widely applicable. In order to achieve these goals, PREV results must be credible to decision-makers, requiring that the methods, data and assumptions used be easily understood, transparent and perceived as reasonable. The economic valuation work should also be carried out in a participatory consensus-building fashion so that the knowledge of local stakeholders is fully utilized, and a wide range of decision-makers are aware of and agree with the findings. PREV must also be rapid enough to respond to real-world policy making time lines, easily carried out and inexpensive if it is to be widely used. These requirements largely restricted PREV valuation analyses to those using currently available data, which are generally market-based. While such an approach provides only a partial valuation (a minimum lower bound on the actual total economic value), in many cases a partial valuation may be sufficient to guide land-use and development decisions. In these cases, the social costs of only a few impacts may be greater than the private profits of the activity, enabling development decisions to be made using only current information. An analysis using currently available data is the first step in an iterative process. If the values based on currently available data are not sufficient, then additional data can be collected and further analyses carried out. Case study results are presented of a PREV carried out with local government officials making natural resource policy decisions for the Togean Islands in Sulawesi, Indonesia. The results showed that decision-makers were sufficiently satisfied with analyses based on currently available data to make certain decisions. A consensus was reached that local societal economic interests would be best served by prohibiting further logging and pursuing a multiple-use conservation strategy, both as a basis for tourism and to allow the continued use of marine and terrestrial biodiversity. However, the workshop participants recommended that an improved understanding of community livelihoods and incentives was required before firm decisions regarding zoning and managing the islands could be made.