The Importance of Community’s Involvement in Park Management towards Sustainable Livelihoods

Abstract

This study investigates the impacts of park establishment on communities and how institutional structures, such as customary laws, can influence communities’ involvement in ecotourism. A sustainable livelihoods (SL) approach was adopted as a framework to analyze the relationships among institutional processes and organizational structures (i.e. NCR, institutional arrangement), livelihood strategies and livelihood outcomes. Although Tun Sakaran Marine Park contains beautiful islands, and tourism is the main economic activity, surprisingly, this study found out that local communities are not involved in tourism. Institutional support should be strengthened if ecotourism is to become a livelihood strategy for communities in TSMP.