Update of first semester of 2019

This is Kiluan Bay (Lampung, Sumatra). Gorgeous beyond words...

Justin my new friend kindly advised me to update my blog (“cos it’s awesome!”), so I blushingly agreed. Thank you for the reminder!

So here it is: I’ve been updating a subject on policy analysis at the James Cook University to be taken to masters level for next semester. (“oh, you do policy, Icha?” Apparently, I do… particularly when you think that environmental issues are not going to solve themselves without proper policies in place!).

In March, CETASI (Cetacean Sirenian Indonesia) received some funding from the Conservation Strategy Fund (thank you, CSF!) for conducting an economic study of dolphin watching in Kiluan (Lampung, Sumatra). The project is titled “Dolphin-watching tourism as an alternative or supplemental livelihood to marginalised artisanal fishers in Indonesia". This project will explore whether dolphin-watching tourism can generate direct or indirect employment that provides a sustainable income equal or superior to a fisheries income. The CSF grant established myself as one of the 2019-2020 Indonesia Marine Fellows of the Conservation Strategy Fund.

The 2018 updates

OMG, I have apparently missed the whole 2018 for any updates!

This book has my chapter!

I’m still alive (and healthy, thank you, Universe!) and still working with sustainable tourism, tourism economics and marine mammal issues in general. I was teaching for the second semester at James Cook University, thus it kept me busy during the last half of the year, while the first half of the 2018 was busy with me getting married to my partner in mid-April (we started dating in mid 2010).

I’ve also been collaborating on some papers. Three of them are under review now; one on old stranding paintings with Rodney Westerlaken, the other one on the habitat suitability of marine megafauna in Solor Islands with Muhammad Iqbal Herwata Putra, and the last one is on cetacean bycatch in Gorontalo Sulawesi with Elena Wonneberger, Karim Erzini and Nuralim Pasisingi. Five papers are being cooked as we speak: the first one is on the economics of shark tourism in Indonesia (with Hollie Booth and Muh Ichsan), the second one is on the habitat suitability of cetaceans in Solor Islands with Iqbal Herwata Putra, the third one is on the habitat suitability of cetaceans in Indonesia (with Achmad Sahri and Iqbal Herwata Putra), the fourth one is on the governance of marine mammals in Indonesia (with Achmad Sahri) and the fifth one is on the souvenir sellers in Lovina (with Riccardo Welters, Neil Loneragan and Carol Warren). There’s a batch of data on environmental education that I want to analyse, but I really have to set time for that to make it happen (!).

Paper on expenditures of business visitor at the Great Barrier Reef Australia

The Great Barrier Reef

Another paper published last year at Tourism Economics. Still have not got the online version, let alone the printed copy. But the abstract is below. I will update it once the PDF is available.

Mustika, P. L. K., Farr, M. and Stoeckl, N. (2014b), 'The potential implications of environmental deterioration on business and non-business visitor expenditures in a natural setting: a case study of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef', Tourism Economics.

Abstract:

Nature-based tourism can be an important source of income for regional economies, but relies on a healthy environment. Using data collected from business and non-business visitors to Australia’s coast adjacent to the Great Barrier Reef, the authors generate estimates of the potential financial impact of environmental degradation, demonstrating a novel way of testing and controlling for hypothetical response bias. More than 90% of non-business visitors and 67% of business visitors came to the region for at least one nature-related reason. Average daily expenditure was similar for both visitor segments (about $190), but the determinants of expenditure varied. All visitors reacted much more negatively to the prospect of environmental degradation than to a 20% increase in (local) prices, although business visitors were much less responsive than non-business visitors. Adjusting for hypothetical response bias, the authors estimate that substantial environmental degradation could reduce visitor expenditures (and thus local tourism incomes) by at least 17%.  

Update 3 August 2016:

The article received its issue number etc last June. You can download the copy here through the Tourism Economics website, or email me at putuliza at gmail dot com. The Harvard version of the citation is this:

Mustika, P., Stoeckl, N. & Farr, M. 2016, 'The potential implications of environmental deterioration for business and non-business visitor expenditures in a natural setting: a case study of Australia’s Great Barrier Reef', Tourism Economics, vol. 22, no. 3, pp. 484-504.

Perlukah memberi harga kepada sumber daya alam?

This article is the Indonesian translation of an older article titled ‘Do we need to put a price in natural resources?’ I wrote in September 2012. Happy New Year, by the way. May 2013 be beautiful, healthy, successful and peaceful for all of us.

Teman CI saya Matt Fox mengirimi saya artikel dari website Guardian ini yang ditulis oleh George Monbiot. Artikel tersebut membuat saya berpikir saat membuat judul artikel ini. Apa perlu kita menaruh price tag, harga untuk sumber daya alam? Dan juga, kenapa kita perlu memberi harga tersebut? Tidak bisakah kita membiarkan alam seperti apa adanya?

Dua tahun lalu saya akan setuju dengan Monbiot. Bahwa sepertinya kita tidak perlu menaruh harga pada hujan, pepohonan dan lumba-lumba; kok kayaknya gimana begitu. Tapi sekarang, walaupun saya kurang setuju dengan artikel tersebut, saya tetap merasa Monbiot ada benarnya.

Saya sebenarnya berharap yang sederhana saja, bahwa kita semua bisa hidup dengan alam dengan harmonis, seperti cara Zen. Saya inginnya adalah kebanyakan dari kita ada di tingkat kesadaran kita yang tertinggi, bahwa kita semua faham dan menghargai bahwa tiap mahluk di Bumi – bahkan di seluruh Semesta – saling berhubungan satu sama lain. Tapi sayangnya, tidak demikian ceritanya.

Saya cenderung setuju dengan valuasi sumber daya alam (yaitu: memberikan nilai kepada satu sumber daya alam tertentu), selama hal tersebut masuk akal. Tapi di sini triknya: saya bilang ‘memberikan nilai bagi sumber daya alam’, bukan ‘memberikan harga bagi sumber daya alam’. 

Do we need to put a price in natural resources?

Matt Fox, a CI colleague of mine, forwarded me this Guardian article written by George Monbiot. The article got me thinking about the title of this post.  Do we need to put a price in natural resources? Also, why do we need to put such a price? Can’t we just leave the nature as it is? Two years ago, I would agree with Monbiot; putting a price on the rain and trees and the dolphins seems to be unnecessary at best, and pretentious at worst. I still understand his points though, he got the points alright.

I wish that the things are that easy, that all of us can truly live in harmony, in a Zen way, with nature. That most of us are well-connected with our highest plane of awareness, that we all understand and appreciate that every being on Earth – nay, on this Universe – is connected to each other. But sadly, that is often not the case. I am inclined to be okay with natural resource valuation (i.e., putting value on natural resource), as long as it’s within reason. But here’s the thing. I said ‘natural resource valuation’, not ‘natural resource pricing’. 

How much does the Lovina dolphin watching industry worth?

Okay, first of all, I'm not an economist. Heck, I even made a big elementary mistake that will guarantee a life time ridicule at my naivette (or stupidity?), particularly from a particular economist-turned-life-partner of mine. But still, I could not revisit the past and recollect the data, can I? All I can do is humbly accept the mistake and commit myself of not repeating it again. Which I solemnly swear.

Nonetheless, the Universe worked Its magic, and here's my first PhD paper on the economics of Lovina.

Mustika, P. L. K., Birtles, A., Welters, R. & Marsh, H. 2012, 'The economic influence of community-based dolphin watching on a local economy in a developing country: Implications for conservation', Ecological Economics, vol. 79, no. 0, pp. 11-20.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0921800912001693
 

My PhD abstract

The following is the abstract of my PhD project, titled 'Towards Sustainable Dolphin Watching Tourism in Lovina, Bali, Indonesia'. Anyone interested in the PDF copy of my thesis, do email me. I owe my gratitude to many people, but notable among them are Prof Helene Marsh and Dr Alastair Birtles from James Cook University. Dr Mark Hamann and Dr Riccardo Welters also lent huge help during the last lag of my thesis.

Mustika, P. L. K. 2011, 'Towards Sustainable Dolphin Watching Tourism in Lovina, Bali, Indonesia (unpublished thesis)', James Cook University.

'Towards Sustainable Dolphin Watching Tourism in Lovina, Bali, Indonesia'
by Putu Liza Kusuma Mustika
James Cook University
Townsville - Australia

This research studied dolphin watching in Lovina, North Bali, Indonesia in the theoretical context of quadruple bottomline sustainability and the prism of sustainability to investigate the biological, social, economic and managerial elements of the sustainability of the industry.