Towards a Sustainable Metamorphosis of a Small Island Tourism: Dynamizing Capacity Building, Alternating Governance Arrangements, and Emerging Political Bargaining Power

• Published in: Sustainability 2022-06, Vol.14 (12), p.6957, Article 6957
• Main Authors: Nurhasanah, Isye Susana, Van den Broeck, Pieter
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Bargaining; Community; Critical components; Empowerment; Geography; Islands; Metamorphosis; Participation; Politics; Power; Rural areas; Social innovation; Sustainability; Tourism
• ISSN: 2071-1050; 2071-1050
• DOI: 10.3390/su14126957

This study examines how local agents (non-profit-seeking actors and residents of Pahawang Island) developed empowering methods to address ecological problems during the island’s transformation from a small, secluded island to a tourist destination. Building capacity through grassroots initiatives, bottom-linked collaboration, and improved political bargaining power were critical components, constituting the conceptual framework to analyse the data. The socio-spatial shift in Pahawang Island reflects the nature, degree of involvement, and participation of multiple stakeholders. Slowly and gradually, bottom-up and later bottom-linked institutional efforts were implemented to lay the groundwork for a more sustainable ecology, social economy, and political transformation. Capacity building was dynamized by including it in a social innovation process, bottom-linked governance, and stimulated empowerment, which altered the governance, political bargaining power and policymaking power balance. Under these conditions, collaborative grassroots learning and action efforts can be a virtuous panacea for improving the sustainable governance of small islands, which is frequently disregarded in a neoliberal society.