GOAL
The goals of empowerment of fisher-folks community and development of sustainable small-scale fisheries in Kepulauan Aru Regency are as follow:
1. Awareness through environmental education on the importance of coastal ecosystems in supporting the survival of local communities, both economically and ecologically is established.
2. Communities? economic resilience through the empowerment of seaweed farmers is enhanced;
3. Mangrove forests is recovered and rehabilitated in order to provide added value for environmental conservation, and
4. Community's capacity to adapt to climate change is increased.

OBJECTIVES
Objective 1 : Policy Changes. This activity is run with the effort of legislation formulation of coastal zone management in a participatory manner which refers to the decision of the Constitutional Court with regard to judicial review of Law No. 27 Year 2007 and the role of indigenous/traditional ecological knowledge of the people in Marlasi village, Pulau Aru District, Kepulauan Aru Regency, Maluku.
Indicators : 1. Meeting of fishermen village, attended by 30 participants from Marlasi village. The participants of the meeting are a group of fishermen/farmers facilitated by Baileo Foundation and divided into 2 groups, each consisting of 8 women and 7 men.
2. Documentation of activities (attendance, photographs, records of village meetings).
3. A draft of village regulations on coastal zone and small islands management in the area of Marlasi Village.
4. A documentation of indigenous/traditional knowledge of Marlasi community in managing marine resources and fisheries, including maintaining the sustainability of coastal ecosystems.
Activity : Village meeting on drafting village?s regulations based on local knowledge or local marine traditions, and ended with a public test.
This activity will be conducted in August-October 2012 in Marlasi village, Pulau Aru District, Kepulauan Aru Regency, Maluku, and will be attended by fishermen, women fishers and officials of village government.
Objective 2 : Improved coastal ecosystems
Indicator : 1. A thousand seedlings of mangrove is planted and maintained by the people of Marlasi village, in the coastal of Marlasi village.
2. Clean-up activities of coastal area in Marlasi Village, Pulau Aru District, Kepulauan Aru, Maluku.
Activity : Planting Mangrove planting and beach clean-up will be conducted between August to October 2012 in the coastal of Marlasi village, Pulau Aru District, Kepulauan Aru Regency, Maluku, by the people of Marlasi thus the function of the local coastal ecosystem is expected to be restored. These activities will be conducted in October-December 2012 and April 2013.
Objective 3 : Capacity Building of Fishermen and Coastal Community Adaptation to the Impact of Climate Change
Indicators : 1. There is a data of climate vulnerability index mapping, participatory made together with the people in Marlasi Village, Pulau Aru District, Kepulauan Aru Regency, Maluku.
2. There is a practical training module which can be used by the people of Marlasi village to build capacity of climate adaptation, such as weather readings and so on.
Activity : This activity is aimed to prepare fishermen in adapting to climate change. This is intended to provide training to the fishermen in understanding global climate change, ways to access weather and to interpret according to the social and cultural conditions of the local community. In addition to that, fishermen are also taught to explore local knowledge in adapting to the climate at sea as well as in carrying out climate documentation from the past to the current condition.
In the later implementation, these activities are divided into two stages: first, mapping of the vulnerability index (including data collection, data processing and vulnerabilities analysis, as well as Geographic Information Systems management) in September-November 2012, and second, the climate school (the development of modules and practical training) with the involvement of the people from Marlasi Village directly. These activities will be carried out in July, December 2012 - January 2013.
Objective 4 : Economic Resilience of Coastal Communities of Marlasi Village, Pulau Aru District, Kepulauan Aru Regency, Maluku.
Indicator : There are at least two groups (15 people per group, consisting of 8 women and 7 men) of seaweed farmers that have seaweed processing capacity and market access to sell the processed seaweed.
Activity : This activity is carried out in form of: seaweed farming, culture training and business analysis training, training of post-harvest handling and harvest processing, training of access to markets and information technology. These activities will be conducted in August-December 2012.
Objective 5 : Strengthening the Institution
Indicator : A community-based economic institutions that manage sales and marketing of processed seaweed from farmers group in Marlasi village, Maluku is established
Activity : This activity is carried out in form of management training of village economic institutions with the expectation that there will be an economic institution in the village that will be able to market seaweed from the community so that the price is not affected by the middleman. In addition to that, this activity is also emphasized to build trust among members in managing joint-economic activity. These activities will be conducted in October 2012 and February 2013.
EXPECTED OUTPUT
1. Public awareness of Marlasi Village, Pulau Aru District, Kepulauan Aru Regency, Maluku Province to conserve their coastal ecosystem to support the survival of local communities, both economically and ecologically is established
2. Increasing economic capacity of the people in Marlasi village who in fact work as fishermen and seaweed farmers through activities of coastal ecosystem reclamation and economic resilience enhancement of the community
3. Availability of mangrove forest that has been restored and rehabilitated by the people of Marlasi Village thus able to provide added value to the conservation of coastal ecosystems and income of local fishermen
4. Availability of maps on Vulnerability Index of Kola Island, Kepulauan Aru, which refers to the principle of vulnerability mapping according to IPCC (2001), which refers to the degree of climate that can destroy or harm a system; this is not only dependent to the sensitivity of the system, but also on its ability to adapt with new climate conditions
5. Availability of documentation on the role of indigenous and traditional ecological knowledge of local villagers in conserving natural resources
Participants and/or Project Beneficiaries
Direct : Two groups of fishermen/ farmers in Marlasi Village, Pulau Aru District, Kepulauan Aru Regency, Maluku Province: KIARA and the Maluku Baileo Foundation
Indirect : The people of Marlasi Village, reaching to 1416 people in Pulau Aru District, Kepulauan Aru Regency including the officials of the village government