The core zone decisive of marine conservation area in Southeast Sulawesi using marxan

Abstract

Abstract The Southeast Sulawesi Marine Conservation Area is one of the marines protected areas, namely Aquatic Tourism Park type, appointed by The Governor’s decree of Southeast Sulawesi Number 98 the Year 2016. This area is located in The Konawe Regency, Kendari City and The South Konawe Regency with 21,785.14 ha. This area was still in initiation, so it has not marine spatial planning. This study aims to formulate and determine the core zone. Marxan was used to assign the core zone and solve the marine spatial planning and utilization conflict. Three scenarios were used to analyze the critical habitat of level protection at 30%, 50%, and combinations. These results described that scenario A has 751 ha, scenario B has 1008 ha, and combinations scenario have 1498 ha. The core zone area is under 1 % of the total area conservation. So, all scenarios do not qualify the criteria required by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Besides, all scenarios have qualified the thirty percents of critical habitat protection. Managers and stakeholders could use these findings to decide the core zone, spatial planning, and sustainable developments.