Coral reefs are a vital marine ecosystem supporting life, serving as fish habitats, reducing wave energy reaching land, and serving as tourist attractions. Unfortunately, various threats threaten the sustainability of the vital ecosystem services provided by coral reefs, such as rising sea surface temperatures, which are a driving factor. coral bleaching, illegal coral harvesting, to coral damage due to tourism activities.

Various efforts have been made, ranging from coral transplantation to planting mangroves to protect sediment flow from the mainland, but in fact, until now the coral reef ecosystem is increasingly threatened by various human activities.

With this background, the Center for Marine Studies, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Indonesia (FMIPA UI) in collaboration with the Karang Lestari Foundation (YKLI) is striving to increase public awareness, especially students, to learn various methods that can help manage coral reef ecosystems optimally.

This effort is realized through training activities. Conceptual Model Coral Reef Management Using Participatory Modelling or coral reef management methods based on community resilience.  Participatory Modelling considered to be one of the methods that has not been widely developed at this time.

“Training Conceptual Model Coral reef management using Participatory Modeling is to introduce basic concepts system thinking in coral reef ecosystem management, and applications participatory modelling This is a program for students, especially those interested in coral reef ecosystem research,” said Dr. Riani Widiarti, M.Si., Head of the Center for Marine Studies, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Indonesia, explaining the purpose of the activity on Thursday (27/7/2023).

According to him, the introduction participatory modelling This is very important for use in research related to coral reef ecosystems in particular, and marine ecosystems in general. This is because, Participatory modelling focuses on local community knowledge of current ecosystem conditions and the threats they face, so that it can assist in decision-making in ecosystem management.

The training, held at the Multidisciplinary Research Laboratory Building of FMIPA UI – PT Pertamina, UI Campus, Depok, involved 30 participants who were teaching staff, students of the Geology and Geophysics Study Program, Department of Biology, Department of Geography, Master of Marine Science, and UI School of Environmental Sciences.

Dr. Suryo Kusumo as the Chair of YKLI and also a resource person at this training shared training materials on the method System theory – System thinking – Mental model, Causal loop diagram/Conceptual Model for coral reef ecosystem management.

In System theory, participants are introduced to the concept of ‘system’ and its characteristics. In the introductory section System thinking, participants are introduced to the important points in System thinking, namely the concept of the dependence of all elements.

“This concept has been applied in ecological, economic, political, and even social research. Coral reef ecosystem management is viewed as a unified socio-ecological system, with social and ecological aspects not separated,” said Dr. Suryo.

Participants are also introduced to the concept of mental models which are an important part of understanding a system.

“A person’s understanding of mental models will influence the functionality of the system they create,” he said.

Meanwhile, through the method Causal loop diagram, Training participants are introduced in more depth to the thinking structure of conceptual models. Causal loop diagram used to explain the relationship between variables in the system, which will later be depicted in system behaviour.

The relationship between variables can add (+) or subtract (-). The combination of relationships between variables in a system can produce a loop (+) or (-). reinforcing, and can also produce a loop (-) or balancing. Participants in the training were also given examples of simple systems such as atmospheric systems, natural systems, and economic systems.

Another resource person, Anindita D. Kusumawardhani, M.Si., as a member of the research team at the Center for Marine Studies, FMIPA UI, explained the theory Participatory Modelling coral reef management. In this session, Anin explained the concept of a participatory approach, and the concept participatory modelling in system dynamics.

“On participatory modelling “Knowledge exchange between stakeholders is key. Local community knowledge, in particular, is considered key to solving environmental problems,” said Anin.

Focus Group Discussion (FGD) is one of the most widely used methods in participatory modelling especially in composing Causal loop diagram of the system to be built. In this session, a case study of the use of participatory modelling in coastal management.

FGD was conducted using a scenario role-play Each training participant was given a role to play and then engaged in discussion. The roles included coastal communities, including fishermen, fishermen’s wives, fish sellers, community leaders, tourism operators, and village officials. Participants were also assigned roles as FGD facilitators, operators, and note-takers.

Before the simulation, participants were guided through the installation of the Socio-Ecological Systems App for Mental Model Elicitation (SESAME) software. They were then invited to participate in a discussion based on their respective roles, focusing on coastal area management.

Community participants were asked to explain the current condition of coastal ecosystems and simulate future conditions. Coastal communities were also asked to explain the relationships between each ecosystem and any activities that could threaten them. The discussions were recorded in minutes and visualized in the SESAME app