Episode 6: Empowering and investing in local communities with Chloe King

Like many countries around the world, Indonesia experienced the virtual halt to tourism, caused by COVID-19, and indeed, after almost two years, has only just re-opened its borders to tourists. But given the sudden and prolonged removal of an industry that employed 10% of Indonesia’s worldforce prior to the pandemic, it raises questions as to how communities, and the ecosystems on which they depend, have fared. On this episode of the podcast, we delve into the social side of marine science, to discuss a very interesting paper authored by marine ecologist, tourism consultant, and social scientist, Chloe King. The paper is called: Reimagining resilience: COVID-19 and marine tourism in Indonesia, and alongside it’s assessment of socio-ecological systems and livelihood capital, it highlights just how critical it is to empower and invest in local communities going forward.