Eco. Env. & Cons. 29 (1) : 2023; pp. (17-32) Copyright@ EM International ISSN 0971–765X The Transition of Co-management Practices in a Marine Protected Area: A View from the Bajau Seafaring Nomadic Community in Indonesia Wengki Ariando* 1,3 , I. Wayan Veda Santiaji 2 and Narumon Arunotai 3 1 International Program of Environment Development and Sustainability, Graduate School, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand 2 Coral Triangle Program, Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), Indonesia 3 Research Unit on Indigenous Peoples and Development Alternatives, Social Research Institute, Chulalongkorn University, Thailand (Received 27 September 2022; Accepted 24 November 2022) ABSTRACT Customary communities with nature-based livelihoods have ways of knowing and living with their environment that they are best situated to manage. One example of such a group that lives in coastal and small island areas is the semi-nomadic Bajau people. At present, most of them have been sedentary in coastal areas and several Marine Protected Areas (MPA) such as Wakatobi National Park (WNP). They are rarely incorporated into the MPA management system. This research aims to investigate the transitional pattern of co-management in MPA from the view of the Bajau as a maritime-oriented people. This ethnographic study was carried out in five Bajau villages in WNP, Southeast Sulawesi, Indonesia. Interviews and participatory mapping were employed as research methods among related stakeholders to explore the many perspectives on these issues. WNP is starting to put the concept of co-management into practice, yet they face several challenges. However, Bajau communities there face cultural degradation and institutional complexities in inter- and intragroup relations, especially in promoting coastal and marine management. The documented pillars of the Bajau community indicate socio-ecological constraints on their involvement in the co-management transition of WNP. Administration, governance, sustainable resource management, capacity building, locality, and other issues can be addressed via a participatory model, but there will be difficulties to resolve on many levels for this model to prove optimally effective. To justify the need for WNP, Bajau sacred areas as part of traditional ecological knowledge have the prospect of being incorporated into marine co-management schemes. Key words : Co-management, Bajau, Seafaring Nomads, Marine Protected Areas, Wakatobi National Park Introduction For decades, there has been a gradual shift from state control of natural resources to community- based stewardship (Foxon et al., 2009; Kelly et al., 2018). This paradigm can undoubtedly help distrib- ute power and shared responsibility for sustainable natural resources management (Wolff, 2015). As the main resource user, the community is expected to have a crucial role from upstream to downstream in the management system. The state, in this context, is the regulator and partner in retaining the continuity of the program. One program often used to connect the needs of these two actors is found in the model DOI No.: http://doi.org/10.53550/EEC.2023.v29i01.003