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Environment
and development in coastal regions and in small islands |
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Environment
and development in coastal regions and in small islands |
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Coastal management
By Peter Espeut, Executive Director of the
Caribbean Coastal Area Management (CCAM) Foundation,
writing in the Jamaica Gleaner, 28 July 1999
NAME THE overarching concept that
should be guiding the management of Jamaica's environment? If you guessed 'Coastal
Zone Management' you would have been right. Congratulations!
Because there is nowhere in Jamaica that is more than 22 miles from the coast,
our island is 100 per cent coastal zone. In a real sense environmental management
in Jamaica is one form or another of coastal zone management (CZM). I first
wrote about this in 1994, but I am not sure we have yet come around to that
way of thinking. Whatever we do on the land impacts on the coast and the marine
environment. We are always upstream of somewhere else, and we need to remain
conscious of that fact.
The 'how' of CZM is just as important as the 'what'. Earlier this week, a delegation
of five of us from the Portland Bight Protected Area attended an international
training workshop on integrated coastal management in San Diego, California:
The Role Of Stakeholders in Marine Protected reas. This sort of thing has been
talked about for years now, but this workshop sponsored by the National Oceans
Service of the United States Government sought to outline to the 132 participants
from 27 countries how it could be done. Top-Down attempts at management have
led Jamaica to having the most overfished waters in the Caribbean, and to the
death of 95 per cent of our coral reefs, among other accomplishments. It is
definitely time for another approach!
The US-NOS brought together a splendid array of speakers to present case studies
demonstrating the role of stakeholders in CZM. Dr. Magnus Ngoile (1999 Pew Fellow)
explained how fishers and the government came together in Tanzania to manage
marine parks; Mr. Ian McPhail, chairman of the Great Barrier Reef National Park
Authority (Australia) described the consultative process involved in preparing
a management plan for the largest marine park in the world (1,200 miles long).
Dr. Porfirio Alino of the University of the Philippines, Dr. Tracey Phillips
of South Africa and Mr. Alejandro Robles of Mexico explained how the co-management
approach has worked in their countries.
Our delegation of fishers from Old Harbour Bay, Mitchell Town, Portland Cottage
and Rocky Point, and NRCA's Director of Parks and Protected Areas were able
to explain that this approach was already being implemented in Jamaica.
Stakeholder participation is official Jamaican government policy,
of which we can all be proud, but it won't fall from the sky. Hard work is necessary
to make it happen. Delegates from fisheries associations in Portland Bight together
with government representatives have drafted fishery management regulations
for their area. Fifty men and women from Portland Bight have been appointed
Honorary Game Wardens by the Governor-General and have been enforcing already
existing laws. This was a novel concept for many at the meeting, and was well
received as an approach to enforcement. At this workshop we have been able to
deepen our understanding of stakeholder management, and we have been able to
pass on some of our experiences.
Of course if all of Jamaica is a coastal zone then everyone is a stakeholder
in the coastal zone, and must feel that way. For Portland Bight, a list of stakeholders
has been compiled and their representatives are or will become involved in one
way or another. An interesting question was raised here in San Diego: How far
and wide must you cast your stakeholder net? To what extent are people in Spanish
Town stakeholders in Hellshire, and persons in May Pen stakeholders in Jackson's
Bay? This issue hit us in the face recently when three businessmen from May
Pen with political connections invaded a Portland Bight stakeholders meeting
and broke it up, demanding a piece of the action. In our tribal situation, the
old politics will die hard. Thank God there are many who are choosing a different
way.
Peter Espeut is a sociologist and is Executive Director of an Environment
and Development NGO.
For more information, please contact:
Peter A. Espeut,
Executive Director,
Caribbean Coastal Area Management (CCAM) Foundation,
7 Lloyds Close,
Kingston 8
JAMAICA, W.I.
Fax: (876) 978-7641
