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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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April 1996-September 1996
Environment and development in coastal regions and small islands (CSI)
The activities under this project focus on developing and applying methodological approaches founded on interdisciplinary and intersectoral co-operation and designed to promote integrated planning and management of coastal regions and small islands, through four subregional pilot projects on specific themes. In addition to interdisciplinary training and capacity-building activities particularly in developing countries, related research activities are also being undertaken in other regions to foster the advancement and sharing of scientific knowledge relevant to the objectives of the project.
The first pilot project is centred on the integrated management of freshwater resources, in partnership with local communities, especially in small-island States of the South Pacific. It was launched on the basis of three IHP field studies, which were examined at a planning meeting in Suva, Fiji, organized through the Apia Office (22-24 April 1996). Related initiatives in other regions included a planning workshop held in Malmo, Sweden (16-18 June 1996). A survey of groundwater quality in the Yeumbeul district (Dakar, Senegal) ‘Cities’ Project site in Dakar, Senegal, has also been initiated through the UNESCO Dakar Office.
The second pilot project, focusing on the social context of coastline stability, was started with preparation for the conducting of surveys, in Kenya and the United Republic of Tanzania through the UNESCO Nairobi Office. The pilot project activities in the Eastern Caribbean included the provision of technical assistance for beach change and management, as well as the provision of monitoring equipment to Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, Grenada, Saint Christopher and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. A pamphlet on beach erosion for the general public and school audiences in Grenada has already been incorporated into environmental educational packages for teachers there.
With respect to the third pilot project dealing with integrated management of biological diversity for sustainable coastal development, a resource management workshop for Jakarta Bay, Indonesia, was organized (19-20 April 1996) in co-operation with IOC by the UNESCO Jakarta Office, in collaboration with the IOC and the MAB programme. Follow-up work plans discussed during local meetings in May and June 1996 have helped heighten awareness of the problems and their causes, as well as in developing guidelines for solutions.
Within the framework of the fourth pilot project, scientific findings concerning coastal ecosystems productivity in the Caribbean were presented and discussed at an international congress in Panama (24-29 June 1996). To further define the pilot project activities, a regional planning workshop was held in Kingston, Jamaica (9-10 September 1996), hosted by the University of West Indies and involving the UNESCO Kingston Office.
The field training and capacity-building activities under this project included: a regional workshop on Coastal Aquaculture (23-25 April 1996), in Karachi, Pakistan, sponsored by the UNESCO New Delhi Office, in co-operation with the Pakistan National Commission and organized by the Marine Reference Collection and Research Centre, University of Karachi, for 73 participants; a training and public awareness campaign in the Baltic Region (Gulf of Finland), which brought together a number of regional efforts in coastal protection and peace-building; a multi-sectoral event organized in Suomenlinna, a World Heritage site in Finland (24-26 May), in co-operation with the Secretariat of the World Decade for Cultural Development and the World Heritage Centre; coastal ‘training-through-research’ activities using a shallow-water, coastal research platform around the Gulf of Finland during July and August 1996, in co-operation with MAB-Estonia, IHP-Finland and the IOC.
The UNESCO Venice Office provided intellectual and financial support to the UNESCO Chair in Environmental Sciences and Management at the University of Venice, for the launching of its activities. During the first half of 1996, Professor Yu Sorokin, Head of the Laboratory of Microplankton (Gelendzhik, Russia), was nominated as the first Chair Holder; his research and teaching activities started in July 1996.
The UNESCO Dakar Office has prepared two documents for publication, one on ‘Coastal Erosion Monitoring in Sierra Leone’ and the other on ‘Coral Reef Ecosystems in Africa’. A report produced by the ‘Fédération de Clubs UNESCO’ of Senegal highlights future activities concerning youth involvement and public participation in coastal rehabilitation. Through the same Office, in co-operation with MAB, the World Heritage Centre and the Regional Office for the World-Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), a four-day workshop was organized in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, on biodiversity conversation and World Heritage sites in West and Central Africa. The 65 participants considered the wise use of coastal biological diversity for sustainable development and the conservation of the sacred mangrove forest groves along the West African coasts.
Preparations have been made through the CSI Joint Management Committee to convene at UNESCO Headquarters from 25 to 27 November 1996 an experts meeting to provide guidance on the further development of the project.
