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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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CSI info 7
IMPORTANCE OF COMMUNICATION AND EDUCATION IN THE PROTECTION OF COASTAL AND MARINE ECOSYSTEMS
IN CAMEROON
Jacqueline Nkoyok,
Confederation
of Non-Governmental Environmental Organizations of Central Africa
(CONGAC), Douala, Cameroon
Everyone these days knows about the economic and socio-cultural importance of coastal and marine ecosystems. But in most of Africa, they are under constant attack as industry develops and unthinking use of natural resources increases. In Cameroon, for example, the coast and sea are afflicted by serious ecological problems.
Such areas are much in demand because of the copious natural riches they contain, so there are environmental conflicts over the gathering and use of resources such as fish, oil, minerals, timber and farm products. Land disputes are especially acute in port cities such as Douala.
The conflicts are usually limited to Cameroon itself but sometimes they spill across national borders.
Disputes about maritime pollution are quite common along the coast of Cameroon. One example is the conflict, in the southwestern province, between the local population and officials of the Ministère de l’Environnement et des Forêts (ministry of the environment and forests, MINEF) and the Ministère de l’Élevage, des Pêches et des Industries Animales (ministry of livestock, fisheries and animal product processing, MINEPIA) over the use of chemicals by inshore fishermen. Another is between the wealthy people of the province and the oil companies, which have polluted the waters of the Rio del Rey, which are often used for domestic purposes. Then there are the ongoing battles involving local fishermen angry at low prices for their catch and the trawlers that sometimes destroy their nets.
The natural resources themselves are both over-exploited and affected by many kinds of pollution.
The growth of ports also brings with it several kinds of pollution from the wharves, from ships, dredging operations and from contamination by urban sewage.
The main effect of such pollution, and silt deposition, is cloudiness of the water, which reduces production of phytoplankton. The ocean floor environment is also changed by sedimentary deposits and waste material. Human health is affected too. We have some foul-smelling beaches which threaten the health of local people because they spread intestinal diseases like cholera and hepatitis. Shipping movements and related activity are also sources of pollution. About a tonne of copper ends up in the sea every year as a result of big ships repainting their hulls.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Human activity is one source of the enormous amount of material that gets dumped in the sea. This includes metals (mercury and lead), phosphates, nitrates, organic material, hydrocarbons, viruses and microbes. These chemicals are very concentrated and pollute the marine environment affecting most seriously the coastal ecosystem, particularly estuaries and mangrove areas. Fish stocks are particularly exposed to them because 90% of fish live along the coast.
Therefore, the following major causes and instances of pollution should be monitored constantly:
If such pollution continues, the sea will eventually no longer be able to perform its many functions. Thus its protection is absolutely vital to our survival.
Protection should be based on sustainable development, which simply means that existing resources should be safeguarded for future generations. To do that, we need a global approach and a general view of the future.
A global approach to protect the marine environment means that choices for its protection should take into account the good and bad effects of such steps taken in other environmental sectors.
A general view of the future means that protect ive measures and marine environmental management programmes must take heed of general local environmental problems because the sea is an integrated global system. Thus we need marine environmental protection plans which are based on scientific data from specialized institutions such as the research centres in Cameroon and elsewhere.
The public must be increasingly informed and made aware of the short and long-term harm done by polluting the sea and should also be involved in decision-making along with the authorities.
Such an approach has already borne fruit: wherever marine environmental protection plans have been drawn up with the help of broad participation, they have been a success.
There are hardly any national environmental regulations specifically concerning the sea and coastal regions however. For the moment, their only protection under the law lies in the international treaties which Cameroon has signed.
These steps could remedy the situation:
