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Environment
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Environment
and development |
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A platform for
action for the sustainable management of mangroves in the Gulf of
Fonseca
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The
Gulf of Fonseca is a shared ecosystem with its perimeter in parts of El Salvador,
Honduras, and Nicaragua. Policy designed in each country to secure the sustainable
management of the ecosystem should take account of the interests of each of
these countries and the citizens that the governments of these countries represent.
The shared benefits from ecosystem maintenance and improvement also imply shared
costs from degradation. This is particularly important for the fish and shrimp
larvae secured by this shared ecosystem. A variety of mechanisms and accords exist that establish collaboration and cooperation between El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua over the management of key biological and ecological resources. The Alliance for Sustainable Development/ Alianza para el Desarrollo Sostenible (ALIDES) provides an example of one such mechanism. ALIDES came into being in 1994 and establishes a set of norms to promote sustainable development in Central America. Objective number two of the ALIDES declaration states that among the primary goals of the accord is:
"the sustainable and integral management of the territories in order to guarantee the conservation of biodiversity in the region for our benefit and the benefit of humanity"
(ALIDES 1997)
The Central American National Councils for Sustainable Development (Consejos Nacionales de Desarrollo Sostenible Centroamericanos), responsible for the local implementation of Agenda 21, provide another mechanism for collaboration that allows for the explicit incorporation of civil society. Similarly, the Regional Biodiversity Convention (Convenio Regional de Biodiversidad) and the Central American Council for Protected Areas (Consejo Centroamericano de Areas Protegidas (CCAP) offer examples of successful inter-country collaboration that has led to the creation of the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor. The Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (Corredor Biológico Mesoamericano) (CBM) enshrines participation and collaboration between signatories to ensure the consistent application of rules and regulations for an array of natural areas critical for the maintenance of biodiversity in the region: biological reserves, buffer zones, and multiple use areas. The CBM has received extensive support from the United Nations and other bilateral and multilateral agencies such as the Global Environment Fund (GEF) and the World Conservation Union (IUCN), and could provide a useful umbrella organization with the necessary funds to establish collaboration for the sustainable management of the mangroves in the Gulf of Fonseca and elsewhere in the region.
» Constitute a regional policy forum on sustainable mangrove management. The mangrove ecosystem in the Gulf of Fonseca is a shared ecosystem. The effective management of this ecosystem requires the revision and harmonization of the normative and regulatory framework of each of the countries that share the coastal resources in the region. A regional forum should be constituted with the purpose of developing and implementing coordinated regulations to ensure the sustainable use and management of these coastal resources. This forum could be located under the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor initiative that would have as its primary goal the coordinated application of mangrove management policy. The multi-sectoral sustainability commissions should elect delegates to the regional forum to ensure that all interests within each country are fairly represented at the regional level.
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