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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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Regional Workshop for the Asia-Pacific University Twinning Network ‘Exploring Wise Practice Agreements’
Executive
Summary
Ongoing
activities in the 18 field project sites supported by
the Environment and Development in Coastal Regions and
Small Islands (CSI) platform of the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and intense
discussions among coastal management practitioners have led to the emergence of
the concept of a multi-stakeholder agreement as a tool to address conflicts
among local stakeholders. Advancing this concept was the goal of the first
regional workshop of the Asia Pacific University Twinning (UNITWIN) Network held
in Khuraburi, Thailand from 25-28 November 2002, with participants
from France, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, India, Indonesia,
Samoa and Thailand.
A
multi-stakeholder agreement (or wise practice agreement as they were also termed
during the discussions) may be defined as a voluntary accord among multiple
users of a tangible or intangible resource characterised by mutual recognition
of rights to the resource. Such
agreements have the potential to enhance an integrated approach to coastal
management by bringing together all stakeholders, including the various levels
of government, within a framework of voluntary compliance.
The workshop examined the question of how locally adapted
multi-stakeholder agreements might best be applied to the six CSI Asia-Pacific
field projects represented.
Common
to each of the field projects is a solid foundation of research on the core issues and challenges. A thorough analysis
of stakeholders, socio-cultural context and imminent threats and conflicts are
essential steps in the process, which ideally leads to an appropriate forum for
multi-stakeholder communication and decision-making. In some instances, such as
the Samoa field project, existing local
mechanisms based on long-standing cultural tradition provide a firm foundation.
However, projects involving much larger areas or numbers of people such as
the ship-breaking yard in India or Jakarta
Bay in Indonesia demonstrated that considerable time is required to fully
involve all stakeholders in a representative manner. Indeed the scale and
complexity of a project influence how specific issues can be engaged. The visit
to the field project site at Ko Surin,
Thailand reinforced the fact that negotiations between stakeholders are often
delicate and convergence is a long term process. The presentation on Palawan
in the Philippines revealed that a multi-stakeholder agreement must be
sensitive and responsive to changes over time. The project
activities in Port Moresby further emphasized that open communication
channels and effective dialogue are critical for such agreements to be
successful.
The present report may be regarded as ‘work in progress’ wherein suggestions for how to develop a multi-stakeholder agreement were advanced, and ways were discussed for how the UNITWIN network could assist in the process and the transfer of the lessons learned both within and beyond the Asia-Pacific region.
