Sustainable Development and ICZM Frameworks For Coastal Development and Management
The development of programmes addressing sustainable use of coastal and marine areas and their resources requires consideration for governance, ecological and socioeconomic dimensions, and the inseparable interactions between them. Integrated Coastal Zone Management forms an integral prerequisite for sustianble development in coastal areas, and provides an adaptive framework to address the constant change present in both communities and the natural environment. In this vein, PERSGA simultaneously bases its conservation projects on science-based principles as well as on fulfilling the needs of coastal communities and contributing to the global sustainable development agenda. In response to the later, PERSGA particularly emphasises the priorities set out by the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD).
The action-orientated World Summit on Sustainable Development (for which PERSGA has gained observation status) identified key targets that, if pursued, will help create a mutually-beneficial global scenario where the environment and the communities that depend on it can both prosper. Through its socio-economic and ICZM programmes, PERSGA pursues such WSSD goals as restoring depleted fish stocks and curbing destructive fishing patterns, reducing the global loss of biodiversity, and developing sustainable consumption and production patterns based on science-based and life-cycle approaches.
The PERSGA Operational Framework (2006-2010) calls for mainstreaming the environment into major socio economic sectors. Its overall approach will strengthen the capacities of PERSGA countries to deal with the most urgent issues related to Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), including strengthening the capacity for the development of economic instruments and financial mechanisms to be applied in ICZM. The analytical economic valuation instrument will serve as an indicator for assessing environmental sustainability, as called for in target 1 of the Millennium Development Goal #7, which call for integrating environment into policies, programs and projects.
Rationale |
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“To assist the Governments of the Region in the development of appropriate policies and strategies for conservation of the marine environment of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, the Action Plan should aim to carry out….Assessment of present and future development activities and their major environmental impact in order to evaluate the degree of their influence on the environment and to find appropriate measures to either eliminate or reduce any damaging effects which they may have…” (Action Plan, 1982) |
Activities:
PERSGA’s priority activities relating to sustainable development and the integration of social, economic and environmental considerations into programme development and management include: