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EmailVideo Caption Meg Caldwell discusses the need for Ecosystem Based Management for Pacific Islands
Pacific Island nations are facing critical environmental issues – pollution, habitat destruction, declining fisheries and climate change – which threaten their coastal ecosystems and impact on food security and well being.
Ecosystem-based management (EBM) offers an innovative approach to managing coastal ecosystems as it designs solutions to ecological issues with regard to social, economic and political drivers. It involves a whole-of-government, rather than a sectoral, approach and incorporates traditional management structures and practices.
“The EBM approach involves holistic thinking about coastlines and people,” said Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, Director of the University of Queensland’s Global Change Institute.
“It seeks solutions in which the human and natural components of the environment are part of one sustainable system.”
In January 2010, two parallel events were held in Rarotonga, Cook Islands, focussed on building the confidence of natural resource managers in implementing an EBM approach in the Pacific – a forum for senior managers and a practical training course for middle and senior managers.
EBM planning and policy forum
Over three days, senior natural resource managers from several Pacific Island nations and territories - including American Samoa, the Cook Islands, Fiji, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tahiti, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, and Yap - shared their experiences in environmental management and fisheries, and considered the application of the EBM approach in addressing critical issues.
“Forum participants developed a very important statement which identified key environmental issues in the Pacific and outlined guiding principles for EBM,” said Professor Hoegh-Guldberg who facilitated the forum.
The group will seek wider endorsement of the EBM concept over coming months, which will encourage this approach to implementation across the Pacific.
Mr. Peter James, acting head of the Development Division in Vanuatu’s Fisheries Department, participated in the forum.
“The key lesson I have learned is that in Vanuatu, we need to integrate the stakeholders better,” said Mr James.
“This includes the different sectors of environment, agriculture, forestry, public works, and boats and harbours which all have a role to play in managing natural resources. We also need to consider the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) and NGOs as they are involved as well.”
“I see the benefits of the EBM approach as faster resource recovery, and therefore improved livelihoods and increased food security for the people of Vanuatu.”
Professional development for implementation
The goal of the two-week course was to facilitate on-ground management of coastal and marine resources using the EBM approach. Twenty-six participants from 10 Pacific Island countries learned about various approaches, tools and techniques in planning and implementing an EBM approach in the management and use of their natural resources.
The course covered both the theoretical and practical aspects of EBM, including consideration of case studies - in particular, what has been done to improve the health of the Cook Islands’ Takitumu Lagoon.
The hands-on approach equipped participants with the confidence, knowledge and tools to initiate and apply effective EBM on their own islands.
“Through the course, participants were able to integrate their prior learning about different sectors, as well as bring theory into practice,” said course coordinator Geoff Dews from the University of Queensland.
There is still a way to go for Pacific Island countries to gain the full benefits the EBM approach offers, according to Dews.
“There was recognition that good management tools such as regulation and legislation already exist, but they are not being fully utilised and enforcement is an issue.
“It was also clear that there will be some local barriers to implementation of the EBM approach, primarily institutional arrangements. For example, different government departments may not be used to working with one another or may not have the resources to do so.
“However, participants were very enthusiastic about the application of EBM to address the issues they face every day. They were also appreciative of the professional development opportunity as it recognised their own experience and skills.”
During the course, participants were encouraged to develop EBM frameworks for projects they were already working on, ready for immediate use in their home countries. These local projects addressed the grass roots issues of coastal water quality, environmental impact, management of land use and development, and local community engagement in EBM.
“The projects demonstrated that the EBM principles were understood and can be applied to address on-ground issues,” said Geoff Dews.
Another key benefit of the EBM course was the joint learning opportunities and the networks created across the Pacific.
“One of the challenges Pacific Island resource managers face is working individually,” said course participant Saras Sharma, a fisheries research officer with Fiji’s Department of Fisheries.
“By working together, we can learn what others have done - we don’t have to all make the same mistakes.”
Capacity building
Both the course and the forum made a significant contribution to capacity building in environmental management in the Pacific, according to Professor Meg Caldwell, Executive Director of the Center for Ocean Solutions (COS) who participated in both events.
“A recent study by COS identified a real lack of capacity across the Pacific to deal with the primary challenges that they are facing for coastal and marine systems.”
“Both events gave participants the opportunity to have some intimate discussion about how to actually implement the EBM approach in coastal environments.“
The forum was led by the Global Change Institute at the University of Queensland, the Center for Ocean Solutions, and ANCORS. The course was supported by the Coral Reef Targeted Research and Capacity Building for Management (CRTR) Program, The University of Queensland, the Cook Islands Marine Resources Institutional Strengthening Project (CIMRIS), and the United Nations Environment Program, with ANCORS as a collaborator.
Principles of ecosystem-based management
At the Planning and Policy for Ecosystem-Based Management Forum held in January 2010, senior natural resource managers from seven Pacific Island countries and territories developed the following guiding principles for EBM:
- Embrace common policy
- Preserve options for the future
- Anticipate and prevent damage to the ecosystem and community
- Create incentives for stewardship and collaboration
- Make explicit tradeoffs based on best available socioeconomic and biophysical information
- Make decisions under uncertainty
- Integrate across sectors (e.g. fishing, mining, agriculture, public health, tourism, water quality)
- Apply lessons learned from management successes and failures, and from monitoring ecosystems
- Account for cumulative impacts within and across sectors
- Have sustained funding and support for implementation
- Include capacity to meet emerging issues and challenges.
The group will seek wider endorsement of the EBM concept over coming months which will encourage this approach to implementation across the Pacific.
Environmental issues for Pacific Island countries
At the Planning and Policy for Ecosystem-Based Management Forum held in January 2010, senior natural resource managers from eight Pacific Island countries identified the following critical environmental issues:
- sea level rise and coastal engineering
- availability of resources and data
- population and socioeconomic change
- greenhouse gases and climate change
- land-based pollution
- livelihood of people – food and land security
- invasive species
- sustaining fish stocks
- outdated and conflicting policies and regulations
- enforcement.
