Implementation | PANORAMA

Capacity Building

Regional and national training tailored to needs and priorities builds national and local authorities’ capacity for integrating issues and approaches into their national planning processes. Use and provide training manuals and materials developed by international and national experts for teaching, interaction, group exercises, discussions and field trips. Ensure compliance with regional and national resource documents on coastal spatial planning.

Conditions for adoption elsewhere:

National adaptation of capacity building and field application activities of each country

A series of national consultations and gap analyses with each participating countries proofed valuable to identify priorities for capacity building in integrating new management concepts into spatial planning. They also helped to establish a menu of possible capacity building and field application activities including a recommended outline for the workshops and training courses. Compliance of training course curriculum and syllabus with the regional and national resource documents on coastal spatial planning is crucial to provide country-tailored capacity building and field application activities and to meet the country’s priorities.

Presentation / Adler, E. 2012 / Coastal spatial planning in the East Asian Seas…

Presentation / Molina, R.F. 2014 / Coastal and marine spatial planning in the E…

National Resource Document

National resource documents help local planners, researchers, students, and national authorities with information on coastal spatial planning in the country. In local language it provides material on legal, administrative and institutional aspects, references to case studies, projects having applied coastal spatial planning, and examples of integrating disaster risk reduction, climate change, ecosystem-based management, etc. into national settings.

Conditions for adoption elsewhere:

Commitment and support from national authorities and other stakeholders
Dialogue, participation and integration of all stakeholders’ needs

The participatory integration of all stakeholders is crucial to developing tailor-made national resource documents that efficiently correspond to capacities, priorities and needs.

Implementation

National

General information on the project

Construction of Integrated mangrove fish ponds

Pond Construction (© MSSRF)

In the identified saline affected area, fish ponds where constructed with an innovative approach. Normally, fish ponds will have only four earthern bunds to hold water. In this model, apart from these four outer bunds, inner bunds are also created and the ponds look like a mitochandria. The inner bunds are created to provide more space for mangrove plantation. The water spread area is used for fish culture. Thus, in this system, nearly 60% to 70% is given for fish culture and nearly 40% is given for mangrove plantation. To create inner bunds a lot soil was dug from the pond and this makes the pond floor lower than the tidal level. As a result, tidal water enters the sysem during the high tide and drains out during the low tide by gravitation. Any amount of water can be kept in the system by placing tidal water inlet and outlet at appropirate hight. Due to regular tidal flushing, this systems requires no energy for pumping water in and out of the pond. Due to regular flushing by tides, no chemical treatement is necessary to maintain water quality. Since tidal water brings a lot of food, there is only a minium requirement for artificial feed. Thus, this system of fish farming is environment friendly.

Successful construction and implementation depends on:

Acceptance of communities for brackish-water adapted fish species for cultivation as traditionally bred and conceivably preferred species are no longer economically viable
Engagement and participation of village people to construct infrastructure and to plant mangrove seedlings
Training in aquaculture for fish farmers
Technical and capacity development support
Village mangrove nursery

The selection of families done by the community to pilot the cultivation of brackish-water adapted fish species proofed successful as they established a model that will be replicated by other families in the community, and elsewhere.

The area selected for fish ponds and bunds should be carefully designed as to designate the major part (60-70% of the area selected) for fish, crab or shrimp farming without jeopardizing an effective regulation of the water spread by bunds (covering 30-40% of the area selected).

Fish ponds that are subject to tidal flow need to be protected against cyclones, storm surges and particularly sea water inundations that are likely to increase due to climate change induced sea level raise.

The combined systems of mangroves and halophytes proofed successful. The use of tidal flow makes redundant chemical additives and feed, thus reducing operational costs substantially.

Implementation

Local

Village Level Institutions

Training at Rajiv Gandhi Center for aquaculture (© MSSRF)

Gender and socially balanced village management committees are established in the target community which are governed by agreed rules. They develop regulations and micro plans for all activities and are responsible for their implementation. They try to consider the concerns and priorities of different stakeholders. Training allows them to also take into consideration new climate change findings.

Conditions for adoption elsewhere:

No existing conflicts between hamlets
Detailed knowledge on the socio-economic composition of the community including scheduled caste and tribes
Resources to provide the necessary training of community members

Approaches taken to not only engage villagers but also to jointly establish village management committees substantially contributed to build trust, confidence and partnership between the community and the implementing organisation. The village management committee is a useful vehicle to share experiences and to spread good practices within and external to the community. It also acts as a catalyst for village people’s commitment to engage in the implementation of the project and to take responsibility for its success. Its gendered composition ensures that men and women participate in discussions and decision making. The training provided for the community and the village committee developed capacity to better understand how to adapt to deteriorating natural conditions, and to prepare for climate change consequences. The village committee acquired competence to act as advocates in other communities.

Regional Assessment Report

Summarise national assessments in a standardised format to provide the basis and a resource book for ecosystem-based and sustainable integrated coastal zone management framework. Recapitulate valuable information for the effective management of coastal erosion region-wide to improve coastal resilience and consequently reducing impacts from sea level rise on ecosystems, economy, safety, health, quality of life and livelihoods of people.

Conditions for adoption elsewhere: • Information on policies, legal and institutional mechanisms, • Knowledge on past, current and planned interventions and development support, • Gaps and needs in policies, capacities, institutional arrangement and regulatory frameworks, • Identification, prioritisation and budgeting of activities, • Design and planning of specific, needs-based pilot interventions suitable for future replication or scaling up.

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Implementation

Subnational

National

National Consultation Meeting

National consultation meeting in Malaysia.

Lim Chow Hock

Bring together all relevant national authorities and stakeholders in a meeting organized by the national institution responsible for coastal management to exchange any relevant information on coastal erosion, and to enhance awareness of national and local authorities on coastal erosion issues and needs. Present all findings and recommendations, particularly pilot interventions to be developed and implemented by each country for joined agreement.

Conditions for adoption elsewhere: • Awareness of the problem. • Commitment and support of national governments and authorities for defining and applying the solution for effective coastal management.

The commitment and support of national governments and authorities for implementing all necessary steps of the solution for effective and sustainable coastal erosion management is a key factor to success. The establishment of National Project Focal Points (NPFPs) partners in each of the participating countries facilitates networking between the project and all other stakeholders at local, national and regional levels. National consultations with national authorities and stakeholders is paramount to establish a transparent dialogue and cooperation between all partners concerned, to ensure that essential information and know-how on the problems to be solved is shared. National consultation meetings proofed crucial to ensure joint discussions and agreement of all stakeholders. They encourage cross-learning and team building, as they also enhance cooperation, coordination and dialogue between and among stakeholders.

Implementation

National

Climate adaptive Livelihood Options

Farmer Gurupada Bera.

Bimal K. Chand

The introduction of salt-tolerant paddy and fish varieties provides new livelihood options. It is accompanied capacity building of farmers through training, visits of experts, exchange of experiences between community members. Cultivation progress and harvest of salt-tolerant species is continuously monitored.

• Physical security is equally important as livelihood security. • Households have control over critical livelihood resources. • Women and marginalised groups have equal rights and access to critical livelihood resources, information, skills and services. • Men and women work together to address the challenges. • Participatory monitoring and evaluation for local government and community ownership.

Implementation

Local

Climate Adaptation Centre

This centre provides broad information on climate change adaptation and serves as nodal point for disaster response teams. Data and experiences that are collected here are made accessible to all community members, task force teams and other agencies.

• Support and engagement from the community for long-term sustainability. • Women and other marginalized groups have equal access to information, skills and services.

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Implementation

Local

Disaster Preparedness Training

Mousuni Island in the Sundarbarns.

Anna Kalisch, GIZ

Capacity building of community members and the formation of disaster response teams enables people to better cope with disasters. The disaster response teams consist of young local volunteers who are trained through community-based disaster preparedness trainings (CBDP) and well equipped to act on relief and rescue operations before, during and after an emergency.

• Support from government for long-term sustainability. • Support for developing, implementing and follow-up of capacity building. • Access to information for communities and task force teams.

Farmer-to-farmer interactions significantly influence commitment and participation. This is a result of interactions made possible through the visit of experienced farmers from the eastern side of the Sundarbans with the target community on Mousuni Island on traditional salt tolerant paddy cultivation.

Implementation

Local

Factsheet - Introducing salt-tolerant species and preparing for disasters

Multi-Stakeholder Partnership for eco-friendly Diving

Build public and private partnerships and capacity of resource managers using a multi-disciplinary approach; e.g. training workshops, multi-stakeholder dialogue, in-country volunteers to support the national project team, underwater and beach clean-up events. Institutionalisation of the Green Fins approach within national regulatory frameworks and processes governing tourism industries ensures long-term commitment and sustainability.

• Political will and commitment in each country is a necessary prerequisite to ensure sustainability. • Financial and professional support to start and maintain the multi-stakeholder process and capacity building activities.

The transparent, neutral and open approach has proven successful to improve or build relationships between public and private partners. Education and awareness of relevant stakeholders and communities are valuable resources to this process. To render capacity building effective for project implementation on both national and local levels, a clear focus of local and national management teams is paramount. While local management teams should focus on grassroots execution, national management teams should focus on leveraging national support and legal frameworks to support long term implementation. The cooperation between Reef-World and UNEP supported the promotion and replication of Green Fins successes within the international conservation sector. Reef-World have supported the inception, implementation and expansion of Green Fins in all of the 6 currently active countries and so enabling effective communication of lessons learned and best practice.

Implementation

Monitoring

National

Paper / The Green Fins Approach for Monitoring and Promoting environmentally su…

Green Fins - Volunteers

Green Fins - News

Green Fins - Top Members

Green Fins - Country Profiles