Global | PANORAMA

West and Central Africa

Addressing resource degradation to enhance climate change resilience

Radhika

Murti

Design of participatory steps for village engagement

Capacity building of local stakeholders

Documenting strategies and success evaluation

Creation of awareness raising and policy influencing tools

Facilitation of livelihood and economic diversification

Collaborative data and information gathering

Stakeholders gathering information on the use of marine ecosystems

Collaborative data and information gathering was used to: identify and acquire secondary information; document local knowledge of resources and space-use; develop an appropriate habitat classification scheme; conduct marine habitat mapping field surveys; validate information produced; and ascertain the technological capacity and information preferences of stakeholders. Furthermore, participatory research demonstrates the relevance of information provided by stakeholders, strengthens capacity and provides ownership of the information produced.

The preliminary appraisal was essential to understand stakeholders’ capacity for participation and develop appropriate methods.
Periodic validation meetings allowed for the production of accurate information based on local knowledge. This also demonstrated to stakeholders the legitimacy of their knowledge thereby promoting ownership of the information.
Public access to information served to empower stakeholders, build capacity and cultivated a cross-scale alliance.

PGIS resulted in the production of comprehensive and accessible information tailored to the needs of the Grenada Bank stakeholders. Collaborative data and information gathering served to: identify existing information; build stakeholder capacity in the understanding of the marine environment and related human uses; provide credibility to local knowledge; increase confidence and ownership in the information produced; and underscore the role stakeholders can and should play in marine governance. Communication and information exchange are important aspects of this building block and should not be underestimated. Providing access to all data, maps, and information via a public access website supported transparency and inclusiveness and served to strengthen the capacity and ownership of information by stakeholders.

Planning phase

Inception phase

Implementation

Documentation and dissemination of results

Baldwin, K and H.A. Oxenford. 2014. A participatory approach to marine habitat …

Caribbean

Grenadines Marine Resource Space-use Information System (MarSIS)

Kimberly

Baldwin

Communication tools for stakeholder engagement

Collaborative data and information gathering

Participatory GIS applications

Marine Spatial Planning

Caribbean

South America

Assessing and managing scenery of the littoral zone

Nelson

Rangel-Buitrago

Scenic Evaluation Tool Development

Coastal scenery value determination

Coastal Scenery Management Plan

Continuous monitoring

Environmental Assessment of Dive Centres

This is a practical and effective tool for assisting dive centres in implementing the environmental standards. The Green Environmental Assessment Rating System (GEARS) is used to assess the day-to-day practices of dive/snorkel centres against set criteria to measure their adherence to each Code of Conduct. Scores identify nature and urgency for improvements. Certification and free promotion on the Green Fins webpage act as incentives for eco-friendly dive tourism.

• Dive and/or snorkel centres willing to participate in the rating system • Qualified Green Fins Assessors (competent divers) and/or Coordinators who have access to the location and resources to support annual assessments and training for the dive/snorkel centres as required. Training and qualifications are overseen by Reef-World. These individuals cannot be involved directly with a specific dive centre, but may be freelance dive professionals, public employees, NGO staff or community members.

Certified membership of participating dive centres is granted after the first assessment, a joint decision on three realistic actions to implement, and the possibility to become one of the 10 top members are good incentives to improve environmental awareness and eco-friendly dive operations. If no improvement is recorded after two yearly assessments, free membership can be suspended or withdrawn from a dive centre – a valuable quality control tool. The annual Green Fins training and associated environmental consultation on how to implement the three feedback goals over the next year is a success factor. This assessment can balance lack of legal frameworks governing tourism industry practices and deficiencies in monitoring and enforcement capacities of local governments. The Green Fins systems encourage local dive and snorkel centres to unite and work together on local environmental issues and develop strategic outreach campaigns to address these issues.

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

How to join Green Fins ?

Brochure / Green Fins

Code of Conduct

The Green Fins Code of Conduct (CoC) outlines 15 actions or environmental activities that target environmental threats caused by the dive industry both on land and under water to help dive centres and individual divers to reduce their impact on reefs. The approach provides a practical system to encourage dive centres to implement a set of guidelines providing clear industry standards for environmentally responsible practices, and to promote marine environmental awareness.

• An active dive and/or snorkel industry with dives being conducted on coral reefs and/or associated ecosystems. • Dive and/or snorkel centres with a certain awareness on environmental issues related to the industry and a willingness to participate and address environmental threats caused by the industry.

The Code of Conduct covers 15 fairly broad environmental practices within the diving industry. However, through application the comprehensive criteria allow the Green Fins approach to include both common challenges as well as adapting to include locally specific challenges. Solutions to common challenges such as diver behaviour management can transferred between dive destinations. Through its multi-stakeholder approach, solutions to locally specific threats can be addressed by the Green Fins network on a local level. For example, a small recyclable collection company in the Maldives was recently identified by the Green Fins network and is now being promoted to dive centres nationally.

Planning phase

Inception phase

Global

Green Fins - Code of Conduct

Green Fins - Different Downloads

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