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Empowering developing countries to sustainably use their coastal resources: self-driven capacity-development

The Challenge: to rapidly build capacity to arrest degradation of coastal resources

Marine resources are vital to coastal communities in the developing world, especially for the rural poor. There is mounting evidence however that with increasing demographic pressure and industrial development, the present pattern of usage of coastal resources is not only irrevocably degrading these resources, but will adversely impact the future livelihood of its coastal inhabitants. The ocean is a global common, where local and global issues are inherently interconnected. Conservation and sustainable use of marine resources is therefore an issue not only for the developing world, but for all other nations as well.

In regions that experience severe deprivation, poverty, food shortages and other forms of hardship, support has been directed historically at their direct alleviation. However, as long as science leaders of developing countries/regions do not have the capacities of their own to lead and manage, they will always remain trapped in a cycle of poor governance, wasted resources and dependence on external agencies. IOC is therefore committed to enhancing the Capacity of its Member States to plan and manage their coastal zones so that coastal communities can enjoy safe lives and sustainable livelihoods from healthy ocean and coasts.

The risks of not immediately building relevant capacity will be increasing negative impacts from ocean hazards, irreversible damage to ocean resources, and loss of sources of wealth of future generations. The rate of degradation and loss of life-sustaining ocean resources is accelerating, and one of the great challenges of this century is to develop capacity rapidly enough to protect and preserve these resources. At this crucial time the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission [IOC] is implementing a "self-driven" Capacity-Building approach to reduce the continuous dependence on aid by empowering countries to address their own problems through science-based strategies.

Science-based strategies can deliver immediate benefits in terms of livelihoods but the key to their successful development resides in the support they receive locally. Since developing states have many immediate problems to address, support for marine sciences research and monitoring remains a low priority. IOC is therefore raising awareness of decision-makers that marine sciences are a cost-effective investment worthy of local support. Simultaneously IOC is also focussing its efforts to strengthen institutional capacities by transferring leadership, proposal-writing and team-building skills that will allow regional and national institutes to effectively network in addressing local problems without external aid. Such efforts could also spur participation in addressing the critical global marine challenges of the 21st century.


The IOC Self-driven Capacity Development Strategy

IOC's strategy for sustainably developing capacity to understand and manage healthy ocean and coasts for safe and sustainable livelihoods of its communities, is in three phases:
1. strengthening scientific, legal and institutional structures;
2. raising awareness of decision makers and communities; and
3. enrolling media & community-based organisations to play their role in good governance.


Phase 1. Strengthening scientific, legal and institutional structures

IOC Assembly strategic response: Self-driven Capacity-building

Based on an analysis of Capacity-building best practices, and considering its interventions over 40 years, the IOC Assembly approved a strategy that harnesses the self-drive of heads of institutes to take the lead in building local capacity and achieving sustainability. The strategy proposes to strengthen leadership skills of directors, promote their proposal-writing skills, and build teams of their scientists to work in funded projects. Thus directors will be:

• empowered to use their access to policy-makers to influence coastal zone policies with science-based strategies [see Phase 2 for details]. They will also be given the skills to lead with purpose and commitment to create enabling environments for their scientists to deliver good science/scientific solutions;
• supported with skills to identify projects and write proposals that address national and regional challenges in ways that have sustainable impact, thus attracting competitive funding and giving institutes greater independence;
• imparted the skills to forge vibrant teams of capable scientists who can deliver science that will be understood and used by their policy-makers, local communities and industries.


Implementation Program: Professional workshops in Leadership, fund-raising & teams

1. The first workshop will be on Leadership for directors, facilitated by a human resources expert who will transfer essential skills on change management, leadership and identification of core problems and their causes. The workshop environment will encourage the formation of networks of high level science managers. Directors will be demonstrated the use of coastal models as important and powerful tools in coastal zone planning.
2. The second workshop will take place after directors have identified the region's core capacity-building needs and drafted a suitable action plan. The workshop will be facilitated by an expert who will transfer skills in converting action plans into 'business-like' proposals that target high quality, socially-relevant products responding to clear performance indicators. IOC capacity-building programs, appropriate UNESCO educational schemes and the networks and experiences of IOC/UNESCO partners, will be available to proponents to develop credible proposals that address substantive issues and merit funding
3. The third workshop on team-building will be held for scientists after funding has been secured. It will be facilitated by a human resources expert who will work with scientists from different institutes getting them to function as well-knit productive units delivering science of high standards and usable by decision-makers. The networks formed here will go a long way in reducing isolation in regions where the number of specialists in a particular discipline is low. It will create "critical mass" to allow stimulating peer to peer interaction.

As follow-up, one Leadership and one Team-building workshop each, will be conducted annually for 2 years, as human resources studies indicate that 3 years is a minimum period for such a process "to take". During the interim, the human resource consultant will maintain contact and learning through a series of tutorials conducted in a network environment. The first tutorials are already underway for Mozambique workshop participants.

The networks of heads of institutes and scientists will become regional resource pools from which decision-makers can obtain advice and advisories relevant to regional level problems.

The first leadership workshop for heads of institutes in the Western Indian Ocean region was conducted in Maputo, Mozambique, October and November 2005. A second leadership workshop for this region, together with a Marine Action Planning session, was conducted in Zanzibar 25-28 October 2006.

The first leadership workshop for the English-speaking caribbean region was held in Kingston, Jamaica, in September 2006.


Phase 2. Raising awareness of decision-makers and communities

IOC Assembly strategic response: Skills in modelling, remote sensing and GIS

Phase 1 is being implemented at regional scales. However even within a region, countries have different capabilities to conduct marine scientific research, and since the best partnerships occur amongst equals, the imbalances between countries need to be redressed. The IOC Assembly approved coastal numerical models, satellite remote sensing, and Geographical Information Systems as capacity-building tools. These elements, forming a Decision Support System [DSS], will be promoted in Phase 2 as a powerful means of raising awareness and support for marine science amongst decision-makers and communities. Advantages are that:

• heads of institutes can use these to deliver visible local benefits and hence make their case for local support of marine science and operational systems. Applications from these tools, especially from GIS, are already demanded by governments of their scientists, so that training in these areas will be immediately applicable to issues of local concern.
• existing in-situ data, remote sensing data and operational products from the Global Ocean Observing Systems will be used when possible in running coastal models for a selected section of a country's coastline, allowing significant reduction in costs compared to the traditional methods of collecting and obtaining data.
• avenues for scientific training, research and operational activities will be opened up.

During Phase 1 heads of institutes would have been introduced to coastal models and techniques of presenting results in forms understandable by decision-makers. These skills will allow them to demonstrate the advantages of science for equitable, sustainable solutions in the coastal zone.

Modelling capabilities can be used for many problematic issues - Harmful Algal Blooms, pollution and tsunamis in for example SE Asia; storm surges, changes in fisheries resources distribution, pollution and erosion issues in for example Africa; pollution, erosion and marine safety issues in for example the Caribbean and Latin America; and monsoon prediction and storm surges in for example the Indian Ocean. IOC will partner with relevant UN organisations, reputed Community Based Organisations and not-for-profit industrial houses at this stage.


Implementation of Strategy: Professionally conducted workshops in elements of a DSS

Full implementation of Phase 2 can begin only after priority issues are identified by directors and decision-makers, and the major portion of the training costs therefore will be built into the proposals to international funding agencies [see Points 1 and 2 of Phase 1 above]. Because proposals to international funding take due time for consideration and approval, it will be necessary to start Phase 2 training schedules in order to maintain momentum of the process started in Phase 1. The Phase 2 set of workshops are detailed below.

1. The first workshop on a Geographical Information System will be held for engineers/ scientists nominated by their directors who would have earlier indicated the type of training required for their scientists. At this workshop, essential skills will be transferred on geo-databases that link position to a variety of information types, each of which can be layered and correlated to position. Additionally at this workshop, the importance of linking GIS to satellite data and coastal models as important planning tools will be promoted.
2. The second workshop on processing satellite data will take place immediately after the GIS workshop and will be attended by the same set of participants. This workshop will transfer skills in processing satellite data and use of remote sensing data products for a variety of purposes. The last part of this workshop will be attended jointly with participants from the third workshop on modelling, to ensure synergy of the practioners of these 3 technologies.
3. The third workshop on modelling will be held for engineers/scientists who will be working on specific coastal sites of interest both scientifically and to a variety of stakeholders. This workshop will transfer relevant skills to scientists on using models as tools in understanding coastal ocean processes, planning observational systems, and creating what-if scenarios for decision-makers. Participants will also attend the final part of the second workshop dealing with remotely sensed satellite data.


Phase 3. Enrolling communities at many levels for good governance

Phases 1 and 2 start a process that should ultimately result in good laws based on good science. In order to complete the process to good governance, it is important to also include civil society in the process, because there are many stake-holders in the coastal zone, often with contending needs. Experience has shown that involvement of communities and stakeholders in the choice of management solutions is essential if local support is required for implementation/enforcement of a policy. In Phase 3 of the implementation program, guidance will be provided to Member States on ways and means to support Capacity-building for scientific research and operational systems. IOC will work with several sections of society during this phase - decision makers, general public, scientists and students, forging new partnerships where necessary to include social sciences, management, and legal matters. The skills of the local media and community-based organisations will be sought in awareness raising and in monitoring the results of policy decisions.













 
 
 
 
 
 

Training and Education and Mutual Assistance in Marine Sciences (TEMA).
Contact: Sonia Guiraud, IOC of UNESCO, 1 rue Miollis, 75732 Paris Cedex 15, France
Email: s.guiraud@unesco.org
Last modified: 8 November 2006