Integration of coastal and marine areas into sustainable development strategies: A case study of Africa
Abstract
The coastal and marine environments of the African region are uniquely situated to support a variety of
activities and to serve diverse human needs for food, transport, and recreation. The pressures from
growing populations in coastal zones of Africa, expanding coastal tourism, intensified fisheries, and a
large number of other economic activities pose an increasing threat, which jeopardize the quality of
these coastal and marine environments. Large-scale destruction of some of Africa's most valuable
resources, the coastal forests and mangroves, the lagoons and coral reefs has caused serious
degradation of the environment, thus affecting the life of the coastal inhabitants and the economic
development of the countries of the African region. The Seychelles Island in the western Indian Ocean
for example, was famous for its luxuriant forests and an incredible abundance of wildlife. But many
reef have been mined for coral for the purpose of construction. Mangrove forests on the granitic
islands have been raised to the ground or drained and reclaimed. Severe erosion is as a result of this
destruction. Many African countries are confronted with serious manpower problems, which are
prov1ingto be great impediments in the economic development, especially of their coastal and marine
areas. In many cases, the most important cause underlying these problems is the lack of adequate
training facilities for the type of manpower required. The teaching of marine science and marine
techrOl09y in universities of the region is a recent development and in many of the universities, there
are is yet no comprehensive study programmes covering the whole spectrum of marine science and
technoloqy at the undergraduate or postgraduate level. The situation in regard to research in marine
science and technology is equally unsatisfactory. To implement sustainable development of coastal
and marine resources of the African region, there is an urgent need to: (1) build human resources by
undertaking short-term academic training to strengthen existing capabilities; (2) promote public
awareness by producing educational materials on the ecological and socio-economic contributions of
the marine resources and the consequences of unsustainable exploitation (3) organise policy
workshops, seminar and/or conferences involving relevant policy and law-makers to increase their
understanding of and commitment to the sustainable use of the resources in their coastal and marine
areas, and (4) implement integrated coastal zone management programmes by establishing case
studies in pilot sites in selected countries of the African region. The object of this paper is to review
background information on the present status and trends of coastal and ocean development in Africa,
and on the existing capabilities in the region to implement sustainable development strategies. It is
intended to layout the framework and strategy to be used in the design of an integrated management of
coastal and marine areas in the region.
URI
(3), pp http://www.academicjournals.org/jmahttp://erepository.uonbi.ac.ke:8080/xmlui/handle/123456789/31219
Citation
Journal of Oceanography and Marine Science Vol. 1(3), pp. 40-52, October, 2010Publisher
Departmentof Earth Sciences, Marine Geology and Oceanography Unit, University of Nairobi,