Focus on harmony in managing our coastal zones

 Seychelles  Nation - 12.02.2009

People who work in managing Seychelles’ coastal areas are now learning about the so-called integrated approach, which harmonises demands such as tourism, housing and industry with protection of the natural environment.

A four-day workshop opened on Tuesday to explain the idea of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) and how it can be applied.

Forty-one organisations involved in the subject were invited to take part in the training course at Care House, including the Marine Parks Authority, the Ministry of Environment, Natural Resources and Transport and several from the private sector.

The workshop’s aim is to help those taking part to make the right decisions when faced with the issue of integrated coastal management and to make the best use of the tools available to them.

The workshop is being run by Recomap – the Regional Programme for the Sustainable Management of the Coastal Zones of the Indian Ocean Countries – whose ICZM officer Jude Bijoux said most of the delegates are members of the group helping to draw up the environment management plans for Seychelles.

The current plan, the third being carried out here, will come to an end shortly and the new one is about to be drafted.

This is in line with Recomap’s policy of including integrated coastal management in national action plans for its member countries.

“We hope that after the workshop those taking part can make recommendations based on an integrated approach to management, and not only on one sector,” said Mr Bijoux.

Leader of the workshop is Dr Rolph Payet, who has a great deal of experience of working in the ICZM field.

During the four days the delegates will take an in-depth look at the cases of Beau Vallon, the east coast and La Digue, where a variety of factors come into play including tourism, housing and industrial development, and marine parks. 

“They are all different situations, but they all contain important issues we believe the participants should deal with,” said Mr Bijoux.

Although the time is short for delegates to get to grips with the subject, the course will help them deal with the issues of ICZM in their jobs, he added.

“We do not expect people to leave the workshop with an in-depth knowledge of how ICZM works, but they will be able to understand what the broad issues are and how to use the tools they have at their disposal to deal with them,” said Mr Bijoux.

While the workshop is taking place here, similar courses are being held in the five other countries of the region involved in the Recomap project.