Ecologically and socio -economically sound coastal...

ECOSYSTEMS AND LIVELIHOODS GROUP, ASIA

Ecologically and socio-economically sound coastal ecosystem rehabilitation and conservation in Thailand & Sri Lanka

‘The BMZ Project’


Why ‘The BMZ Project’

Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development or

Bundesministerium für wirtschaftliche Zusammenarbeit und Entwicklung (BMZ)


Background:

Project duration: Jan 1 2007- Dec 31 2009Countries & Sites: • Phang Nga & Ranong, Thailand• Puttalam Lagoon, Sri Lanka


Phang Nga & Ranong Provinces Thailand


Puttalam Lagoon, Sri Lanka


Long-term project goal

To conserve and restore degraded and threatened coastal ecosystems as key assets which support human well being and security


Issues & Threats to Coastal & Marine Ecosystems in the two sites

Habitat loss & conversion

• coastal development

• conversion to aquaculture ponds, salt pans

• coastal deforestation

• reclamation• mining

Habitat Degradation

• eutrophication • pollution • alien species invasion• erosion & siltation• destructive fishing

practices• salinization (estuaries

& lagoons)

Overexploitation

• unsustainable levels of fishing pressure

• incidental take or by-catch

• Cutting of mangrove


Issues & Threats to Coastal & Marine Ecosystems in the two sites

Institutional, Policy & Legal

• Lack of integrated approach to development

• Lack of stakeholder participation in management decision making

• Weak enforcement of existing regulations

Socio economic

• Access to social services, land tenure, livelihood opportunities, political influence


Stage 1 Inception

Establish project management & field staff

Selection of Coastal Stretch in two countries

Stage 4Adoption & Implementation

Investment plans (contracts)Ecosystem conservation plansDevelop sustainable financing

& equity in benefit sharing strategy

Stage 5Monitoring & EvaluationAdaptive Management

Stage 2Integrated assessment

GIS mappingPilot site/

management site selectionStakeholder & Institutional mapping

Stage 3 Planning & appraisal of interventionsInvestment Options/ Investment plans

Ecosystem Conservation Plans

BMZ Project Activities


Immediate results

• Assessment & Mapping: Ecological and socio-economic status, threats, vulnerability and ecosystem management needs

• At least a third of the land area of at least two priority and critically degraded or endangered ecosystems rehabilitated and/or conserved

• The participation of communities in ecosystem restoration activities is enhanced, striving for at least 50% women’s participation

• Multi-stakeholder partnership agreements for coastal ecosystem management established and operational

• Sustainable financing and local benefit-sharing mechanisms identified to meet at least 25% of the direct and/or indirect costs of coastal ecosystem conservation activities in at least two sites


The key elements:

Institutional capacity development

& partnership building

Ecosystem/ habitat conservation & restoration

Strengthening local Livelihoods


Integrated Management Strategy for Puttalam Lagoon: Experiences from

the BMZ project

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Threats & Issues Facing Puttalam Lagoon

Habitat & species destruction:• Loss of mangroves, sea grass beds, mudflats, marshland & other types of wetland• Erosion and sedimentation• Deterioration of the aesthetic quality of the environment

Land use conflicts:• Prawn farm development - Unauthorized & unregulated shrimp farm development• Salterns – Unauthorized salt pan and unregulated development

Pollution & waste management• effluent discharge from prawn farms• agricultural run off/ seepage into ground water sources

Over exploitation of natural resources:• Unregulated lagoon fishing including use of illegal fishing gears• Over exploitation & poor management of natural water sources

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Threats & Issues Facing Puttalam Lagoon

Poor management mechanisms and approaches:• Poor institutional management mechanisms and participation from

stakeholders• Lack of integrated approach to development• Weak enforcement of existing regulations

Social-economic & Socio-Political Issues:• Issues related to social positioning – access e.g. tenure, livelihood, social

services, education, political influence• Livelihood security issues

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The project’s approach or strategy

• Improving livelihood opportunities as a strategy for reducing dependency on lagoon resources – village level approach

• Education & awareness program• Pollution prevention – solid & sewerage waste management• Lagoon management as part of landscape management ‘ecosystem’

management – Biodiversity Conservation and Habitat Ecosystem Restoration;– Fisheries Management Plan – enforcement of fisheries existing

regulations by– Fisheries Management Authority – a multi- stakeholder

governance mechanisms

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Sustainable Livelihoods Development/ Social Empowerment• Fisher women training in sewing and provision of sewing

machines;• Assistance in poultry farming at homestead level;• Assistance to small-scale dry fish producers for improvement of

product quality; and• Assistance to fishermen to set up drip-irrigated home gardens. • Provision of facilities for crab fattening and establishment of a

demonstration seaweed culture plot at Tirikkapallama;

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Sustainable Fisheries Management

• Development of the fish Landing sites at Thirikkapallama and other areas

• Strengthening of the District Fisheries Office, Puttalam;• Capacity building of Fisheries CBOs of the Lagoon Area;• Strengthening existing 5 CBOs around the Lagoon;• Awareness creation on impact of destructive fishing activities and

provision to CBOs of legal fishing gear; and • Formation of a Puttalam Lagoon Management Authority.

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Sustainable livelihood & fisheries management

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Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystem Restoration• Biodiversity and land use assessment – Development of

GIS maps as key management-decision making tools & the Puttalam lagoon atlas.

• Mangrove habitat restoration project in abandoned prawn farms– supreme court decision

• Greening Human settlements:– Energy efficient stoves;– Greening home gardens;– Supply of water facilities;– School home Ecological Park

• Installation of display boards about protected forest areas

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Pollution prevention

• Establish a Solid Waste Management plant in the Kalpitiya Pradeshiya sabha.

• Village water & sanitation project

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Biodiversity Conservation and Ecosystem Restoration

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Communication, Education and Creation of Awareness.• Conducting environmental awareness programme around the

Lagoon area; and • Communication and general and creation of awareness about

ecosystem management in schools;

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What worked?

• Used a process-oriented approach that focused on addressing ground level needs and strengthening existing formal and informal governance process to achieve this.

• From village to lagoon level management• Took a list of seemingly unrelated activities and developed an

integrated, holistic approach (ICZM model).• Establishment of the DLCC.• This is just the first cycle of Integrated Coastal Zone Management;

ICZM is designed to be implemented in cycles, achieving a greater and greater sphere of influence as time moves on and capacity for strengthening governance.

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Stage 1 Inception

Establish project management & field staff

Selection of Coastal Stretch in two countries

Stage 4Adoption & Implementation

Investment plans (contracts)Ecosystem conservation plansDevelop sustainable financing

& equity in benefit sharing strategy

Stage 5Monitoring & EvaluationAdaptive Management

Stage 2Integrated assessment

GIS mappingPilot site/

management site selectionStakeholder & Institutional mapping

Stage 3 Planning & appraisal of interventionsInvestment Options/ Investment plans

Ecosystem Conservation Plans

BMZ Project Activities

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What were the key findings?• Habitat destruction is by far the greatest threat in the Lagoon area.

Vast areas of mangroves and salt marsh habitats continue to be cleared for haphazard development activities such as salterns, prawn farms, coconut cultivation and temporary settlements.

• There is a lack of coordination between relevant institutions – for example, under whose authority can mangroves be cleared?

• The productivity of the lagoon is being slowly choked by the development of shrimp farms, expansion of salterns, unsustainable fishing practices, extensive solid waste and chemical pollution and unplanned development, sedimentation.

• There is a large extent of abandoned prawn farms that can be restored to its natural habitat.

• There are areas with high resource use conflicts – these are also the areas of high biodiversity and must be protected

• Pristine and varying habitats – such as the mangrove of Mi-oya that provide vital services of preventing floods and serving to balance the salinity of the Lagoon – need immediate conservation action.

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Abandoned Shrimp farms

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Land use conflicts

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Important areas for conservation

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KEY MESSAGE 1.

Human well-being and economic development is dependent on the health, well-being &

productive potential of the environment of the ecosystem as a whole

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• There are 709,677 people who live in the Puttalam district and who need food, clean water, clothing, shelter, good health and other basic amenities.

• These are provided by the goods and services that ecosystems give us.

• Goods - such as food, fuel, medicines, clothes and shelter.• Services such as food production, balancing gases in the

atmosphere, flood prevention and climate regulation. • When we damage these ecosystems, we damage these services,

and this, in turn affects the well-being of humans. • For example, if fish production in the lagoon is affected through

over-fishing, pollution and sedimentation, then this will affect livelihoods.

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KEY MESSAGE 2

Fisheries management has been the central focus for Puttalam Lagoon management

but Fisheries cannot be managed in isolation and must be integrated into development planning at local/ district, provincial & national

policies.

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Key players in the Puttalam lagoon area (not in order)• Fisheries ministry• Land use planning • UDA• Forest dept• Wildlife dept• Coast conservation dept• Tourism authority• Road Development Authority• National water supply and drainage board• Water resources board• Northwestern Environmental Authority• District secretariat • Civil society• Private sector

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Mechanism to achieve key message 2

• Mobilization of the Fisheries Management Authority (Fisheries Management Act)

• Provincial government support• Recognising the value of the DLCC as ‘the essential glue’• Transforming the DLCC from a project management body to a

Lagoon Resource Management body.• Changing the DLCCs mandate from the BMZ project coordinating

committee mechanism to a functional governing body. • An advisory body for integrated and sustainable development of

Puttalam Lagoon and the surrounding area

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KEY MESSAGE 3

Unless people – all stakeholdershave a sense of ownership and a long-term stake and incentive to invest and protect the local resources for the future management will fail and the services/ productivity will be

lost forever

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IUCN is interested to support the next stage of this development

• DFID – governance project• MFF grants program• Private sector• Government

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From the project to a programme approach with local governance mechanism at the helm of decision making for

long-term gains

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Strategic Actions for Puttalam Lagoon

– Development of an Integrated land and sea use plan (zonation plan)– Habitat protection of seagrass, salt marsh, mud flats, mangroves, deltaic areas and most

importantly the two estuaries Kala Oya and Meo Oya and the catchment surrounding them –Declaration of protected areas for threatened habitats and species

– Habitat restoration and protection plan as part of overall management plan – Restoration of degraded mangrove & salt marsh

– Regulation and enforcement of aquaculture activities, agriculture activities, salt production activities – strict control and planned development

– Promotion of participatory management mechanisms to enhance active stakeholder engagement in resource lagoon management decisions - Mobilization of the Fisheries Management Authority to engage community groups directly in the planning and implementation of lagoon management strategies.

– Development of a Lagoon fisheries management plan – regulations and enforcement – strict management of fisheries activities and elimination of destructive fishing methods

– Designation of protected areas for biodiversity ‘hot spots’ including habitats important for endangered and threatened species

– Sustainable tourism development plan to maximize on natural assets in a non-destructive manner– Education and awareness programme / and soft advocacy plan– Opportunities to strengthen livelihoods – reduce dependence on lagoon resources– Waste management action plan – solid and liquid effluent waste management– Coastal erosion control– Promotion of nature based tourism as part of the tourism development considerations for Puttalam.

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Priority Strategies to be Taken Forward in the Post Project Period

– Integrated Resource Management Strategy for Puttlam –Lagoon and land surrounding Formalization and mobilization of the Fisheries

Management Area for Puttlam and through facilitation by the Puttlam Fisheries Office (Mr. Fernando’s FM strategy)

Mobilization of relevant governance structures in order to progress this – Fisheries Management Authority

Development of the integrated land and lagoon management plan to be adopted – identifying conservation and restoration of lagoon and estuarine flora such as mangroves, sea grass beds, and salt marshes and special management areas for the two estuaries as a critical part of this.

DFID governance project and the specific role that it can play in this respect. Diana to add detail/ Diana and Thushara to add detail re sustainable financing and benefit sharing mechanism

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Priority Strategies to be Taken Forward in the Post Project Period

– Promotion of successful sustainable livelihoods projects that have been demonstrated under the project as part of an on going effort to reduce overall fishing pressure on the lagoon fisheries and particularly targeting ‘lean’ periods. Kapila with support. What are the sustainable financing mechanisms that we can encourage investment by –government, private sector, MFF grants etc.

– Building on the solid waste management initiative at Kalpitya – develop further a strategic waste management plan for the wider Puttlam area

– Water Conservation/ Management Strategy – The BMZ project has not been directly involved in this issue – but in terms of the sustainability of the life in the Puttalam area – it is a high priority to be addressed

– Promoting local eco-tourism opportunities as part of wider tourism development agenda for the Puttalam area

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