The COAST Project Working to Integrate Reef and Marine Recreation Management Principles in East Africa: Case Studies from Kenya Mozambique and Tanzania

Understanding the Promise of Tourism in Africa

Tourism in coastal areas is one of the largest and fastest growing sectors of the industry that holds a promise of contributing to the economic and social wellbeing of the destination countries. Yet, the local residents of most popular destinations are more likely to experience the uglier side of tourism trade than any real promise of tantalising riches. In essence, communities have to contend with negative impacts such as rising pollution and degradation of sensitive marine and coastal areas from poorly planned developments, competition for fresh water and over-exploitation of scarce resources to feed the tourism industry, rising real estate prices, displacement of local fishing and farming communities, and irreversible damage to local culture. The good news is that there is a growing recognition that not all forms of tourism are equal and that tourism can be managed to deliver both quality visitor experiences and benefits to local environment and biodiversity, economies and livelihoods rather than simply draw in large volumes of visitors.

The COAST Project Working to Maximize the Value of Marine Ecosystems

In recognition of these challenges, the COAST Project is working to apply, through a series of practical demonstration projects in different thematic areas, a number of Best Available Practices and/or Best Available Technologies (BAPs/BATs) within selected coastal tourism destinations in Sub Saharan Africa. These demonstration projects are all aimed to contribute to the reduction of negative environmental impacts resulting from land based, tourism sector actions and pollutants. To achieve this in the Reef and Marine Recreation Management Thematic Area, EcoAfrica are the UNIDO sub-contracted leader working across three countries (Kenya, Mozambique and Tanzania). The RMRM work focuses on reef surveys and GIS mapping of sensitive areas and damaged sites within the demonstration sites and includes management planning, awareness creation and capacity building on reef management and conservation to reduce pollution, loss of biodiversity and other negative impacts to the reef and marine areas.

All this is in recognition to the fact that sensitive marine and coastal ecosystems, specifically coral reefs, sea grasses and mangroves, are highly productive and provide significant economic goods and services. These include coastal storm protection, carbon sequestration, and feeding and breeding habitats for a great diversity of marine organisms including commercially important fish species. They also host a growing number of visitors and recreational activities with some of the main recreational attractions provided by marine ecosystems including glass-bottom-boat viewing, snorkelling, recreational and sport fishing and SCUBA diving. Assessments of the economic benefits generated from such activities are estimated at over $9 billion[1]globally. The question remains as to how much of this value translates into direct benefits to local communities, whose livelihood depends on these resources.

What does the Reef and Marine Recreation Management Thematic Area Seek to Achieve?

Within the broader COAST Project implementation framework, the objective of the Reef and Marine Thematic Area is to develop and test responsible management of reef and marine recreation through the promotion and testing of sustainable tourism Best Available Practices/Technologies (BAPs/BATs) at selected sites. This includes the documentation and dissemination of the results achieved.

This is done through:

1. Raising awareness on the conservation values and issues facing the sustainable management of East African marine and reef assets among all users groups;
2. Working with local stakeholders to design and develop sustainable marine recreation and conservation practices and technologies;
3. Supporting capacity building and skills enhancement relating to marine recreation management in the priority areas;
4. Studying and testing on a micro scale, the possibilities of livelihood diversification for local coastal residents through participatory tourism planning; and
5. Basing all of the above micro scale interventions on the best available scientific knowledge of the natural resource asset base.

The COAST Project is focusing its RMRM work in three demonstration sites in the East African region: Tofu, Barra and Tofinho (Mozambique), Bagamoyo (Tanzania) and Watamu (Kenya). All these areas have since project inception been taken through intensive reef assessments, GIS mapping, capacity building and awareness creation. While all these sites are in the Western Indian Ocean region, it is important to note each site experiences different tourism-related realities and issues, as summarised below;

Bagamoyo Demo Site in Tanzania

Emerging Results and Lessons: Opportunities for Positive Change through the COAST Project Work

As a result of COAST Project interventions in the three countries, a number of opportunities have emerged through the RMRM activities for practical improvement of management of reef and marine recreation in each of the Demo Sites. Some of these include:

• Stronger collaboration among decision-makers, and between government, local communities, researchers, the private sector and other user groups, to ensure more informed decision-making and improved enforcement of regulations governing coastal development and marine use.
• Stronger community involvement in planning and management of marine areas and resources to ensure that their voices are heard and that pressure on the marine environment is reduced through strengthening local benefits from the tourism sector.
• Greater awareness of the uniqueness, value and sensitivity of the ecosystems upon which the tourism industry is based through greater access to information within the Demo Site, particularly to visitors, decision makers and other user groups.
• Improved networking and collaboration among the private sector operators to self-regulate activities and assume more responsibility for ensuring that visitors behave responsibly.
• Enhanced support to the local fishing communities to undertake sustainable fishing methods and enhance benefits more directly from tourism. This includes linking more with the private sector to improve conservation and management of marine and coastal resources.
• Improved capacity building of tour guides on aspects of marine recreation to ensure safe and sustainable marine recreation activities.
• Enhanced sensitization and awareness creation of existing policies and legislation governing the coastal and marine resource targeting the key resource users.
• Harmonization of institutional roles and responsibilities to clarify roles and responsibilities in terms of governance of the marine resources.
• Improved monitoring of ecosystems at the most popular/ most heavily used tourist sites and use of the information to address the threats facing these sensitive areas.

The Bigger Picture: Towards Improved Reef Management and Recreation for Sustainable Coastal Tourism in Africa

While one could argue that the inherent value of marine natural ecosystems and organisms should be enough to justify their protection, the reality, especially on the coastlines of East Africa, is that there are many competing and sometimes conflicting uses of marine resources and ecosystems. This continues to pose numerous challenges to managers who need to balance the competing uses and the needs of the different user groups within natural parameters required for healthy functioning ecosystems. Consideration of the values of sensitive marine ecosystems in management decisions also helps to ensure that some of the benefits from tourism contribute to the economic well-being of impoverished coastal communities.

For a highly extractive industry such as tourism to be socially, economically and environmentally sustainable, the industry needs to respond to the needs and aspirations and sensitivities of the local realities. The placement of local coastal communities central to future planning and management is critical to any efforts to improve the management of marine resources. It is absolutely clear that if tourism in coastal areas in the region is to be sustainable over the long-term, maintaining healthy marine ecosystems is critical and a change of mind-set amongst tourism operators and approach towards greater collaboration and sharing of benefits with local residents is essential. Increased responsibility by the tourism industry players through self-regulation and collaboration is key, especially in areas with a weak legal framework, a lack of adequate information for decision-making or weak monitoring and compliance of existing laws.

Figure 6: COAST Project guide training

FURTHER READING

[1] Conservation International. 2008. Economic Values of Coral Reefs, Mangroves, and Seagrasses: A Global Compilation. Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, Conservation International, Arlington, VA, USA.

[2] INE, 2009. National Institute of Statistics. Internet material: Accessed APRIL 2013.