Environment and development in the Republic of the Marshall Islands: Linking climate change with sustainable fisheries development

The Republic of the Marshall Islands (RMI) is a major custodian of one of the ocean's major natural resources: tuna. The commercial tuna fisheries sector is the most important economic sector in the RMI and is thus a substantial contributor to this tiny island nation's GDP. Tuna catch and its associated revenues has fluctuated in line with climatic events such as the El Niño/La Niña Southern Oscillation (ENSO) and, in the last decade, national fisheries development policies have begun to capitalize on the positive effects that ENSO warm events have had on the tuna populations. However, global warming is expected to have a significant impact on ENSO, and not necessarily in positive ways. This paper will focus on the relationship between environment and economic development in the RMI fisheries sector. In particular, the linkages between global warming and its effects on the tuna fisheries sector must be better understood and uncertainties accounted for so that impacts are appropriately addressed and integrated into sustainable fisheries development policies. Conclusions reached are that new fisheries development strategies that emphasize environmental‐based planning are required. The emerging ecosystem‐based approach to fisheries management is a start, as are the various international initiatives in furthering our understanding of the linkages between climate and ocean systems currently underway.     

Sustainable development strategies: Tools for policy coherence

Many different approaches for national sustainable development strategies (NSDS) have been proposed since 1992, with some components common to all. A country's national strategy should be designed to help mainstream environmental concerns into policy. More broadly, it should coordinate local policy with global concerns, as well as integrate scientific knowledge into policy and development planning. The peer review mechanism for national strategies was piloted by France, and also involved representatives of countries from the North and the South as well as stakeholders. The peer review process allows countries to share their experience and information, and can assist them in identifying their own path to sustainable development. The business community can also contribute to sustainable development through provision of local and global public goods. Another input to sustainable development could come from the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and its Guidance Standard on Social Responsibility (ISO 26000), as a coordinating mechanism between voluntary initiatives and binding obligations (such as international conventions). ISO standards and guidelines should therefore be integrated with national sustainable development strategies and local Agenda 21 frameworks.     

Mainstreaming sustainable development: Evolving perspectives and challenges from the Philippine experience

National sustainable development strategies (NSDSs) play a vital role in pursuing sustainable development (SD) at the country level. These strategies help in clarifying priorities and in focusing efforts to more effectively address relevant SD issues. Since its establishment in 1992, the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development has urged its members to formulate and implement their respective NSDS. The Programme for the Further Implementation of Agenda 21 (1997) provided a more aggressive push to this advocacy by setting 2002 as the deadline for the formulation of NSDS while the Johannesburg Plan of Implementation (2002) targeted 2005 as the year by which all countries should have started implementing such strategies. Many countries have heeded this call, albeit the strategies have taken a variety of forms: some took the route of formulating National Agenda 21s (as in the Philippine case), while others built on existing national environmental action plans, poverty strategies, sustainability plans, so‐called green plans, policy statements, or legal frameworks. The UN/DESA crafted some guidelines for NSDS formulation but, and rightly so, countries are given freedom of choice as to the scope, substance and form best suited to their own unique circumstances. As varied as the formats of these strategies turned out, so too were the processes that were adopted in their formulation. All these elements could reflect varying degrees of understanding and differing perspectives about the nature of sustainable development and how the concept could be made operational. Consequently, such an understanding could ultimately define a country's success in mainstreaming and achieving sustainable development. In this connection, it would be worthwhile examining how an NSDS has actually played out its role in the national pursuit of sustainable development. Are there creative insights, lessons or guidelines that can be drawn from practical, countrywide experience in NSDS formulation and implementation? What are the emerging challenges and problematic areas in using an NSDS as an instrument for integrating sustainable development in mainstream decision‐making? Are there nascent considerations that could be useful in developing design parameters for NSDS? This paper explores the foregoing questions in the Philippine context, given its decade‐long experience in implementing its NSDS, the Philippine Agenda 21 (PA 21). In so doing, it hopes to distill potentially valuable perspectives that can inform UNCSD and country‐level efforts at crafting, refining and mainstreaming national strategies for sustainable development.     

Sustainable development in the Mediterranean region

Considering its specific economic, social, environmental and political features, the status and evolution of the Mediterranean have always been of great interest to its countries and concerned partners. From the protection of the sea against pollution, the interest was progressively expanded to land based development and its impacts on environment, to coastal management and finally to sustainable development with the establishment of the Mediterranean Commission on Sustainable Development (MCSD). Cumulated knowledge, coupled with political support and commitment to a common vision, has prepared the ground for the preparation of a regional strategy for sustainable development. Its preparatory process, coordinated by the MCSD Secretariat, has been very interactive, involving various stakeholders. The strategy, adopted in 2005, has raised awareness and induced the preparation of national sustainable development strategies.     

Nature of property rights and motivation for blue growth: An empirical evidence from the fisheries industry

If unauthorized resource use is prevented, managing marine resources by allocating property rights may match economic and environmental conservation incentives. However, because of the developing exploitation of marine resources and accompanying pollution, species' living conditions in Europe's waters are changing more quickly than before. By considering the roles of fisheries productivity, intellectual property rights, intellectual capital rights, market size, governance, and economic growth from 1990 to 2022, this paper aims to investigate the dynamic effect of property rights factors on the sustainability of the fisheries industry in 27 European countries. At higher quantiles, the findings showed a significant positive association between governance and fisheries sustainability adopting a new method, the MMQR with fixed effects, the Method of Moments Quantile Regression. In addition, in EU27 nations, the impact of intellectual property rights was favorable and statistically significant from the first to ninth quantiles. The findings show that the EU14 developed nations have more excellent governance and intellectual capital rights than the EU13 developing countries, significantly benefiting fisheries sustainability. In the same way that market size and economic growth condense fisheries sustainability in EU14 developed and EU13 developing countries, it has been discovered that intellectual property rights do the same across all quantiles, supporting the growth hypothesis for fisheries-producing countries. The findings specifically show that the beneficial solid impact of intellectual property rights, market size, and economic development on the sustainability of fisheries is more significant in EU13 developing nations than in EU14 developed countries. These results provide policymakers with helpful information for promoting property rights aspects in EU14 and EU13 nations via effective green technologies in the fisheries sector to meet sustainable development objectives.     

Sustainable Management for the Eastern Mediterranean Coast of Turkey

The objective of this article is to propose a program for the integrated coastal zone management that is required to stimulate and guide sustainable development of the Mediterranean coastal zone of Turkey. Improved data collection, quality control, analysis, and data management will provide a firm basis for future scientific understanding of the East Mediterranean coast of Turkey and will support long-term management. Various innovative procedures were proposed for a promising ecosystem-based approach to manage coastal wetlands in the Mediterranean: remote data acquisition with new technologies; environmental quality monitoring program that will provide a baseline for monitoring; linking a Geographic Information System (GIS) with natural resource management decision routines in the context of operational wetlands, fisheries, tourism management system; environmental sensitivity analysis to ensure that permitted developments are environmentally sustainable; and use of natural species to restore the wetlands and coastal dunes and sustain the system processes. The proposed management scheme will benefit the scientific community in the Mediterranean and the management/planning community in Eastern Turkey.     

Beyond 'coverage'

Full integration of projects and programmes for rural water supply and sanitation has yet to take place in most developing countries, thus contributing to a situation in which long-term success in the sector has been difficult to demonstrate. It is suggested that full integration in individual countries will require reorientation of project planning procedures, and the development of a community support programme (CSP) to provide backup to communities after project completion. Ultimately, full integration of projects and programmes is an iterative process, requiring the evaluation of past efforts in the field. Experience in the International Drinking Water Supply and Sanitation Decade (1981–90) has demonstrated that coverage alone — as the de facto indicator of success — is not sufficient (particularly in rural areas). The 1990s represent a fresh chance to modify indicators for success, and to go beyond coverage by integrating projects and programmes for rural water supply and sanitation.     

Evolution of a Mediterranean Coastal Zone: Human Impacts on the Marine Environment of Cape Creus

This study presents an integrated analysis of the evolution of the marine environment and the human uses in Cape Creus, a Mediterranean coastal area where intense commercial fisheries and recreational uses have coexisted over the last fifty years. The investigation synthesizes the documented impacts of human activities on the marine environment of Cap de Creus and integrates them with new data. In particular, the evolution of vulnerable, exploited species is used to evaluate the fishing impacts. The effects of area protection through the establishment of a marine reserve in the late 1990s and the potential climate change impacts are also considered. The evolution of the human uses is marked by the increasing socioeconomic importance of recreational activities (which affect species and habitats) in detriment to artisanal and red coral fisheries (which principally affect at a species level). Overall, populations of sedentary, vulnerable exploited species, hard sessile benthic invertebrates, and ecologically fragile habitats, such as seagrass meadows, the coralligenous and infralittoral algal assemblages have been the most negatively impacted by anthropogenic activities. Albeit human uses currently constitute the largest negative impact on the marine environment of Cap de Creus, climate change is emerging as a key factor that could have considerable implications for the marine environment and tourism activities. The establishment of the marine reserve appears to have had little socioeconomic impact, but there is some evidence that it had some positive biological effects on sedentary, littoral fishes. Results demonstrate that the declaration of a marine reserve alone does not guarantee the sustainability of marine resources and habitats but should be accompanied with an integrated coastal management plan.     

Climate change adaptation planning for Global South megacities: the case of Dhaka

Megacities in low- and middle-income countries face unique threats from climate change as vulnerable populations and infrastructure are concentrated in high-risk areas. This paper develops a theoretical framework to characterize adaptation readiness in Global South cities and applies the framework to Dhaka, Bangladesh, a city with acute exposure and projected impacts from flooding and extreme heat. To gather case evidence from Dhaka we draw upon interviews with national and municipal government officials and a review of planning documents and peer-reviewed literature. We find: (1) national-level plans propose a number of adaptation strategies, but urban concerns compete with priorities such as protection of coastal assets and agricultural production; (2) municipal plans focus on identifying vulnerability and impacts rather than adaptation strategies; (3) interviewees suggest that lack of coordination among local government (LG) organizations and lack of transparency act as barriers for municipal adaptation planning, with national plans driving policy where LGs have limited human and financial resources; and (4) we found limited evidence that national urban adaptation directives trickle down to municipal government. The framework developed offers a systematic and standardized means to assess and monitor the status of adaptation planning in Global South cities, and identify adaptation constraints and opportunities.     

Mainstreaming climate change adaptation at the local level

National authorities in many countries aim at having climate change adaptation mainstreamed into existing policy domains in order to achieve coherence and synergies, and to avoid mal-adaptation. Because of local variations in climate change impacts, the lion's share of climate adaptation work will have to take place at the local level. This means also that the mainstreaming process needs to occur locally. This article examines the mainstreaming of climate change adaptation into existing sectors in five Norwegian municipalities. Applying theories of mainstreaming and policy integration we find that policy development is slower, but perhaps more robust in the municipalities that have chosen a horizontal, cross-sectoral approach to mainstreaming than in the municipalities that have chosen a vertical sector approach to mainstreaming.     

Ecosystem-Based Analysis of a Marine Protected Area Where Fisheries and Protected Species Coexist

The Gulf of California Biosphere Reserve (UGC&CRDBR) is a Marine Protected Area that was established in 1993 with the aim of preserving biodiversity and remediating environmental impacts. Because remaining vigilant is hard and because regulatory measures are difficult to enforce, harvesting has been allowed to diminish poaching. Useful management strategies have not been implemented, however, and conflicts remain between conservation legislation and the fisheries. We developed a transdisciplinary methodological scheme (pressure-state-response, loop analysis, and Geographic Information System) that includes both protected species and fisheries modeled together in a spatially represented marine ecosystem. We analyzed the response of this marine ecosystem supposing that conservation strategies were successful and that the abundance of protected species had increased. The final aim of this study was to identify ecosystem-level management alternatives capable of diminishing the conflict between conservation measures and fisheries. This methodological integration aimed to understand the functioning of the UGC&CRDBR community as well as to identify implications of conservation strategies such as the recovery of protected species. Our results suggest research hypotheses related to key species that should be protected within the ecosystem, and they point out the importance of considering spatial management strategies. Counterintuitive findings underline the importance of understanding how the community responds to disturbances and the effect of indirect pathways on the abundance of ecosystem constituents. Insights from this research are valuable in defining policies in marine reserves where fisheries and protected species coexist.     

Review, development and monitoring of national sustainable development strategies in Ghana

Agenda 21 requires that countries adopt ‘national sustainable development strategies’ (NSDS), and this has been emphasized in several international commitments. Ghana has contributed to the methodology for peer review of such national strategies, as well as to guidelines designed by OECD and the United Nations for the NSDS process. Ghana has also adopted mechanisms to manage its own development planning in a sustainable manner. This article highlights various types of frameworks for sustainable development currently operating in Ghana, and considers to what extent they conform to NSDS principles. The article concludes that Ghana has made progress in several ways, but faces some of the same challenges as other countries in adhering to sustainability principles. The article offers recommendations as to how Ghana can achieve sustainable development. The article is an independent assessment by the author, who has also formulated most of the recommendations, except where otherwise indicated.     

Facing limits in oceanic fisheries

Research from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and fishery scientists indicates that the wild catch offish and other marine life from the oceans will not be able to increase significantly in the future, except through rehabilitation and better management of stocks. Despite the limited potential for bigger catches, fishing fleets have expanded rapidly in recent decades under government subsidies. Fishers now have approximately twice the capacity necessary to make the annual catch from the oceans. The juxtaposition of natural limits and overinvestment has created a crisis situation for the world's fishers, fishing communities and traditional fishing cultures. Part I of this article discusses policy responses at the national and international level. How policy makers respond to the overextension of the marine fishing industry will determine the extent of job loss, hunger and dislocation that will result. Part II, to be published in the Forum's next issue (February 1995), will examine the social aspects of the world's fishing industry, including the demography of fishers, utilization of fisheries products, the relative social contribution of aquaculture and policy responses to overcapacity. Policy makers could enhance the social benefits of marine fisheries — both jobs and food — through a combination of government oversight and community based management.     

Privatizing the minerals sector

The end of the Cold War presents new challenges for the dynamics associated with mineral resources development. Broader approaches are needed to help mineral rich developing countries develop their minerals sector. These countries need to embark upon programmes of policy reform and privatization in order to make their mineral resources industries more efficient and responsive to free market forces (such as supply and demand and price), and to turn mineral sector decision making over to the private sector. This article examines the use of policy reform and privatization strategies to increase mineral resource production in developing countries, thereby contributing to both developing country economic growth and developed country access to mineral supplies .     

陆海统筹视角下我国海洋生态城的空间模式及潜在风险

近年来我国1/3以上的沿海城市正在积极建设海洋生态城,呈现“组团-分带”型、“核心-放射”型、“陆岛-网链”型等空间模式,努力实现陆海生态环境约束下生态、生产、生活的整合,但当前初步的规划建设却潜藏着生态恶化、体制摩擦、功能冲突等风险.因此,今后的发展应突破“重陆轻海”的范式局限,从陆海统筹的战略高度努力实现海洋生态城的过程化、区域化和协同化管理,对沿海城市陆海统筹发展等具有借鉴意义.     

Policy planning for air quality management: global and local perspectives

An increasing number of environmental regulators in developed and developing countries have embarked on programmes for the promotion of environmentally sound and sustainable development strategies. Air pollution is among the most important environmental issues that need to be managed since it reflects directly and indirectly on the different aspects of human life. This paper presents an assessment of the evolution of air pollution control philosophies at the global level, and it describes advantages and disadvantages of alternate environmental strategies that can be considered in the development of an integrated and comprehensive plan for air quality management at the local level, with Lebanon as a case study of a typical developing country. The proposed strategy considers short-, medium- and long-term schemes that make use of regulatory and market-based instruments, such as pollution charges, and market creation and usage. The short-term scheme identifies serious polluters and improves environmental performance by adopting and enforcing updated environmental standards. Economic incentive concepts constitute the principal philosophy for medium-term application of a comprehensive environmental strategy, mostly applicable at the level of the transportation and energy sectors. Long-term strategies, targeting the industrial sector, aim at achieving a flexible free market in which polluters would compete on the basis of market forces and governmental incentives to attain better environmental performance and increase potential cost savings. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Marine Protected Areas in Sri Lanka: A Review

Despite the popularity of marine protected areas (MPAs) as a management tool, increasing evidence shows that many fail to achieve conservation objectives. Although several MPAs exist in Sri Lanka, most are not managed, and resource extraction and habitat degradation continue unabated. At present, the declaration and management of MPAs is carried out without adequate consideration of the ecology, socioeconomic realities, or long-term management sustainability. Managers have focused more toward the creation of new legislation and protected areas rather than ensuring the implementation of existing regulations and management of existing protected areas. Poor coordination and a lack of serious political will have also hindered successful resource management. As in other developing countries, MPA managers have to contend with coastal communities that are directly dependant on marine resources for their subsistence. This often makes it unfeasible to exclude resource users, and MPAs have failed to attract necessary government support because many politicians are partial toward the immediate needs of local communities for both economic and political reasons. A more integrated approach, and decisions based on the analysis of all relevant criteria combined with a concerted and genuine effort toward implementing strategies and achieving predetermined targets, is needed for effective management of MPAs and the sustainable use of marine resources in Sri Lanka.     

The challenge of sustainable development in small island developing states: case study on tourism in the Caribbean

Small island developing states (SIDS) in the Caribbean have long specialised in primary commodity exports, and traditional export sectors continue to be a major source of employment. The challenge of sustainable development for the Caribbean SIDS has two dimensions. The first is to adjust to the economic and social impact of the loss of preferential markets for traditional exports and of the dismantling of the ISI apparatus erected during the post-World War II period. The second is to ensure that existing and new patterns of production and consumption comply with the criteria for sustainable development, which is here defined as environmental, socio-cultural and economic sustainability.
This article outlines the potential contribution of sustainable tourism to the larger goal of sustainable development in the SIDS in the Caribbean. It reviews current literature on sustainable development and sustainable tourism, particularly their application to the Caribbean SIDS, and evaluates the Caribbean tourism industry from the point of view of sustainable tourism. Conclusions are drawn and proposals made for a policy-oriented agenda in support of the quest for sustainable tourism in the SIDS in the Caribbean.     

Small island developing states and sustainable development of ocean resources

Because of their economic and environmental vulnerability, small island developing states (SIDS) have peculiar developmental problems that severely affect their ability to implement the measures necessary for attaining sustainable development as recommended in UNCED's Agenda 21. Although this has been recognised by the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD), and although there has been international acceptance of a SIDS Programme of Action (POA), SIDS have not been the focus of adequate attention by international and donor agencies. As a result, progress toward implementing the POA has been disappointing. This study examines the question of how sustainable management and development of ocean resources can contribute significantly to the achievement of the objectives of the SIDS POA.