Bubaque in Bijagos islands
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Bubaque in Bijagos islands |
Explanation and Objectives. |
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West Africa is not exceptional in its exploitation of fishing resources : here, as elsewhere, the marine ecosystems are heavily exploited by the fishing industry. This can be attributed to strong market forces, to the fact that the demography of fishing and coastal populations is unstable, and to the implementation of government policies which have led to a sustained increase in commercial fishing. Concurrent with present moves to defend marine protected areas, the failure of conventional development policies has led to an exacerbation of the problems concerning the development of fisheries. When viewed from a cautionary perspective, there is a shift in objectives from stock preservation and economic efficiency to the protection of ecosystems. This encompasses the more global view of sustainable development which would ensure economic growth, improvement in living conditions for the populations concerned, and greater social equity. This shift in objectives has evolved from innovative ideas derived from diverse schools of thought and will lead to a complete redirection of the research. This will be characterised by the emergence of the notion of governance and will place emphasis on institutional dynamics. This will call for some reconsideration of the lines of enquiry needed in order to remove some of the constraints on the fishing industry and allow full integration of the coastal regions A re-interpretation of the role of coastal and marine protected areas, reconciling the principles of resource conservation and economic and social development has become a major consideration for the fishing industry. This explains why the Direction of Research at the European Commission has accepted this CMPA project orientated towards the governance of coastal and marine protected areas in West Africa and the definition of options for government policy.(CONSDEV). The Project is entitled "Coherence of conservation and development policies on coastal and marine protected areas in West Africa", and will run for 3,5 years at a cost of 700 000 euros. The Project focuses on governance - not just more obvious relationships between political, institutional and legal aspects, but also as an interactive process of recognition and adoption of decisions. It combines a number of disciplines including social sciences (the economics of renewable resources, institutional economics, political science, public law, social and legal anthropology, geography, geomatics, history and demography) and natural sciences (fish biology and ecology). This Project has two scientific objectives: 1) the definition of a conceptual and analytical framework for the governing of coastal and marine protected areas taking West Africa as an example. 2) The definition of public policy options applicable to these areas and the analysis of their applicability beyond their boundary. An additional aim is the mutual strengthening of research capacities within the European scientific community and within the developing countries arising from a partnership between European and West African institutions. |
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