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Environment
and development in coastal regions and in small islands |
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Environment
and development in coastal regions and in small islands |
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Coastal region and small island papers 9
Executive
summary
As
the world’s small islands grapple with the search for ways to balance economic
development and environmental protection, an intersectoral and interdisciplinary
platform for ‘Environment and Development in Coastal
Regions and in Small Islands’(CSI) has been established by the United
Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to assist
in that process.
Through
three main modalities: pilot projects, university chairs/twinning networks and a
global internet-based discussion forum on ‘Wise
coastal practices for sustainable human development’ (WiCoP forum; user
name = csi, password = wise), the CSI
platform seeks to develop wise practices, guidelines and principles which will
provide for the prevention and resolution of conflicts over resources and values
in small islands and coastal regions. In the long term, it is envisaged that
ethical codes of practice, tailored for specific wise practices, will be
prepared which will provide a policy framework for equitable resource sharing.
Pilot
projects have been established around the globe to advance on-the-ground action
in the realm of the priority problem areas identified by the Small
Island Developing States (SIDS) in Barbados
in 1994, and prioritized at a Special Session of the United Nations General
Assembly in New York in 1999, and specifically to develop, test and apply wise
practices. These wise practices are then reviewed, analysed and incorporated
into innovative teaching programmes by the university chairs/twinning networks
at a local and regional level, and discussed, critiqued and transferred by the WiCoP
forum at a global level.
This
report describes the results of a workshop held in Samoa in 2000, with
participants from the Caribbean, Indian Ocean and Pacific regions, designed to
focus on ways to advance action on the priority problem areas identified by SIDS;
to advance and interlink the small-island pilot project and university
chair/twinning net work activities; to discuss project evaluation; to explore
the potential for new CSI
activities in the Indian and Pacific Oceans; to interact with other non-CSI
small-island programmes and projects in the Pacific; and to provide for formal
and informal professional interaction and exchange.
The
workshop was productive in that all the goals were achieved and substantial
progress was made in relation to project/university chair evaluation and
interlinking of projects. Participants recommended that the 16 characteristics,
which define wise practices and which had been developed within the WiCoP
forum, be used as a framework for project evaluation. (These characteristics
include factors such as long-term benefit, sustainability, transferability,
consensus building, and others). Interlinking projects by carrying out
evaluations, by exchanging groups of stakeholders, and by transferring methods
and wise practices was also endorsed by the participants and was seen as a way
to enhance wise practices for small island living.
Exchanges
with non-CSI projects
in Samoa and the wider Pacific region were also very beneficial, and it is
planned to continue to maximize these benefits through the WiCoP
forum.
