11th ICRS Abstract book - Nova Southeastern University

21.815
Dilemma in Coral Conservation And Community Livelihoods. A Case Study Of St.
Martin’s Island, Bangladesh.
Mohammad ISLAM* 1
1 Norwegian College of Fishery Science, University of Tromso, Tromso, Norway
St. Martin’s Island is a marine protected area under the designation of ecologically
critical area. The island is the only coral enriched ecosystem of Bangladesh having global
biodiversity significances. The present study based on secondary data, primary data
survey, participatory observation and in-depth interviews. The study aims to map out the
dilemma in government efforts to coral conservation and community livelihoods. Heavy
dependence of the community on fishery resources poses a particular threat to increasing
vulnerability of the island’s economy to potential adversity if the fishery ruin. Other
marine resources of the coral ecosystem also play an imperative role in employment and
income generation for the numbers of island dwellers. Government legislations for
conservation of marine resources and increased tourism activities have resulted in
conflict and anger from affected local communities. Increased tourism activities opened a
new avenue of revenue generation for some island dwellers but mostly to the outsiders of
the island. Thriving tourism practices in the island have negative impacts on the fragile
coral ecosystems of the island. Fishers of the island are losing their land due to
encroachment of the elite hotel owners for developing infrastructures. Restrictions on the
resources exploitation compelling many people jobless, having negative impacts on
livelihood security. So, for subsistent living, over-exploitation of coastal fishery
resources and uses of destructive fishing gears, excessive extraction of corals, sea weeds
and algae goes unabated. Thus a conflict has unfolded between government efforts for
coral resources conservation and that of managing the resources in a way that does
impact negatively on the economic benefits and livelihood security of the island dwellers.
21.816
Training For Local Inhabitants Of A Coral Reef Island At Southern Caribbean in
Order To Develop Activities Sustainable With Ocean Life
Carlos BOHORQUEZ* 1
1 National Fisheries Center, SENA, Cartagena, Colombia
Local inhabitants of some coral reef island near to the Colombian mainland on the
Caribbean coast have limited education and labour opportunities. These people depend on
the natural offer to obtain an income. SENA is offering to them technical courses that
give to them skills for work and alternatives to generate an economic activity. During
some courses offered in Isla Fuerte, Colombian Caribbean were design some ecological
projects including mangroves restoration, underwater tour, fishery turism and sea turtle
rescue and education visitor center between others. The last two projects, have a real
viability in order to be sustainable and enough profit to assist the people involved
covering their living expenses on a seasonal base. In the middle term future in would be
true during the complete year if current turist and occasional visitants maintain a
permanent interest in use those services and if there the trend to increase the tourism is
maintained. Projects as mangroves restoration and underwater tour have some strong
difficulties as not enough technical acknowledgement, minimal experience, no demand
and very scarce funding sources. The remain population still have to obtain their survival
from traditional activities as agriculture and some cattle, activities not environmental
friendly as the projects mentioned before. Other business ideas that would employ a lot of
people on the island with minimal impact on the coast and near shallow coral reefs as a
call center has not been explored and currently there is not human resource with the
necessaries capacities available for it.
Poster Mini-Symposium 21: Social-Ecological Systems
21.817
Practice Makes Perfect? An Iterative Approach To Participatory Modelling For Coral
Reef Management
Deborah CLELAND* 1 , anne DRAY 1 , Rollan GERONIMO 2 , Annabel TRINIDAD CRUZ 3 ,
pascal PEREZ 4
1 RSPAS, ANU, canberra, Australia, 2 IMS, UPS, QUEZON CITY, Philippines, 3 IMS, UPS,
Quezon city, Philippines, 4 RSPAS, ANU, Canberra, Australia
As human activities continue to devastate coral reefs across the globe, new and innovative
approaches are needed to link government, communities and researchers to improve reef
management. As these new approaches are developed, it is crucial to explore how effectively
they are able to bring together diverse stakeholders to integrate knowledge and build
relationships to support sustainable reef management. To this end, this paper uses an iterative
methodology, drawing upon an initial participatory modelling experiment completed in Mexico,
to guide the design of a new model and role-playing game ‘ReefGame’, which was
implemented in the Philippines.
This research provides two important lessons for developing participatory modelling for coral
reef management. Firstly, a comprehensive understanding of local complexities is critical in
developing models that can effectively engage local people in dialogue and learning processes.
Secondly, and notwithstanding the central role of contextual detail, explicitly extracting
structural similarities over differing social and economic contexts plays an essential role in
improving useful outcomes both for reefs and the people who depend on them.
21.818
The International Year Of The Reef 2008 in Germany
Georg HEISS* 1 , Reinhold LEINFELDER 1
1 Museum of Natural History Berlin, Berlin, Germany
This poster will highlight activities linked to the International Year of the Reef – IYOR 2008,
within Germany as well as coral reef research and outreach activities with German participation
globally.
The concerns of coral reefs have attracted more attention in developed countries in recent years,
mostly linked to the attention that was directed to global climate change and the accelerating
loss of biodiversity. The fact that coral reef ecosystems are seen as being the first victims of
climate change has contributed to this situation.
Shortly after the declaration of IYOR 2008 in Cozumel in October 2006, German scientists,
NGOs and government representatives came together to form an IYOR coordination team and
an Advisory Council, which started their activities in early 2007.
The high priority allocated to the issues concerning coral reefs and the role that European
countries have to play is demonstrated in the fact that Federal Environment Minister Sigmar
Gabriel agreed to act as the patron of IYOR 2008 Germany.
Main goals of IYOR Germany are to inform the public and decision makers about the threats
coral reefs are facing, and to intensify international cooperation between Germany, coral reef
countries and international organisations in research, conservation, public outreach and
sustainable development.
At submission time (December 2007) media attention had already increased and several articles
were published. Daily and weekly print publications, TV stations, diving and travel magazines,
as well as popular scientific publications are planning to focus on coral reef themes, and in
particular on the global coral reef crisis, throughout the year.
Special exhibitions and symposia are in preparation, seminar series for the general public are
planned in several cities, books on warning signals from coral reefs are being prepared. Movie
theatres will feature films about coral reefs and companies will support activities in-kind and
financially.
www.iyor2008.de
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