Integrated Coastal Management: From post-graduate to professional

Integrated Coastal Management

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This publication has been produced with the assistance of the European U 足 nion.

The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of the e足 ditors and authors and can in no way be taken to reflect the views of the European Union.

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Integrated Coastal Management From post-graduate to professional coastal manager A teaching manual Editors: Martin Le Tissier, Dik Roth, Maarten Bavinck and Leontine Visser

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The Editors and Contributors would like to thank all those staff and students from the University of the Algave, Portugal; Anna University, Chennai, India; and Can Tho University, Vietnam who participated in the CoastalProfs project.

All photographs used throughout this publication were taken by the Editors and are copyright to them. Pictures with no legend are illustrative photographs of coastal scenes and activities that are pertinent to the background of the text.

ISBN 978-90-5972-327-6 Eburon Academic Publishers P.O. Box 2867 2601 CW Delft The Netherlands tel.: +31 (0) 15 - 2131484 / fax: +31 (0) 15 - 2146888 info@eburon.nl / www.eburon.nl Cover design: Sjoukje Rienks Graphic design: Sjoukje Rienks Š 2011 CoastalProfs Program (WUR / CTU / AU). All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission in writing from the proprietor.

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Preface This book originates from a Asia Link project (ASIE/2005/108442) ‘From postgraduate to professional – a partnership for the development of a course for professional capacity in coastal zone managers’ awarded by the European Community to the Social Sciences Department of Wageningen University, the Netherlands, in 2005. The project acronym was ‘CoastalProfs’. The CoastalProfs project took place between March 2006 and March 2008 and involved two Asian and two European universities: ■ Anna University in Chennai, India, ■ Can Tho University in Can Tho, Vietnam, ■ University of the Algarve in Faro, Portugal, and ■ Wageningen University in Wageningen, the Netherlands as the lead partner.

The project was facilitated by Envision Management Ltd based in the United Kingdom.

Both social and natural scientists involved in the project shared the experience that research and policy regarding coastal areas are often dominated by the natural and technical sciences. In contrast, the social sciences are less fully represented. We noted that humans are frequently regarded as a part of the coastal problem rather than as a potential ally in the search for environmental and technical solutions to better management of the coastal and maritime environs. As a result of this bias, poorer coastal inhabitants more readily fall victim to environmental hazards and political decisions made in favour of macro-economic developments in the coastal zone.

University curricula around the world are mostly organised on disciplinary grounds. Coastal zone management courses often have a natural science focus to understand and manage – that is change or intervene in – the physical

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structure of coastal areas. However, urban and port construction, infrastructure development or tourism may affect the everyday livelihoods of coastal populations and their access to either the sea or the land. Marine Protected Area planning may involve the displacement of people without providing sufficient alternative opportunities.

Almost half of the world’s population live in coastal areas, many depending on fisheries, shipping, tourism, or oil exploitation and sand mining for a livelihood. These activities often result in competition for coastal space.

To make things worse, departmental agencies frequently do not agree on the elements of coastal policy. It is clear that inter-sectoral and interdisciplinary negotiation and integrated planning constitute a prerogative for successful coastal area management.

Curricula for integrated coastal management must address the need for sustaining the livelihoods of coastal resource users, or help to find appropriate alternatives, whilst safeguarding the environment and allowing for new investments in coastal areas. Curricula should therefore address societal and governance issues together with, for example, the challenges of global environmental change.

The main goal of the CoastalProfs project was to develop a coherent set of teaching modules on integrated coastal management that allow students to become familiar with topics, concepts, and methods from the social sciences.

These modules must be relevant for their performance and future careers as coastal practitioners. The modules should help students to develop skills for observing and recognizing social science features that are relevant to the application of scientific knowledge. As a result, students should be able to make a transdisciplinary analysis of major social, organizational and environmental problems in the coastal zone and to develop relevant solutions.

In the course of a series of workshops, which took place between 2006 and 2008, the CoastalProfs partners developed a three module course. The modules were subsequently trialled with natural science students in the two Asian locations. The three modules of teaching lead students through a cumulative process of developing:

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■ Knowledge of the human dimensions of coastal areas ■ Skills to observe by applying such knowledge in the field, and ■ A methodology for discovering the relationships between information derived from multiple sources in order to develop an integrated approach to coastal problems.

The CoastalProfs modules presented in this handbook can be used as a stand alone set of social science lectures, but are specifically designed for integration in existing natural science curricula. The Institute of Ocean Management at Anna University has already integrated the CoastalProfs modules into a new Masters in Technology. In Vietnam the project was instrumental in helping Can Tho University to develop a curriculum for the new Masters programme in Environmental Management with a specialization in Integrated Coastal Management. The new curriculum was approved by the Vietnamese Ministry of Education and Training in Hanoi on 15 February 2008.

This book constitutes the improved and edited version of a CD-Rom that was the primary deliverable of the project in spring 2008. It can be used as a practice-oriented manual for Master-level students, government officials, NGOs, fishermen’s organizations, port managers, and others who are involved with the everyday dynamics and the need for a sustainable management of the human and natural environments of coastal areas around the world.

Wageningen, November 2010 Professor Dr. Leontine Visser Project Director

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Contents

Introduction

11

Module 1 Social analysis of the coast – introducing human dimensions

17

Introduction Session 1 Complex processes in coastal areas: exploring the need

for social scientific and transdisciplinary approaches

to coastal management Session 2 Structures, processes and social actors Session 3 Social actors and stakeholders Session 4 Institutions, law and governance Session 5 Rights and competing claims to natural resources Session 6 Culture, local knowledge, and the valuation of different

knowledge systems Session 7 Livelihood, vulnerability and resilience Session 8 Coastal governance, policy and management between the

local and global Literature Module 1

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19 24 31 37 42 47 52 58 62 66

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Module 2 Observations of human and natural dimensions of the coast 69 71 Introduction Section A Learning through observation 79 Section B Observing to identify social and environmental components 82 Section C Interpretation of observations 85 Concluding remarks 90 Exercises A1, A2, A3 91 Exercises B1, B2 100 Exercises C1, C2, C3, C4 109 Social Indicators Descriptions 114 Module 3 Understanding the coastal zone to develop integrated approaches 125 Introduction Teaching considerations Section 1 Stakeholder analysis Section 2 Problem and objective tree analysis Section 3 Monitoring and evaluating management Concluding remarks Exercises 1.1, 1.2 Exercises 2.1, 2.2, 2.3, 2.4 Exercises 3.1, 3.2

127 137 139 140 144 145 147 154 161

Appendices

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1 Teacher’s Handbook 2 Student Handouts

171 178

Contributors

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Introduction Martin Le Tissier, Leontine Visser, Maarten Bavinck & Dik Roth Almost half the world’s population live in coastal areas, many depending directly on coastal resources for their livelihoods and settlement. People also depend indirectly on coastal areas for protection against climate change-induced sea level rise, storm damage and nutrient regulation. Coastal resources are shared amongst a diverse range of users. Strong management of the social and natural systems underpinning coastal areas is vital to protect economic investments and the livelihoods of coastal communities while minimising adverse environmental impacts.

Coastal areas are an inherently dynamic and complex space of interaction between land, atmosphere and fresh and marine waters. ‘Traditional forms of natural resource management should not be idealized, as they sometimes create inequality or damage to the environment. Nevertheless, local (traditional) knowledge and practices can also contribute positively to management solutions.Therefore, the management of coastal zones requires the integration of knowledge generated from all forms of scientific disciplines. Coastal managers need skills with a focus on synthesis and integration of a variety of knowledge sources, rather than specific technical expertise.

Coastal sciences are primarily concerned with measurement and collection of data in order to address questions that are usually subject specific. Teaching for coastal sciences emphasises developing methodological and analytical skills and focuses on output (production of knowledge). In contrast, teaching for coastal management requires skills for an integrated analysis of coastal areas that combines the approaches, insights, and knowledge of a wide variety of disciplines, i.e. be outcome (the effect of knowledge) oriented.

Knowledge from any one discipline does not present a ‘perfect’ picture of a coastal area; it only portrays an image from its own perspective and, therefore, contains an incomplete understanding of the dynamics and causality of the coast and its processes. The educational challenge for integrated coastal management is to overcome disciplinary boundaries in order to construct a transdisciplinary (Box 1) and holistic vision of coastal areas.

However, most education establishments and staff are organised along disciplinary lines and do not teach integrative approaches. An underlying purpose of the CoastalProfs project was to develop curricula materials that both support the development of synthesis and integrative skills in students and staff,

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■ Integrated coastal management

Box 1 ■ Different types of disciplinarity Crossdisciplinarity is the act of crossing disciplinary boundaries to explain one subject in the terms of another subject or method.

Multidisciplinarity is the act of joining together two or more disciplines without integration and each discipline yields discipline specific results.

Interdisciplinarity refers to multiple disciplines engaged in creating and applying new knowledge as they work together as equal stakeholders in addressing a common challenge.

Transdisciplinarity refers to an approach that dissolves boundaries between disciplines for the purpose of achieving new insight. The approach takes theories and methods which exist independently of several disciplines and applying them to organize and understand different areas or fields.

and provide skills that directly support workplace activities associated with coastal management. CoastalProfs applies an integrated approach to the management of coastal areas with four elements that cross traditional discipline structures of teaching: ■ Geographical taking account of interrelationships and interdependencies between the terrestrial, estuarine, littoral and offshore components of coastal areas; ■ Temporal supporting the planning and implementation of management actions in the context of short, medium and long-term strategies; ■ Sectoral taking account of the interests and interrelationships among the various institutions and organisations that manage human uses of coastal areas and resources; ■ Political/institutional – Providing for the widest possible consultation be­ tween government, social and economic sectors and the community in policy development, planning, conflict resolution and regulation.

The CoastalProfs approach does not make traditional subject areas of teaching redundant but provides a method and application to generate bodies of knowledge and information for informing a management process.

However, knowledge and information derived from multiple subject areas need to be applied to an transdisciplinary analysis that addresses: ■ The interactions and interdependencies among natural resources, cultural values, and different economic sectors.

■ Adaptive processes that identify gaps in knowledge and information and provide for new learning to refine the design and operation of management.

■ Concern for equity issues posed by current rules and practices of resource allocation.

■ Making progress towards the goal of sustainable development balancing between development and conservation.

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■ Introduction

The experience of course approval at Anna University, India Under normal circumstances, approval of new Masters courses in any country takes over a year because course content is subject to scrutiny and revision by teaching committees. Some simple tips could actually speed up this process: ■ Explain the importance of an interdisciplinary course through a workshop inviting senior staff and teachers, and other key decision makers of the government; ■ Follow a ‘top-down’ instead of a bottom-up approach to get the approval – e.g. obtain the necessary approval from the highest authority for the commencement of the course; ■ Make the necessary modifications in the curriculum and syllabi, suggested by experts at each stage of the approval; ■ Prepare a brochure explicitly mentioning the main objectives, purpose of the course and employability after graduation; ■ Make sure to provide added value of the course such as international expertise, fellowships if available, summer training at leading institutions, university-industry-institution collaborations, fulltime or part-time courses for candidates already employed; ■ Emphasize field-oriented learning.

The teaching challenge is to describe the organization of coastal areas in a way that individual components can be compared and contrasted. Students need to be able to capture the heterogeneity and variability of coastal areas for management needs through the interrogation of scientific data and the crossing of their individual conceptual and methodological boundaries. Providing curricula that meet these challenges is not simple, and should give equal weighting to the perspective and method of analysis of each discipline.

CoastalProfs has focussed on (i) the ‘human dimensions’ (Box 2) of the coast and social science teaching, and (ii) integration of different science perspectives.

Essentially the task is to develop understanding of the relationships and linkages between human activity, the natural environment and available resources. This is a circular process as the environment provides services for humans to exploit or conserve, whilst the act of exploiting resources modifies the

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■ Integrated coastal management

Box 2 ■ Human dimensions explained Human dimensions describe the effects of human activity on natural systems, the impacts of change on people and societies, the responses of social systems to actual or anticipated change and the interactions among all these processes.

The term also refers to the socially, politically or culturally specific ways in which people value resources, use them, define rights to them, their perceptions of natural processes, phenomena, resources, and their ways of organising and building institutions around them.

environment, which may alter its ability to continue providing those services (Figure 1). The CoastalProfs curricula do not form a complete course but three related modules that sequentially develop knowledge of the human dimensions of coastal areas, through skill development that apply this new knowledge in a practical field setting to methods and approaches of integrating, interrogating and analysing information from diverse sector and discipline sources (Figure 2).

In the context of teaching for coastal management, academic rigour is essential to develop deep learning and understanding of knowledge from all relevant disciplines. However, the purpose of coastal management is directed more to understanding what a ‘piece’ of knowledge says about the wider setting of the coastal landscape and human interactions with the natural environment and resource base.

The overall goal of the suite of three modules is to contribute teaching and learning that helps students to understand the process of coastal management with a particular emphasis on the role and juxtaposition of humans in coastal areas. The purpose of the modules is that students are better equipped to Figure 1 apply their understanding and interUnderstanding the pretation of coastal areas to design relationship and sustainable and implementable solinkages between human activity, the lutions to coastal issues in a future natural environworkplace. ment and available resources.

A clam collector from the Algarve in Portugal. His activities constitute a complex dynamic between the exploitation of the resource, its standing stock and rates of reproduction and growth rates of juveniles.

Module 1 ■ Social analysis of the coast – introducing human dimensions This module is based on a series of lectures to provide a basic understanding of the social (political, economic) processes in coastal areas and ways to analyze them. The ob-

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■ Introduction

Module 1 Social analysis of the coast – introducing human dimensions.

A summary of socio-economic sciences in a wide sense and looking at their context in a coastal management setting Module 3 Understanding the coastal zone to develop integrated approaches.

Developing a management perspective to coastal issues and building an approach for developing integrated responses.

Module 2 Observations of human and natural dimensions of the coast.

Describing the coastal zone combining approaches, insights, and knowledge of a wide variety of disciplines

Figure 2 The three related modules of the curricula and their learning elements.

jective of the module is not to turn participants into social scientists, but to make course participants aware of the importance of ‘the human factor’ in coastal resources management.

Module 2 ■ Observations of human and natural dimensions of the coast This module uses field visits to illustrate and demonstrate the theoretical knowledge gained in Module 1 and develop skills in observing and interpreting the coast. Included are observations on the natural setting of coastal areas that can be interpreted and analysed alongside those made on the social setting of the coast. The module provides data and discussion for module 3.

Module 3 ■ Understanding the coastal zone to develop integrated ­approaches This module uses Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) as a framework and process to overcome biases inherent in sectorally focussed management solutions. The module provides a forum for students to explore stakeholders perceptions of a coastal area and issues that they face. The module uses the knowledge and skills derived from modules 1 and 2 for developing an integrated approach that crosses disciplinary boundaries.

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â– Integrated coastal management

The experience of course approval at Can Tho University Implementation of the modules at Cantho University (CTU) included: 1 Integration of the modules into an existing masters programme on Environmental Science (MPES); 2 The development of a new curriculum of the masters programme on Environmental Management (MPEM) with a focus on coastal resources and coastal management.

Meetings between the local manager of the CoastalProfs programme and the head of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Management (DENRM), along with environmental science lectures, were organized to introduce the objectives of the CoastalProfs programme, its activities and the need for integration of CoastalProfs modules into MPES. A second meeting among lecturers of the courses Natural Resources Management and Systems Thinking was organized to plan for the integration of CoastalProfs modules 1 and 2 into the course. The course outline was revised to get approval from the DENRM Committee for Research and Education.

To gain approval for a Masters programme on Environmental Management (MPEM) focusing on coastal zone resources and management involved the organization of internal meetings among administrators and professors of CTU. A first meeting with administrators and key professors from different units of the university discussed needs, objectives, and directions of courses, their timing and the standards of applicants. The meeting also gave a direction on the preparation of documents required by the Ministry of Education and Training in Hanoi. A second meeting was held with academic staff who would become involved in the teaching and managing the new programme. After preparation, the proposal documents for the new masters programme on Environmental Management (MPEM) with a focus on the coastal zone was evaluated by the Graduate School and approved by the CTU Rectorate before it was sent to the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) in Hanoi. MoET sent the documents to evaluators who recommended revisions after which the MoET gave approval.

Factors that can speed up the process are supportive documentation on similar curricula in Vietnam or other countries, availability of local staff to teach at least one third of the courses, availability of international cooperation to support teaching and the availability of literature in Vietnamese.

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Module 1 Social analysis of the coast – Introducing human dimensions Dik Roth, Ajit Menon, Maarten Bavinck, Leontine Visser & Martin Le Tissier

Coastal regions are important to human society providing space and resources, but are increasingly becoming pressurised through inward migration and escalating exploitation of resources. Coastal managers need to understand this human setting to balance the needs of human society with protection and conservation of the coastal landscape for sustainability and opportunity for future generations. This teaching module aims to make students aware of the importance of ‘the human factor’ in coastal management, and to recognize that many coastal problems are actually not ‘natural’ but the product of human presence, behavior and interventions. The module will develop understanding of social scientific input and some comprehension of social science perspectives and methods in coastal management. These skills will facilitate students to be able to work across disciplinary boundaries, and develop an approach that will enable them to incorporate human society in their exploration and analysis of coastal areas.

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Introduction Session 1 Complex processes in coastal areas: exploring the need for social 足scientific and transdisciplinary approaches to coastal management.

Session 2 Structures, processes and social actors Session 3 Social actors and stakeholders Session 4 Institutions, law and governance Session 5 Rights and competing claims to natural resources.

Session 6 Culture, local knowledge, and the valuation of different knowledge systems Session 7 Livelihood, vulnerability, and resilience Session 8 Coastal governance, policy and management between the local and global Literature quoted and references

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Module 1 â– Introduction

Introduction Coastal regions have many functions and provide a wide variety of ‘services’ to human societies. They have ecological value, provide natural resources and maintain productivity that sustains economic development and human livelihoods. As ever more people live and make a living in the coastal zone worldwide these regions are becoming increasingly important. Strategic economic activities are increasingly concentrated in coastal regions leading to rapid urbanisation and attracting settlers and entrepreneurs from within and outside the region. Processes of rapid urbanization and changing lifestyles and food consumption habits create global product chains that have an impact on livelihoods of inhabitants of coastal regions who are dependent on coastal and marine resources.

Under the influence of these developments coastal regions have come under growing environmental, social, political, economic, and demographic pressures. The drive for economic development competes with the need for protection, conservation and sustainable forms of exploitation. Competition for access to coastal resources between stakeholders generates social tensions and conflicts about property rights to coastal resources. Local processes related to global climate change will increasingly add to these pressures and require radical interventions in human societies in coastal regions.

Central and regional governments are not the only players in the politics of coastal management. Global trade networks, local power holders, national and international environmental and developmental NGOs, processing industries and consumers besides and beyond the state are influencing the quality and price of the coastal environment and its resources.

Overlapping and conflicting views and values within and between different administrative and legal institutions and non-state organizations are the result of differential interests, problem perceptions, flows of information and institutional histories.

Within this coastal setting, coastal managers should be able to map out the interactions between this complex network of stakeholders, and to provide a sound basis to contribute to practical scenarios aimed at alleviating problems. Given that students of coastal management often have a scientific background in marine biology, physical geography or fisheries science, capacity building of future coastal professionals should also include socio-economic knowledge and skills.

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MODULE 1 ■ Social analysis of the coast

Module 1 Aims In order to be effective, attempts to solve coastal problems have to take into account both natural and social conditions and processes. The overall goal of module 1 is to make students aware of the importance of ‘the human factor’ in coastal resources management (see Teacher’s note 1). The specific aim of module 1 is: 1 to gain a basic understanding of the social (political, economic) processes in coastal regions and ways to analyze them; 2 to understand the dynamic interactions and the complex causal linkages between natural processes and the various interest groups (‘stakeholders’) in human society.

Teacher’s note 1 ■ The human factor Teachers experiences in Vietnam and India This module was first taught in a try-out at Anna University, Chennai, India and Can Tho University, Can Tho, Vietnam. In India, the course was taken by 7 students with different disciplinary backgrounds (marine engineering, fisheries, civil engineering) and working experiences (full-time students, state-level government department employees – public works, ports, fisheries). In Vietnam, 22 students attended the course. Most of them (15) had an environmental science background (others came from, among others, animal husbandry and veterinary science, environmental engineering, and land management).

Giving an introductory course on social scientific aspects of the coastal zone is far from easy and requires intensive contact between teacher(s) and students. Yet, the scope for dealing with the various sections of this module in a more or less in-depth way is largely determined by the time allocated to the module in the study programme. In the case of Can Tho University (Vietnam), teaching of module 1 had to take place in five days only (around 20 teaching hours in five morning sessions for the lectures; in addition there were afternoon sessions for student presentations about the literature). At Anna University (Chennai, India), more time (45 teaching hours) was available for teaching module 1 and the sessions were spread over a longer period of time. This made it easier for students to prepare for the sessions, and for teachers to introduce elements such as guest lectures into the programme.

Learning outcomes of Module 1 Students will be made familiar with a number of topics, concepts and methods from the social sciences that are relevant to their future careers as coastal managers. Familiarity with these will not turn participants into social scientists, but will create a higher level of understanding and acceptance of social scientific input in coastal management. The knowledge, skills and general attitude developed in this way are expected to make students better coastal managers

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Module 1 ■ Introduction

who are better able to communicate and cooperate across disciplinary boundaries and have, therefore, better employment prospects. After following this course module, students will: ■ Have a basic knowledge and understanding of social-scientific concepts, approaches and debates and be able to apply them to coastal regions and problems of coastal management.

■ Be able to apply this basic social scientific knowledge in ‘real-life’ field situations aiming at an integrated analysis of natural and social dimensions of coastal zone problems.

■ Be able to communicate constructively and productively with social scientists in professional situations that require an integrated and inter- or trans- disciplinary approach to coastal zone issues.

Linkages with the modules 2 and 3 Module 1 provides the basics of social scientific approaches, concepts and knowledge. These will serve as a basic framework for making a set of structured observations from a field site in module 2, where students will apply the knowledge and insights derived from module 1 and their knowledge on natural processes in a series of exercises based on field observations. Students will learn to ‘deconstruct’ coastal regions into the social science and natural science dimensions that shape it, and to become aware of the linkages between these dimensions.

In module 3 an integrated picture of the coast will be constructed on the basis of their observations from module 2. Focusing on identified key issues or problems, students will formulate and discuss possible solutions. Module 3 will re-introduce a more managerial perspective to the students, in which they can finally fully apply the main lessons learnt in modules 1 and 2. First, they will have to show their awareness of the linkages between problem perceptions, analysis and the formulation of options for a solution. Second, in coming to a solution they will have to build on an integrated, holistic picture of the coastal zone. Third, they will have to take into account the differential (positive and negative) consequences for various stakeholders of the managerial options formulated as a solution to a problem. Finally, in discussing their solutions they will have to weigh the interests of all stakeholders.

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MODULE 1 ■ Social analysis of the coast

Outline of Module 1 The module is organised into eight individual teaching blocks – an introductory session and seven proceeding sessions that cover specific topics: Session 1

Session 2 Session 3 Session 4 Session 5 Session 6 Session 7 Session 8

Introduction: Complex processes in coastal areas: exploring the need for social scientific and transdisciplinary approaches to coastal management.

Structures, processes and social actors.

Social actors and ‘stakeholders’.

Institutions, law and governance.

Rights and competing claims to natural resources.

Culture, local knowledge, and the valuation of different knowledge systems.

Livelihood, vulnerability, and resilience.

Coastal governance, policy and management between the local and global.

Each session is provided in outline to assist teachers in the organisation and preparation of specific content for teaching on the social-scientific aspects of coastal areas. However, these are only guidelines, the exact content and detail are left to individual teachers to determine and construct to meet specific local settings and students. Depending on time allocated to the module, each session can be restricted to one lecture or group sitting, or be expanded into several sittings that include a variety of activities in class, in small groups and for individual work. If time allows, it can also involve short field exercises (e.g. observation exercises that will teach students to ‘see’ the concepts of the module in real life) (see Teacher’s note 2). Suggestions for literature that can be used to complement classroom teaching as well as underpin discussion and debate are also presented for each session (see Teacher’s note 3).

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Module 1 ■ Introduction

Teacher’s note 2 ■ Use of field exercises Some important general remarks about this module

■ The module gives a basic recipe that can be used for building a course, but users are

■

■

■

■

encouraged to play with the ingredients, depending on particular local circumstances, options, and restrictions.

As with Modules 2 and 3, Module 1 needs to be linked to a real-life coastal zone (probably the place where students will do fieldwork). The introductory section can be used to give background information on conditions and developments in this coastal zone, problems experienced in coastal management, etc.

Generally, the use of visual material (video, DVD, slides) works well for illustrating concepts, clarifying issues, generating critical questions and discussions in class, and for stimulating analysis and comparison between cases, regions, or countries. It also helps students to become more aware of (to ‘see’) elements in the coastal landscape that they are not used to noticing because of their specific disciplinary orientation.

Other elements that can find a place in the module are: interviews or a short interview training, role plays, short observation exercises, group discussion of the literature, student presentations about the literature or other aspects of the course; guest lectures by scientists or professionals.

For further guidance, instructions and illustrations on how to make students become aware what they have learned through this module in real-life coastal zone settings, see Module 2.

Teacher’s note 3 ■ Use of literature (see page 64) The reading material

■ The literature represents our subjective choice of scientific texts relevant as case studies or for introducing or illustrating concepts or approaches. It can, therefore, never be more than a suggestion. Depending on the time available, local ‘cultures’ of reading and teaching, the level of command of English and the ability of students to work with scientific texts, choices can be made for less or more literature, theoretical orientation, etc.

■ Generally scientific articles presenting case studies work quite well for teaching purposes.

It might be useful to look for ‘local’ case studies (that is: on coastal zone regions in the country where the module is taught) that can illustrate the points made in the literature and are about settings and issues that students might be more familiar with. Where students have real problems with more theoretical (social-)scientific literature, the exclusive use of such case studies could be considered. Depending on specific preferences, the topics of the case studies can be more focused on coastal regions or chosen within the more general domain of natural resources management.

■ In the reading tips for each section of Module 1 (see below) the students are given some guidance in reading through the material by making them aware of key points raised in the texts.

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MODULE 1 ■ Social analysis of the coast

Session 1 Complex processes in coastal areas: exploring the need for social ­scientific and transdisciplinary approaches to coastal management Coastal regions can be very dynamic, not only from a natural science perspective but also from that of the social sciences. Major social and economic processes taking place in, or having an impact upon, many coastal regions in the world are increasing economic exploitation, intensifying resource exploitation and resource competition, urbanization, population growth, and increasing environmental degradation. At the same time, there is a growing awareness of the environmental impact of such processes and of ‘new’ threats such as sea level rise caused by climate change and its impact upon vulnerable coastal populations. Such awareness often generates initiatives for nature conservation (e.g. wetland reserves, marine parks) or leads to the reservation of space and natural resources for coastal protection works. These processes are not so much ‘natural’, but are primarily driven by human behaviour, interventions, and decisionmaking. Therefore, in order to be able to analyze, understand and act upon these problems inter- or even transdisciplinary approaches to the problems of coastal regions are needed. The session is introduced through a case study in the field of ICM, natural resources management, and development intervention (Figure 3).

Analysis and discussion of the case study should make students familiar with the important distinction between instrumental (often also normative) and analytical (uses of) concepts. The session also distinguishes between tools for intervention (policy concepts) and tools for understanding the processes and settings in which interventions take place, or at which policies are directed. These general distinctions will make students aware of the existence of different conceptualizations of, and approaches to, problems in the coastal zone (see Suggested Reading and Teacher’s notes 4).

Example case study: Aquaculture

Figure 3 Vietnamese students doing field interviews in an aquaculture area in the Mekong delta, Vietnam.

In many places the rapid expansion of aquaculture in response to growing national, regional and global demand for fish products has caused a serious reduction and degradation of mangrove forest. This is not a natural process but a human-induced one. Some questions that are raised by these processes of change can be answered with the help of natural

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Session 1 ■ Complex processes in coastal areas

science input only (e.g. How does shrimp farming affect water quality? In what way has the degradation of mangrove affected the physical shape of the coastal zone?). However, many managerially relevant or even crucial questions canTeacher’s note 4 ■ Intervention tools & understanding Ideas for, and experiences from, teaching Session 1 ■ It is useful to let students reflect in subgroups on their felt knowledge and skill needs when they enter the course, and formulate their expectations of the course. This kind of exercise will serve as an ice-breaker, make people think about and actively formulate their felt needs and express their expectations. The lists of needs that the groups formulate can serve as point of entry for discussion of the coastal zone as a setting of complex problems.

In the Can Tho course, students came up with very interesting points such as the need for more knowledge on fishing communities and local fishing practices, on how to deal with conflicting interests of mangrove protection and shrimp cultivation, and with conflicts between conservation programmes and local fisher people.

■ What worked out quite well was the use of a part of a documentary as a starting point for group assignment: how could we do better than the case shown on the DVD? What types of scientific inputs do we need? What are they important for? In Can Tho the students answered this question with a huge list of academic disciplines and professional inputs. At the end of the exercise the teacher had to remind them that social science had not been mentioned.

■ To illustrate the possible consequences of taking a disciplinary/technical approach to coastal problems it is possible to use photographic images that illustrate how technical solutions generate new social problems.

What was easy, what was difficult?

■ Both in the Indian and the Vietnamese implementation of the module it turned out to be difficult to explain to the students the difference between (multi-)disciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches and to convince them of the need to establish ‘bridges’ between disciplines. Teachers should think about these, be consistent in their use of definitions, and take a clear position as to whether the goal should be interdisciplinarity or transdisciplinarity.

Not only in Vietnam and India, but also at Wageningen University, the Netherlands it is difficult to convince practice-oriented students with a mono-disciplinary educational background in the natural sciences of the fact that various researchers or stakeholders can have completely different (often contradictory) perceptions of the same issue or ‘problem’, that there is not one ready-made solution, or that one person’s solution may be another person’s problem.

In other words, that finding solutions that work in practice is – to a large extent – a social and political process involving difficult negotiations rather that a technical routine for the disciplinary expert.

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not be categorized along simple disciplinary lines or answered by inputs from one discipline only (Box 3).

Box 3 ■ Getting answers Notes on disciplinary, interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches Coastal regions are characterized by complex and dynamic processes that arise from interactions of the natural and social environments. A major problem in dealing with these interactions is the way these tend to be dealt with in existing management approaches. The complex reality of coastal areas tends to be cut up into separate segments of mono-disciplinary scientific and professional knowledge: e.g. marine biology, economics, coastal engineering. Often, social scientific input – if present at all – plays second fiddle to ‘hard’ science. Each knowledge segment produces its own problem analysis and ‘solution’. This segmented approach is reflected and reproduced in both the scientific world (that tends to be firmly disciplinary) and the policy and administrative worlds (which is ‘sectoral’).

Such monodisciplinary approaches tend to produce rigid boundaries between various knowledge inputs or even marginalize knowledge from other disciplines.

Each discipline remains rooted and defensive to its own concepts, theories, methods and ‘data’ without considering the possible approaches and contributions of other disciplines.

Interdisciplinary approaches are a substantial step forward: though the disciplinary boundaries continue, a problem is approached and dealt with from a variety of disciplinary perspectives. Differences in concepts, theories, methods and data remain. Thus, interdisciplinary approaches remain largely aggregative (see Giri, 2002) and are not able to deal with issues such as complexity and fragmented knowledge (see Lawrence and Després, 2004).

Transdisciplinary approaches go one step further on the way towards a real integration of the inputs provided by various scientific disciplines, a ‘deep interpenetration of disciplinary perspectives’ (Giri, 2002). Visser (2004: 27-29) gives four criteria to distinguish transdisciplinarity from interdisciplinarity: 1 real thinking along transdisciplinary lines demands a critical reconsideration of one’s own disciplinary points of departure, assumptions, concepts, methods etc.; 2 transdisciplinary approaches are transparent about conceptual and other continuities and congruencies, but also about differences, disjunctures and conflicts; 3 Transdisciplinary approaches are characterized by realism about the opportunities and threats, the possibilities of both success and failure of integrative experiments; 4 Transdisciplinarity means a moving beyond the concepts, questions and methods of the various disciplines.

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Therefore it is important to be clear about these concepts and how they are used for educational or other professional purposes. It is also crucial to realize that in real-life management issues it might be too ambitious to strive for transdisciplinary approaches; in such non-academic settings interdisciplinary forms of planning, policy-making and implementation may be the highest objective attainable.

The concepts of inter- and trans- disciplinarity can also be used to refer to other interactions: e.g. between the scientific world and policy-administrative domains, between scientists and managers, between scientists and sectoral policy-makers, etc.

ese need an input from both natural sciences and social sciences (Box Th 4) (e.g. What are the long-term prospects for sustainable forms of aquaculture shrimp cultivation that provide people with a relatively secure income?

Why do local fishermen not adhere to new government regulations that restrict their fishing activities? How important is fishing for their daily living? Is it their only source of income?).

Box 4 ■ Natural and social sciences A short remark on natural sciences and social sciences Serious incorporation of social scientific knowledge in coastal management is still an exception rather than the rule. This has much to do with (real or assumed) differences between the natural sciences and the social sciences. The status of social scientific knowledge in domains with a predominant natural science input (e.g. coastal management) tends to be low, and is often restricted to the instrumental and interventionist aspects. ‘Soft’ social science is often no more than an add-on to the ‘real’ entity of ‘hard’ natural science and its quantitative data.

A serious engagement with social aspects of coastal management requires a quite different view of the possible role of social science. To the extent that they are real, the differences between the natural sciences and the social sciences have much to do with their different objects of knowledge, how to deal with these methodologically, and what status to accord to non-quantifiable data. Imitation of natural science methods and approaches by social scientists has not yielded better social science, simply because the vagaries of human behaviour and societal development cannot be ‘predicted’ like a chemical reaction in a laboratory situation. Moreover, understanding individual and collective human behaviour may require quite different data to work with: not only ‘hard’ quantifiable data processed by the computer, but data gathered through observations, interviews, or interpretation of texts.

A turn in the social sciences from preoccupation with ‘hard’ quantitative data acceptable to natural scientists towards working with qualitative data, from sticking to the facts towards interpretative approaches that take into account the multiple realities of a variety of social actors, and from assumptions of predictability towards recognition of complexity and unpredictability has greatly contributed to

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the development of social sciences. It is exactly these aspects that are so clearly missing and badly needed in current approaches to coastal management. But it is not a simple either/or issue: all relevant disciplines are needed, whether natural or social. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches are also needed. If produced by sound research practices, the status of data gathered in an interview with a stakeholder in the coastal zone is not lower than the status of quantified natural science data. They differ, but are both vitally needed. Of course all ‘data’ needs to be assessed critically, whether ‘soft’ social scientific or ‘hard’ natural scientific: how were they gathered? By whom, and with what objective in mind?

What are the hidden assumptions?

Finally, it is important not to forget that issues of uncertainty, complexity, unpredictability and how to deal with these scientifically are also increasingly on the agenda of natural scientists and policy makers who have to deal with issues such as coastal management, flood protection, or climate change.

us, understanding the processes of change of which these developments Th are part (e.g. globalization; see Held and McGrew, 1999; see also Session 8) and their consequences for people and the environment, as well as developing sound managerial solutions to issues and problems require the input of both natural science and social science knowledge (Box 5).

Box 5 ■ Understanding the process of change using natural and social science inputs Framing of problems in coastal areas The coastal zone is characterized by complex interactions involving not only natural processes but also social processes. It is not possible to know the exact boundaries of the ‘systems’ under study or management, or the many social factors involved make it impossible to objectively describe systems and processes involved from a neutral ‘outside’ perspective. The different scales and levels of natural and social processes that are relevant to understanding the coastal zone, as well as the role of time and historical process, causes knowledge to be emergent and perspective-bound (see Brown et al., 2002; Cilliers, 2005). In such ‘wicked problems’ (Rittel and Webber, 1973), of which human-environmental interactions are a good example, there are many knowledge gaps and a high degree of uncertainty about future developments. The interpretations of ‘the facts’ has to be dealt with in many ways by different researchers, managers or other actors.

Thus, problems in coastal regions are also perceived (‘framed’) and defined differently by different actors, and different problem definitions lead to different solutions. Often, these contradictions between the views of actors are related to differences in societal positions, interests, and views of how things should be arranged.

What is a solution in the view of one actor, may add to the problems of another actor. In the struggles resulting from such situations scientific knowledge is often

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mobilized to legitimize a specific problem view and related course of action (and denounce others). Managers must be aware of this use of scientific ‘data’ to support courses of action that are not based on a more integrated view and negotiated process of problem definition and formulation of solutions. In the policy world, many ‘solutions’ are buzzing around in search of a problem definition that fits it.

‘Framing’ and ‘re-framing’ are important concepts in the literature on social learning. ‘Re-framing’ can be part of a process towards reaching problem definitions and solutions shared by all actors involved (for ‘actors’ and ‘stakeholders’, see Session 3). Re-framing ideally creates a mindset that allows for different perspectives on the same issue, stimulates a deeper understanding of what kind of knowledge or experience these perspectives are based on, and teaches people not to take their own frame as a measuring stick. Re-framing can facilitate more positive outcomes styles, no longer based on ‘distributive’ (what and how much do I get from the cake) but on ‘integrative’ (how can we bake the cake in such a way as to benefit all) styles of negotiation (see Aarts and van Woerkom, 2002). In reality, there may, of course, be good reasons for people to stick to their perspective and demand their part of the cake (for ‘framing’ see also: Lewicki et al., 2003).

Session 1 Aims Based on a general introduction about problems in coastal regions this introductory session aims to: ■ Create awareness of the need for approaches that integrate or transcend purely disciplinary or sectoral orientations to such problems.

■ Link coastal processes to social scientific debates, concepts and approaches.

Session 1 Learning outcomes Key learning/teaching points of this session are: ■ There are no simple scientific or managerial solutions to complex environmental problems.

■ Seeing the important social components of ‘natural’ phenomena or processes, and their causes, impacts, and consequences.

■ The role of networks and linkages, and of scales and levels in the social world.

■ Environmental change has different impacts for different groups of people.

■ Different people will perceive coastal problems differently and come up with different, often contradictory, solutions.

■ Disciplinary approaches cannot deal with complex environmental issues.

Therefore, an inter- or transdisciplinary approach is needed.

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Student notes 1 ■ Guidance for reading of the recommended texts and questions pointing to important issues in the literature General remark: It is important, when reading the texts, always to ask the following questions: 1 What is the main message the author(s) of the text intend to convey?

2 How can this be related to the topic of this section?

3 How can this be related to the course theme?

4 Do I really understand the main points, concepts, arguments etc.?

5 Do I agree with the text? Are there general or specific points I disagree with? On what scientific grounds?

6 Does the text contribute to my understanding of the topic of the session, and of the general course theme?

For the text by Visser (2004): 1 What are three preconditions for integrating social and natural sciences distinguished by the author?

2 What are the four characteristics of a transdisciplinary approach discussed by the author?

3 What differences are there between interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary approaches?

4 In what ways can academic disciplines or government sectors be a hindrance to integrative approaches? And approaches based on zoning and territorialization?

5 What criticism does the author raise against concepts like ‘participation’, ‘stakeholders’, and ‘co-management’?

For the text by Van Helden (2004): 1 How are protected areas often established in a disciplinary approach, according to the author? For what moral and practical reasons is the author critical of this?

2 Mention two characteristics of ‘new’ conservation.

3 Why is, according to the author, cooperation between marine ecologists and social scientists not always easy?

4 What does the Milne Bay case illustrate about the role of social and economic factors in the development of marine protected areas?

5 What is problematic about management measures through a closed season?

6 What does the author mean by ‘data-less’ and ‘map-less’ conservation intervention? How does this relate to the problem of scale and the different ways these are dealt with in natural science and social science?

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Suggested reading Visser, L.E. (2004) Reflections on transdisciplinarity, integrated coastal development and governance, in: Leontine Visser (ed.) Challenging Coasts. Trans­ disciplinary excursions into integrated coastal zone development, pp. 23-47. ­Am­sterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

Visser’s chapter pleads for a transdisciplinary approach to complex social-environmental problems in coastal regions. It gives definitions and criteria for distinguishing transdisciplinarity from interdisciplinarity.

Helden, F. van (2004) ‘Making do’: integrating ecological and societal considerations for marine conservation in a situation of indigenous resource tenure, in: L.E. Visser (ed.) Challenging Coasts. Transdisciplinary excursions into integrated coastal zone development, pp. 93-117. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

Van Helden presents a case study of the role of scale in a marine park conservation intervention in indigenous resource tenure. He shows that different disciplines have different ways of dealing with scale. The author makes a case for ‘data-less’ and ‘map-less’ conservation, meaning that disciplinary data, important though they may be, should not be the only basis for interventions.

See Students notes 1 for directions that can help students inform their reading of these texts.

Session 2 Structures, processes and social actors Social and environmental processes in the coastal zone are complex and unpredictable. Many (coastal) resource managers have real-life experience with the tension between attempts by regulatory bodies and authorities to exert control by relying on existing structures of governance, legal regulation and management and processes of change taking place in the coastal zone. Some changes may be planned but, at least partly, many seem to take place independent of and untouched by the structures that policy makers and managers have to hand. In other cases, planned changes set in motion by administrators or policy-makers may sweep away poor and powerless inhabitants and resource users of the coastal zone. In such instances the poor are usually not represented in processes of decision-making, and therefore their rights and interests not taken into account.

Thus, often there are serious managerial and societal problems, which create a need for more effective coastal management that takes into account the interests of a wide variety of people. This requires better understanding of the processes of planned and unplanned change in coastal regions. Approaches in the social sciences that focus on the structures that make up society have

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been much criticized. Social analysis exclusively in terms of fixed and steady social structures and institutions cannot deal with or explain such processes of societal change. Therefore alternative approaches are needed along with concepts through which it is possible to cope analytically with change, and the complexity, uncertainty and unpredictability associated with it. ‘Actor-oriented’ approaches that are better equipped to deal analytically with societal change while continuing to take into account the important structural dimensions of society are of primary importance here (see Definition box 1).

Definition box 1 ■ Structural dimensions of society Social structure and social system Social structure can be defined as ‘the totality of social institutions and status relationships’ (Hylland-Eriksen, 2001: 73). A social system is ‘a set of social relations which are regularly actualised and thus reproduced as a system through interaction’ (Hylland-Eriksen, 2001: 75). While social systems are ‘delineable sets of social relationships between actors’, social structure ‘refers to the totality of standardised relationships in society’ (Hylland-Eriksen, 2001: 77). Important to remember here is that both are ‘socially created channels and frameworks for human action, which provide both opportunities and constraints’ (Hylland-Eriksen, 2001: 77).

Actors and human agency Long and van der Ploeg (1989; see literature) apply an actor analysis to the domain of development studies. Like much actor-oriented social science, their work is much influenced by the British sociologist Anthony Giddens (1979; 1984). Long defines (or rather circumscribes) human agency and social actors as follows: ‘the notion of agency attributes to the individual actor the capacity to process social experience and to devise ways of coping with life, even under the most extreme forms of coercion. Within the limits of information, uncertainty and the other constraints (e.g. physical, normative or politici-economic) that exist, social actors are “knowledgeable” and “capable”. They attempt to solve problems, learn how to intervene in the flow of social events around them, and monitor continuously their own actions, observing how others react to their behaviour and taking note of the various contingent circumstances (Giddens 1984: 1-16; Long, 1992: 22-23).

Usually a picture is chosen to illustrate something by what can be seen on it (Figure 4). In this session the emphasis is for students to reflect on what cannot be seen. For Garrett Hardin, author of ‘The tragedy of the commons’ (Hardin, 1968) – a one-liner that became a metaphor of resource degradation and overexploitation in resource management studies – the world consists of competing and selfish individuals caught in their short-term ‘rational’ behaviour.

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This perspective will not suffice for the purpose for understanding social life where it is necessary to look beyond atomized individuals. Imagine what this fisherman (Figure 4) might be part of: ■ He has his own relatives and kin group.

■ If he is married, he is socially related through marriage to the kin group of his wife.

■ He lives in a household that may either have the shape of a ‘nuclear family’ (man, wife and children) or also incorporate other kin (parents of a spouse, cousins or one of their children, etc.).

■ He lives in a village stretched out along the beach.

■ He has neighbours, and he might be part of neighbourhood or village institutions.

■ His community could be a fishing community, characterized by its own specific cultural identity, norms and rules. Possibly the fisher people are organized in a cooperative and there may be links between this organization and a local, regional or even international NGO. ■ He might be a member of a local, state-level or national political party.

■ He also is a citizen of the state and country in which he lives.

The fisherman is also a social actor, devising his individual strategies individually or through the institutions he belongs to, trying to reach his goals in life, expressing preferences, and taking decisions (Box 6). All relationships, networks, memberships, roles and statuses he may have, and be part of, may both enable and constrain him in doing so. Whatever the balance may be between enabling and constraining forces, his behaviour will never be fully determined by the bigger structures he is part of but will partly be determined by his own motivation, aspirations and expectations. We can even imagine that his membership of fisheries representative body or union and political party, and his relationships to an NGO will influence local, state or even national fisheries regulation. Thus, individual actors such as this fisherman and collecFigure 4 tive or institutional actors (e.g. repFisherman repairing his nets on a beach resentative organizations, political near Chennai, India: parties and NGOs) too may make an actor in the coastal a real difference by changing the zone, but at the same structures in the society that they time part of the broader structures of are part of. the society to which he belongs.

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Box 6 ■ Structures, processes, actors and agency The issue of structure and system, actors and processes of change is a key debate in social sciences. Are structures, e.g. a culture or religion, the state, the family, a kin group, taken for granted and is it simply assumed that people are fully determined by these structures in their behaviour and choices? Or are individual people or groups of people organized in social and political institutions also considered and is an attempt made to understand how they behave within the mix of opportunities and constraints of the structures and how their behaviour influences society?

Earlier 20th century social scientists (e.g. social anthropologists) tended to focus on ‘structure’, even to such an extent that they ascribed all kinds of ‘functions’ or purposes to it (so-called ‘structural functionalism’). In such approaches society was seen as an organism, an integrated machine created to maintain the existing social order of social and political institutions. But such approaches cannot deal with explaining differences in societal development, nor with societal change.

Therefore, more attention is needed for the role of social conflict and societal change (see Coulson and Riddell, 1970).

In the later 20th-century actor-oriented approaches became influential. They realize that individuals are the product of the structures of our society and that, by accepting and becoming part of these structures, they are reproduced. On the other hand each person is also an individual, strategizing, trying to reach goals, and organizing for all kinds of purposes. People are neither totally free to do what they like, nor completely constrained by the structures of society. Depending on circumstances in specific societies and societal domains, people will tend to find themselves somewhere in between the extremes of this continuum.

An actor-oriented approach is crucial in dealing with this dynamic interaction between structures and actors. Institutionalized behaviour of (groups of) people contributes to the strengthening and reproduction of the structures of society, However, the behaviour of individual actors or collective actors (a labour union, a water users’ association, a political party, a fisher people’s union, a government agency, etc.) may also set in motion processes of societal change. It is, however, very important to remain aware of the real limitations and constraints that existing structures may pose to the freedom of social actors!

Session 2 Aims Using the concepts of ‘actor’ and ‘agency’ needed for an actor analysis this session introduces the important dimension of human motivation, power, choice and behaviour, and session aims to:

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■ Introduce students to the basics of an actor-oriented approach, as it can be applied to the coastal zone and other settings of natural resource exploitation.

■ Provide better understanding of processes of change in coastal regions.

Session 2 Learning outcomes Key learning/teaching points (see Teacher’s note 5) of this session are: ■ Awareness of the fact that structural elements in society only partly shape the coastal zone.

■ Awareness that these structures cannot fully explain processes of social and societal change.

■ Understanding of the importance of attention to processes of change and the role of actors and human agency in society.

Teacher’s note 5 ■ Ideas for, and experiences from, teaching Session 2 ■ Let students reflect on the structural and systemic forces in society that they are part of themselves and that co-determine their lives. How important are they? What is, for instance, the influence of family, kin, or community structures? What kinds of norms and rules do they associate with these? Which ones do they feel to be supportive to their lives, which are seen as constraining their options and choices in life?

■ The degree to which students are aware (or allowed to be aware) of the role of actors as generators of processes of change in society is also dependent on the political institutions and environment they are part of as citizens. Democratic institutions, independent political parties, an active NGO world and other civil society institutions, a free press, and freedom of thought and debate at universities allow for greater awareness and more open recognition of the importance of these debates.

■ Use DVD material, e.g. documentaries on the coast, natural resources management, or development interventions to illustrate this topic. It is important to start from accessible examples rather than from theory.

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Student notes 2 ■ Guidance for reading of the recommended texts and questions pointing to important issues in the literature Long (1989): 1 What is the difference between theoretical models and policy models? Why is this distinction important?

2 Explain why it is important, according to the authors, to focus on intervention practices rather than on models only?

3 What criticism do the authors raise against the intervention paradigms of the 1960s and 1970s?

4 What is meant by ‘deconstruction’?

5 What criticism is raised against development interventions as ‘projects’ in a discrete timespace context?

6 Why is it important, according to the authors, to take an actor perspective, allowing for the role of ‘human agency’ in processes of societal change?

Van Duijn (2004): 1 For what purposes were aquatic organisms collected before 1990? Which development brought about a change in this in the 1980s?

2 How have catches per unit effort developed since the 1990s? What are the main causes?

3 How did people react to these developments? Did they generally succeed?

4 What are the main uses of coastal and marine resources in Vietnam, and what are the main environmental problems associated with them?

5 What are the main employment opportunities in Cat Hai? Which sectors are expanding, which is declining and why?

6 Which groups are ‘invisible’ in official statistics? What causes this deviation?

7 Why is handpicking so important, and for whom?

8 What does the author conclude about the social-economic position of the coastal poor who depend on aquatic resources?

Suggested reading Long, N. and van der Ploeg, J.D. (1989) Demythologizing planned intervention: an actor perspective. Sociologica Ruralis (Vol. xxix – ¾): 226-249.

Long and Van der Ploeg apply an actor-oriented approach to the world of development interventions through projects. Their approach and ideas are important for everybody who is theoretically or practically engaged in issue of development, planned change, governance or resources management.

Van Duijn A.P. (2004) The rich eat fish and the poor eat pork: the decline of livelihoods of handpickers of aquatic organisms in North Vietnam, in: Leontine Visser (ed.) Challenging coasts. Transdisciplinary excursions into integrated coast­ al zone development, pp. 211-238. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press.

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Session 3 ■ Social actors and stakeholders

The case study by Van Duijn on Vietnam gives an analysis of poor fishers / collectors of aquatic organisms as social actors in the coastal zone. The text shows how catch declines in combination with their gradual marginalization and exclusion under the influence of government policies becomes a threat to their way of life and leads to increasing poverty and deprivation.

A good text about the role of social actors, social and political networks, and the role of patronage in resource management in an African context of predatory and collapsing states is Gordon (2005).

See Students notes 2 for directions that can help students inform their reading of these texts.

Session 3 Social actors and stakeholders This session is a continuation from Session 2 on actor-oriented approaches and deals with the more practical contributions made by a focus on social actors in coastal regions. In the policy fields of development and natural resources increasing use is made of the ‘stakeholder’ concept and of the instrument of ‘stakeholder analysis’ (Box 7).

Box 7 ■ The stakeholder concept The stakeholder concept originates in business administration, and was defined there as ‘any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the firm’s objectives’ (see Mikalsen and Jentoft, 2001: 282). Thus it encompasses not only the people affected by a policy but also those who can exert their influence on it. In the social sciences there is no standard definition; a wide variety of definitions with either a narrower or broader scope are in use. The World Bank (1996: 125; see also Warner 2006) defines stakeholders as ‘those affected by the outcome – negatively or positively – or those who can affect the outcome of a proposed intervention’. Brown et al. (2002: 17), with a focus on coastal resources, define the concept as ‘any individual or defined group with an interest or influence over coastal resources’.

Stakeholders can be classified and ranked in priority, e.g. whether to actively involve, consult, or inform. Often a distinction is made between the importance and influence of stakeholder groups; stakeholders that are directly affected by a project or programme but have little power or influence on the decision-making process are important, and those who are not directly affected themselves but can affect the resource users through their power over decisions are influential.

A classification can then be made into primary (usually the important), secondary (usually the influential), and external stakeholders (no important interests, but

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exerting influence over the outcome (see Brown et al., 2002: 65-69). Mikalsen and Jentoft (2001: 283; see reading) use a classification into definitive, expectant and latent stakeholders, based on the criteria of urgency, power and legitimacy).

Stakeholder analysis may be used either to inform the planning and decisionmaking process, or may lay the basis for ‘platforms’ with the objective of reaching a negotiated decision or solution (the Multi-Stakeholder Platforms; MSP; see Warner 2007). Another advantage is that stakeholder may get used to, and start accepting, each other. This can lead to a decrease of distrust and unwillingness to cooperate (see Le Tissier and Hills, 2006).

A need for critical appreciation of the concept: There is much literature on stakeholders and stakeholder analysis, both with an analytical and with a more instrumental focus. The stakeholder concept is popular, but it can also have its drawbacks. Thus, the procedures for categorization and valuation of social actors can be politically or otherwise biased. Styles of negotiation of all stakeholders allowed to participate in the process may not always be oriented towards reaching an integrated and broadly accepted solution. Further, quite decisive power relations may remain hidden behind the egalitarian ideology of involvement, ownership of the process and integration. Therefore, we must be realistic on this point. Finally, we cannot just assume that the stakeholder process or ‘platform’ is the place where the important processes take place and the key decisions are actually taken (for a critical discussion of the concept as used in the field of water resources development, see e.g. Warner, 2006).

efore making plans or taking decisions on coastal management it is imB portant that planners and decision-makers have a clear and complete overview of those individual, group or institutional actors that are either directly affected by a project or management scheme, or can decisively influence their outcome. Stakeholders who are not sufficiently taken into account, or who even become marginalized, in the planning and decision-making process will probably not be strong supporters of plans for changes in the coastal zone or for better management, and may end up actively resisting such plans as a consequence.

A stakeholder analysis is essentially a policy instrument, and hence may be susceptible to biases and choices made on grounds of politics or expediency of the policy process rather than on scientific analytical grounds.

A stakeholder analysis is not always based on a sound actor analysis. Many stakeholder analyses, for instance, pay little attention to the role of power and power differences between stakeholders – between ‘stake winners’ and ‘stake losers’. A good actor analysis that stands at the basis of policy-making and key policy decisions should take this factor into account. A case study can help bring ‘to life’ the concepts of this session.

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Example case study: Hon Chong, Vietnam tourism Hon Chong is a small coastal settlement with a total area of about 45 hectares and 455 inhabitants in the south of Vietnam. This coastal area harbours a number of tourist attractions: a Vietnamese and a Khmer temple close to a beautiful coastal scenery of sandy beaches and small rocky islands. There is a luxury tourist resort on a hill overlooking the coast. The local people are fishermen, farmers, peddlers and owners of small souvenir shops for the tourists. As tourism has become an increasingly important source of income for Vietnam – actually it is one of the largest – the country is actively attracting investors in the tourist sector and building up tourist infrastructure. In 2005 the People’s Committee of Kien Giang Province approved a plan for urbanization in the area, involving the construction of a commercial centre, a tourist area and resorts, hotels and a modern residential area. The plans may well have a negative environmental and social impact. Thus, the local inhabitants living along the coastline and small traders selling their souvenirs and local medicines there will have to be resettled (Figure 5).

The Kien Giang Investment and Figure 5 Construction Company will take Souvenir and local their land and compensate at a price medicine selling at fixed by the government, below the a coastal tourist site and resort in the market value.

Hon Chong area,

Resettled people will not be able South Vietnam. Is to buy land in a new residential area, he a social actor in the coastal zone? nor to continue selling souvenirs, A stakeholder? fishing or other economic activities.

What makes him a They have no money to invest in a social actor and / new shop or kiosk in the new comor a stakeholder?

Is he regarded mercial centre. New buyers and inas a stakeholder vestors from outside will take over, in government plans for tourist resort and market while the local people will have to development? Should he be regarded as such? What move out. This will also have consemight be the consequences of not involving him as a stakeholder? quences for the social and cultural character of the area (and perhaps for its attractiveness as a tourist destination). The project might also further damage the coastal landscape of limestone mountains, sand dunes and beaches, while environmental problems (garbage; untreated wastewater) may worsen the situation.

The local people who will be negatively affected by these plans have never been represented as ‘stakeholders’ in the earlier planning process. For the time being they therefore refuse to leave their houses and land. Local people demand more compensation and access to the commercial centre, or to alternative sources of income provided by the state.

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Session 3 Aims Using principles of stakeholder analysis, this session aims to: ■ Provide a basic understanding of the concept of stakeholder.

■ Develop a critical and realistic perspective on the contribution of stakeholder approaches.

■ Create awareness of the possibly selective and exclusionary biases in stakeholder approaches.

Session 3 Learning outcomes Key learning / teaching points (see Teacher’s note 6) of this session are: ■ Students are aware of differences with approaches based on user participation or co-management.

■ Students are able to explain the difference between a stakeholder and a social actor, and are aware of the need for good and unbiased actor analysis to be the basis of stakeholder analysis.

Teacher’s note 6 ■ Ideas for teaching Session 3 ■ Use of visual material or presentation of short case studies from the literature on (coastal) resource management or interventions, to visualize some of the stakeholders involved and to explain the differences between actors and stakeholders.

■ A role play on social actors and stakeholders in the coastal zone could make students aware of the possibly conflicting positions of stakeholders, the need to negotiate, and of the possible consequences of defining some (groups of) people as stakeholders for policy purposes and others not (excluding them).

■ An internet search for definitions of ‘stakeholders’ on the websites of important multilateral or other organizations. Students could present the results, compare definitions and approaches, and discuss the possible implications for processes of stakeholder involvement.

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Student notes 3 ■ Guidance for reading of the recommended texts and questions pointing to important issues in the literature Mikalsen and Jentoft (2001): 1 What is the difference between ‘co-management’, ‘user participation’ and ‘stakeholder’ approaches?

2 On what grounds can the need for a stakeholder approach be argued?

3 Which two questions must be answered if a stakeholder approach is to make sure that all constituents of a management regime are taken into account?

4 What is meant by ‘identification’ and ‘salience’? Which three dimensions of ‘salience’ are used to distinguish between categories of stakeholders?

5 What is the difference between broad and narrow definitions of stakeholders? What are ‘primary’ and ‘secondary’ stakeholders?

6 What are ‘definitive’, ‘expectant’ and ‘latent’ stakeholders? What is this classification based on?

7 When applying these ideas to fisheries management, what should we understand by a ‘manager’ or ‘management’? What is the position of the state and its agencies?

8 What are, according to the authors, the main benefits of a stakeholder approach?

Frangoudes and Alban (2004): 1 How was the Greek marine park established? (conditions, objectives, relationship with and opinion of local actors, decision-making on the park) 2 How was the Spanish natural park established? (idem). What is an important difference with the Greek park?

3 How was the French park established? (idem).

4 What are the important differences between the three cases discussed? What makes the French case stand out in terms of stakeholder involvement?

5 What is concluded about the impact on fishermen’s income, initiative, the role of advise, timing and level of decision-making?

Suggested reading Mikalsen, K.H. and Svein Jentoft (2001) From user groups to stakeholders? The public interest in fisheries management. Marine Policy 25: 281-292.

Mikalsen and Jentoft stress the importance of stakeholder approaches to issues with a public interest, give a concise overview of stakeholder theory as it originated in business administration, and apply the concept to fisheries management.

Frangoudes, K. and Alban, F. (2004) Fishermen and the creation of marine parks: Northern Sporades (Greece), Northern Cap de Creus (Catalonia), and the Iroise Sea (France), in: J. Boissevain and T. Selwyn (eds) Contesting the Foreshore, Tourism, soci­ ety, and politics on the coast. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, pp. 169-184.

Frangoudis et al. discuss three cases of the establishment of national marime parks in Greece, Spain and France. These efforts are characterized by different objectives, views of local fishing communities and ways of involving them. They stress the point that policy changes may turn social actors in the coastal zone into stakeholders.

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Session 4 Institutions, law and governance In coastal resources management there is a growing interest in institutions, the role of law, and governance. It is now generally accepted that human institutions matter because well functioning and effective institutions can make a real difference in the quality of resource management. There is also increasing attention to the role of legal regulation, especially the relationship between the kinds of rights defined for natural resources and options for resource management. Finally, there is also awareness of the importance of governance, efforts to control people and processes in the coastal zone. Thus, there is broad agreement on the importance of institutions, law and governance.

However, what is meant by these concepts? There are many definitions of, and approaches to, these concepts, depending on the hidden assumptions, political views and objectives of those who do the defining. In practice, a mix between normative (stating what should be) and more empirical (focusing on what is) elements, e.g. in the concept of ‘good governance’, and the ways in which it is used in the development policy world can be found. Further, a general bias towards the state and its institutions, regulations and governance structures can be seen. However, in order to better understand processes in the coastal zone it is necessary to be aware of institutional, legal and governance complexities. Therefore attention to both state and non-state institutional arrangements, forms of rule-making and sets of norms and rules determining the behaviour of people and their perceptions of natural resources must be given. Social scientific approaches can provide alternative views and conceptualizations that contribute to a better social-scientific understanding of the real-life problems of coastal management. This is not an academic exercise: understanding of the complex set-up of coastal regions is a crucial precondition for establishing more integrated forms of coastal resource management with a greater degree of legitimacy among affected populations and other stakeholders.

The concepts of ‘governance’, ‘law’ and ‘institution’ are usually more or less automatically associated with the state and its agencies (Box 8). The state is, of course, a very important actor: its institutions, laws, and various instruments of governance are omnipresent. But they are not all-determining. For example, there are also customary or community-based institutions, rights to resources (e.g. common pool resources; common property), and forms of governance.

These may also influence the choices and behaviour of people (Figure 6).

They may either stimulate or constrain options for sustainable use of coastal resources. Attention to such non-state arrangements and ways of dealing with natural resources is not important because they are inherently ‘better’ (but nor are they inherently worse!). They are important and need our

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Box 8 ■ Institutions, law and governance Jentoft’s (2004) discussion of institutions gives a clear picture of the wide variety of approaches to institutions that can be found in social science. We can make a basic distinction between approaches that focus on rules and those that take a less rule-focused, more comprehensive social-scientific approach. In rule-focused approaches, institutions are defined as ‘rules in use’ or ‘rules of the game’. Often, these approaches are deeply influenced by institutional economics. Such approaches are very popular, as they hold the promise of ‘crafting’ institutions (Ostrom, 1992): rules can be devised by social and legal engineers in such a way as to create the right incentives and reduce transactions costs. Critics tend to point out that institutions are not just systems of rules – that may, moreover, be contested – but much more complex phenomena embedded in specific societies that also include elements of knowledge, meaning, morals and norms. Leach et al. (1999: 226) define institutions as ‘regularised patterns of behaviour between individuals and groups’, and Scott (1995) distinguishes normative, cognitive and regulative elements.

Debates on law and rights and natural resources have increasingly incorporated social scientific approaches to law, mainly deriving from legal anthropology. This has resulted in less restrictive approaches that expand the concept of law and ‘the legal’ to a variety of non-state domains operating at all levels between the local and the global. ‘The concept of legal pluralism (see Benda-Beckmann et al., 2006; see also Bavinck, 1998) refers to the existence and interaction of a variety of ‘legal systems’ or frameworks in the same socio-political space. The concept of legal pluralism has proved very useful in the analysis of rights to natural resources and resources management. Among others, it gives us an actor-oriented perspective on the role of law in society and the relationship between law and human behaviour. It also makes us aware of legal regulation as a source of opportunities as well as constraints and uncertainties.

The concept of governance is currently very much in vogue. There are many definitions of governance varying in scope, normative content, and hidden assumptions about, for instance, the objectives of actors and outcomes of the processes involved. Grindle (2007) gives a useful overview of various definitions of governance found in the development policy and academic world. It is important to clearly distinguish between ‘government’ and ‘governance’. While the former refers to the formal institutions of the state, state power and state control, the latter has a much broader reference to ‘processes of steering, ordering, ruling and control’ (Nuijten, 2004) in a more general - state and non-state - sense. It is also important to be aware of implicit normative or goal-oriented elements in approaches to governance, especially in the policy world or policy-oriented scientific approaches in social and administrative science. Examples are a priori assumptions of ‘good’ governance (and, hence, also ‘bad’ governance!), and assumed goals and final outcomes of governance processes (e.g. governance as improved style of governing; governance as problem solution and support to enabling institutions).

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attention because they influence the behaviour of (groups of) people and thus also processes in the coastal zone.

Other forms of non-state legal regulation and governance can be found in the increasingly important domain of transnational or global norms, laws and bodies that co-determine processes within the boundaries of the state. Another example is the role of private forms of regulation associated with the market and product chains (e.g. environmental and social quality standards on specific products); these may be either regulated through market chains or be part of suprastate regulation (e.g. EU regulations on the quality of fish products).

Figure 6 A customs office on the Vietnamese side of the border between Vietnam and Cambodia. Most trans-border traffic seems to take place where state control is less prominently present, even within view of this checkpoint the boats of traders are crossing the border.

Session 4 Aims Using social science approaches, this session aims to: ■ Provide a basic understanding of these concepts of institutions, law and governance and how they are used in coastal zone and natural resource management.

Session 4 Learning outcomes Key learning/teaching points (see teacher’s note 7) for this session are: ■ Students are aware of the existence and role of state and non-state institutions, rules, and systems of governance at various levels of society, between the extremes of local and global.

■ Students are aware of the consequences of such legal-institutional complexity for planning, policy implementation, management and governance.

Teacher’s note 7 ■ Ideas for teaching session 4 ■ In Vietnam students were sub-divided into three groups and each asked to focus on one of the concepts of governance, law, and institutions. They were asked to define these concepts or circumscribe them in terms of their major functions and characteristics. Students were also asked to discuss whether they find these concepts important for coastal management and, if so, in what ways. After their internal discussions the subgroups presented the results for each of the concepts in class. The lists of characteristics that resulted from this were all fully focused on state law, institutions and governance. This gave a good basis

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for further discussion in class to make students think about non-state rule systems, governance and institutions in resources management and thus to rethink this state-bias.

■ In India, DVD documentaries were used highlighting competing claims to coastal resources, and the legal-institutional frameworks around them. In Vietnam the concept of institutions was illustrated by a DVD on (irrigation) water rights and a traditional system of water auctioning. It turned out to be difficult to make students really think about the point of legal and institutional complexity. Intermediate field visit to nearby locations where issues of competing claims to resources play a role can help a lot here.

What was difficult: lost in translation: In Vietnam, the lectures had to be simultaneously translated into Vietnamese because of the low level of command of English among students. Introduction of the concept of ‘governance’ and attempts to introduce students to the different meanings associated with the concept created quite some confusion: the distinction between ‘government’ and ‘governance’ cannot be expressed in the Vietnamese language. Though it was literally lost in translation, the difference could be circumscribed.

Student notes 4 ■ Guidance for reading of the recommended texts and questions pointing to important issues in the literature Jentoft (2004): 1 Can you mention examples of what are often called ‘institutions’?

2 Why are institutions such a central topic for social scientists working on resource management issues?

3 Which two broad approaches to institutions are mentioned and discussed by the author?

4 How do economists usually deal with institutions? What is their key concept?

5 What aspects are often stressed by social scientists?

6 What is a ‘nested institution’?

7 What are the three ‘pillars’ of institutions discerned by Scott? Why are they important?

8 What are the main conclusions about the role of institutions, institutional failure, and the options for ‘crafting’ institutions?

Bavinck (1998): 1 What is ‘legal pluralism’? Why is this concept important for understanding of use practices, fisheries conflicts, and management problems?

2 What is the main instrument for regulation in the hamlets along the Coromandel coast?

3 What was the Madras Kachaavalai conflict about?

4 What arguments did the two hamlets use to protest the use of these nets?

5 Can existing state law deal with these problems? Why (not)? Why was the solution found not codified into formal state regulation?

6 What is the main concern of Fisheries Department regulation?

7 What attitude characterizes the Fisheries Department’s policy towards fishermen?

8 What does the author conclude about the legal systems of state and fishermen involved?

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Suggested reading Jentoft, S. (2004) Institutions in fisheries: what they are, what they do and how they change. Marine Policy 28: 137-149.

Jentoft provides a good discussion of the concept of ‘institution’, the multiple meanings given to it and the underlying assumptions about human society that are found behind these meanings and conceptualizations.

Bavinck, M. (1998) ‘A matter of maintaining peace’ State accommodation to subordinate legal systems: the case of fisheries along the Coromandel coast of Tamil Nadu, India. Journal of Legal Pluralism 40: 151-170.

Bavinck’s paper describes a clear case of legally plural fisheries’ regulation. He shows that the state keeps at a distance where routine issues of resource management are involved, and only actively intervenes in cases where law and order are under threat because local fishing communities cannot solve their own conflicts with the help of local rules.

The suggested reading selected here focuses on institutions and the role of law. The texts give sufficient opportunity to introduce the concept of governance in class. An additional text on governance and the use of governance systems analysis applied to Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) is the following:

Jentoft, S., Son van, T.C., Bjorkan, M. (2007) Marine Protected Areas: A governance systems analysis. Human Ecology.

For a ‘classical’ text on organizations, institutions and institutional development, see Uphoff (1986).

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Session 5 ■ Rights and competing claims to natural resources

Session 5 Rights and competing claims to natural resources In Session 4 attention was paid to institutions and law. The topic of this session is closely related. Rights to valuable goods and natural resources such as land, forest, water or fishing grounds are often called ‘property rights’. Rights can be seen as authorized claims; they tend to be defined and authorized by some regulating authority – e.g. local community or national state; customary or state law (Box 9).

Box 9 ■ The study of rights to natural resources: from ‘tragedy’ to ­complex rights and competing claims.

In 1968 Garrett Hardin wrote an article called ‘The tragedy of the commons’. This title has become the key metaphor for problems of resource over-exploitation and degradation. Later critics rightly remarked that Hardin’s famous example – often (mis-)used by resource managers as an argument to either impose a state property regime or let the ‘invisible hand’ of the market do its work – was actually about so-called ‘open access’, a resource use situation in which no property rights are defined to the resource involved (in Hardin’s case: pasture).

In reaction to Hardin’s example, based on political ideology rather than on empirical analysis, so-called ‘common property resources’ emerged as a central theme in debates about sustainable resources management. A serious research agenda on common property resources yielded much knowledge on issues like resources management, options for sustainable use and management, and the role and possible positive contribution of local institutions to resource management. Contrary to what was suggested by Hardin, people are not only competing self-seeking individuals but can also cooperate, negotiate and formulate locally legitimate solutions to the management problems as they experience them (see e.g. MacCay and Acheson, 1987; Feeny et al., 1990; Ostrom et al., 2002). Further, this kind of research yielded useful approaches to the analysis of property rights, mainly by seeing them as ‘bundles of rights’ (and responsibilities) (see Ostrom and Schlager, 1996).

Though researchers from a variety of academic disciplines became involved in such research, the mainstream approach has remained quite firmly based on (neo-institutional) economics. Moreover, the focus was primarily efficient and sustainable management of the resource, sometimes at the expense of issues like rights and entitlements, access, (re-)distribution of wealth and resources, and the role of power relationships.

Another aspect that remained underdeveloped in such studies was the ways in which resource use and management are ‘embedded’ in societies with a specific history, culture, and social system (for this kind of criticism, see e.g. Johnson, 2004).

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Important additional approaches, which provide us with new concepts and analytical instruments that refine our understanding of resource use and management, are those focusing on legal pluralism, complexity of rights to resources and resources management (see e.g. von Benda-Beckmann et al., 2006; Meinzen-Dick and Pradhan, 2001), access (see Ribot and Peluso, 2003), and resource entitlements (see Leach et al., 1999). There is not one ‘best’ approach; all have something to contribute to the analysis and understanding of natural resource use.

Property rights (to natural resources) are usually defined as authorized claims to ‘benefit streams’ or to valuable goods. Analysis in terms of complex definitions of such rights has added the important element of legally plural socio-political systems in which resource rights are contested. A focus on access rather than property adds another dimension. If access is defined as ‘the ability to benefit from things’ (Ribot and Peluso, 2003), this concept incorporates other social relationships and mechanisms that (co-)determine whether people can make use of resources, either supported by a legitimizing institution or not. The concept of entitlements adds another important dimension: it does not focus on (abstract and not always effective) rights but on the effective legitimate command people have over resources in their daily lives (see Leach et al., 1999) and the degree to which they can effectuate these rights.

erefore, issues concerning rights to resources, whatever the origin of Th the definition of these rights, belong to the domain of law. Law and property rights can be seen as social institutions. Rights are not primarily about ‘things’ but define social relationships between people with reference to a valuable resource. As institutions, property rights are crucial, as they largely determine (expectations about) the behaviour of people, as well as the degree of security or insecurity people have about using resources (Figure 7).

Coastal and marine resources are accessed and claimed for some kind of use by a variety of resource users, often basing their claims on a diversity of legitimizing institutions. The existence of such a variety of laws, regulations and social norms of different legal status, origin and impact on human behaviour is often the source of competing claims to resources, disputes and conflicts. Management of the coastal zone can only be successful and effective if it is recognized as legitimate by the resource users, namely if it is socially approved and supported by laws or social norms. This is especially the case where claimants are competing for the use of resources Therefore, arrangements for coastal management will have to be the outcome of negotiated approaches.

A focus on social norms, laws and human behaviour increases our understanding of resource conflicts, the options and choices people have, the constraints they face, and the sources of legitimization they mobilize to support their claims.

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Figure 7 Shell collectors in the lagoon of the Algarve, Portugal. Activities like these all over the world are often - but not always - regulated by the allocation of property rights to (groups of)people by some authority in society.

These rights can be either very formalized (e.g. written down as a law or other form of regulation), or they can be based on historically grown social practice seen as legitimate by a larger group of people.

What kind of right is exerted here? What is the history of these rights?

What authority protects these rights? Who are entitled to exert rights on valuable resources in this area? What kinds of rights are involved?

Can these people just enter and harvest, or do they also manage, take decisions, or sell the resource (or rights to use the space in which the valuable resource is cultivated and harvested)? What kind of responsibilities do they have? These and other questions about rights are crucial for any form of intervention in the coastal zone and its management.

Session 5 Aims Through discussion and role play, this session aims to: ■ Make students aware of the existence of contradictory definitions of rights and competing claims to coastal resources.

■ Make students aware of the relationships between access to and use of natural resources, and the livelihoods of people in coastal regions.

Session 5 Learning outcomes Key learning/teaching points (see Teacher’s note 8) for this session: ■ To have created awareness of the fact that re(-)defining property rights may lead to the exclusion of those who are dependent on coastal resources.

■ To have created awareness of the importance of understanding and taking into account property institutions in coastal management, as well as in the prevention and resolution of resource-related conflicts.

■ To have created awareness of the importance of analysis of rights to resources as a basis of negotiated management solutions.

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Teacher’s note 8 ■ Ideas for teaching Session 5 ■ Ask students to think in small groups about the role of property rights in their society. Let them present ideas about aspects of property rights, and discuss the importance and omnipresence of property in the domains of natural resources, knowledge, cultural property etc.

■ A role play could help in understanding the consequences of the existence of competing claims to coastal resources. (e.g. local fisher folk, state representatives, conservationists).

In a role play attention can also be paid to the legitimizing arguments used to support a claim: e.g. ‘development’, customary or community rights, tradition, ‘better management’ etc.

■ If time allows, pay attention to other approaches like ‘access’ and ‘entitlements’ approaches (see above).

■ If there are possibilities for this: short field trips for observing the existence and influence of property rights to resources in the coastal zone.

What was easy, what difficult: It is not easy to make students really become aware of political, ideological or economic biases in the ways in which property is defined and dealt with in resource management programmes, and of the consequences this may have in real life. To convey this point it is important to work with examples from case studies. Where, for instance, market forces in the coastal zone in Vietnam contribute to a trend of privatization of property rights to resources that used to be held under some form of common property, the poorest segment of the local population who are fully dependent on these coastal resources gets excluded, while the big producers and traders take their place.

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Student notes 5 ■ Guidance for reading of the recommended texts and questions pointing to important issues in the literature Boissevain (2004): 1 What are the main impacts of tourism development and other changes on the foreshore and coast? What other, more recent developments put pressure on the coastal zone?

2 What does the case of the Hilton extension show about coastal development, political decision-making and social networks? What were the successes of the critical NGOs? 3 What was the outcome of the Munxar project case? Are there any differences with the first case?

4 What were the main environmental threats associated with the tuna penning project?

5 What were the – positive and negative – outcome of the debates about this project?

6 What is concluded by the author about the role of political and financial power, the Planning Authority, expert advice, and the role of the NGOs? Osseweijer (2003): 1 Why is participatory mapping often seen as useful in research and fieldwork?

2 What recent change in resource use behaviour among the local people in Aru have increased the pressure on sea resources?

3 What is the legal status of the coastal areas in the Aru Tenggara Marine Reserve? Are customary rights recognized?

4 According to the author, does the existence of customary rights mean that resources are managed sustainably?

5 What is co-management? What should be one of its basic assumptions?

6 What role do different perceptions of resource use and the environment play?

7 How does mapping work? Mention some benefits and problematic aspects.

8 What is the most important problem with mapping, according to the author?

9 How are property rights defined to migratory sea resources? What local expression is used for this?

10 What were the conflict cases about? What is the function of maps in these cases?

11 What is problematic about NGO plans to use mapping as a method to gain insight in the local situation?

12 What are the main conclusions by the author about boundaries? What is the difference between locally existing boundaries and ‘Western’ conceptualizations of boundaries in the framework of co-management? Why are the ‘where’ and the ‘with whom’ of co-management problematic?

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Suggested reading Osseweijer, M. (2003) Conflicting boundaries: the role of mapping in the comanagement discourse, in: G. Persoon, D.M.E. van Est and P.E. Sajise (eds.)

Co-management of natural resources in Asia. A comparative perspective. Copenhagen: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies (NIAS), pp. 173-197.

Osseweijer (2003) discusses the role of participatory resource mapping, with a focus on existing claims and boundaries of such claims, as a valuable tool in resource management.

Resource mapping can contribute to the understanding of locally existing perceptions of rights to resources, the making of an inventory of such claims that are locally seen as legitimate, and greater attention being paid to overlapping and competition between resource users, uses and claims.

Boissevain, J. (2004) Hotels, tuna pens, and civil society: contesting the foreshore in Malta, in: J. Boissevain and T. Selwyn (eds.) Contesting the Foreshore, Tourism, society, and politics on the coast. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, pp. 233-260.

Boissevain (2004) analyzes competing claims to the Maltese coastal zone, in relation to the competing agendas for conservation and estate development and aquaculture. The author highlights the role of political decision-making and of personal networks of entrepreneurs and politicians in determining resource exploitation and management decisions.

Session 6 Culture, local knowledge, and the valuation of different knowledge systems Coastal management involves the mobilization of scientific knowledge from various disciplines with the objective of establishing or improving management regimes for coastal regions and resources. Knowledge produced in academic fields such as marine biology, coastal ecology or sedimentology are crucial to understanding processes of change in coastal regions and formulating grounded managerial solutions. As is stressed in this course module, knowledge from the social sciences should be part of this scientific basis for understanding and intervening in coastal conditions and processes (Figure 8).

Social science – social or cultural anthropology; sociology – has at least two important contributions to make to the field of culture and local knowledge (Box 10).

First, the concept of ‘culture’ itself is the product and main concern of much social scientific work. Without plunging into detailed discussions here about what culture is and how it should be defined, it is not difficult to distinguish aspects of human life and society in coastal regions that are generally recognized to have a cultural dimension. Examples are specific religious-cultural meanings given to coastal regions, local or ‘traditional’ forms of exploitation of coastal resources, the use of locally developed technologies (e.g. in fishing), local systems of governance and authority, and local ways of defining

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Figure 8 Mussel cultivation near the Oosterschelde storm surge barrier, Zeeland Province, the Netherlands. This cultivation system was developed from the early 1990s on an former artificial island with construction docks that had been used in the 1970s for construction of segments of the storm barrier and was given back to the water later.

The technology required for the ‘hanging mussel’ cultivation technology (boat, machinery, harvesting system) was, to a large extent, locally developed on the basis of a mixture of applied scientific knowledge, local experience and ‘trial and error’ experimentation. The system seems well adapted to the coastal ecology, (though there is much debate about mussel seed harvesting in other areas, e.g. the Wadden Sea) sustainable and economically efficient.

Box 10 ■ Culture and local knowledge The concept of culture, studied primarily in the social-scientific discipline of cultural anthropology, generally refers to the socially acquired, reproduced and transmitted aspects of human life, both in the material world (e.g. material art, technology, etc.) and in the worlds of ideas and behaviour (e.g. norms, knowledge, ways of doing things, notions of self and group identity, and meanings given to the world, human society etc.). It is important to note that debates about structure and agency apply to the concept of culture in more or less the same way as they do in the debate about social structure and processes of change. While individuals are clearly the product of their culture and the specifically cultural ways in which they were socialized into society, they are also individuals with specific capacities, knowledge, objectives and ideals, that is: with agency. Culture and society, the worlds of ‘the cultural’ and ‘the social’ are, of course, closely interrelated and the differences hard to precisely delineate. Hylland Eriksen (2001: 4) distinguishes culture and society as follows: ‘Culture refers to the acquired, cognitive and symbolic aspects of existence, whereas society refers to the social organisation of human life’.

Processes of development and coastal zone management involve interactions between existing cultural practices and forms of knowledge on one hand, and western science-based knowledge and practices on the other. As colonial and postcolonial states and their agencies expanded into increasingly accessible rural areas, local cultures in such areas came within view. Such interactions have made policy-makers, scientists and development workers increasingly aware of the role

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of local knowledge and cultural practices. From a ‘hindrance’ to development or efficient management that had to be changed or eradicated as quickly as possible, local knowledge and practices have gradually become recognized as factors to be seriously taken into account, or even as potential contributions to finding management solutions. Local knowledge is still not always regarded as (equally) valid as scientific knowledge, as debates about the depletion of fish stocks in the North show. On the other hand, local knowledge is often mobilized by local actors to influence decision-making on the coastal governance and management, or idealized by NGOs in need of an alternative truth claim.

The social sciences have contributed to debates on the status and valuation of ‘local’ and scientific knowledge. First of all, notions of science as following a path a continuous progress and growth of neutral, objective, and uncontested knowledge were increasingly criticized. This has had consequences for the ways in which knowledge produced in the natural and the social sciences is compared and valued, but also for the place accorded to ‘local’ or ‘indigenous’ knowledge (see also Visser, 2004). These and other debates have also made us aware of the fact that knowledge production, reproduction and use - e.g. as a basis for policies, projects or coastal management schemes - are related to relationships of power and authority in society.

Agrawal (19950 finds the distinction between scientific and indigenous knowledge unhelpful. While indigenous knowledge is different from scientific knowledge in a broad sense (as it is culturally and spatially specific) what constitutes being ‘indigenous’ and what does not is difficult to demarcate. Instead, according to Agrawal, it is more useful to talk about domains and types of knowledge with differing logics and epistemologies. Second, he says that knowledge is useful to particular people, i.e. there are intra-group differentiations. The task therefore should be to start a productive dialogue that attempts to produce knowledge for the disadvantaged rather than focusing on the question of what type of knowledge is at stake?

In addition to the debate on local knowledge, more attention is needed to the ways in which knowledge is mobilized to reach certain goals. In coastal management we are primarily concerned with the application of scientific knowledge to the domain of coastal management (e.g. in framing management arrangements).

Often, the role of knowledge and the ways in which it is used to legitimize certain options and courses of action (and marginalize others) through policies or management plans (‘solutions’) is not sufficiently problematized. Yet, issues of knowledge, knowledge gaps, uncertainty and different ways of interpreting ‘facts’ may play a crucial and increasingly recognized role in resource management. Especially where we have to do with ‘wicked problems’ characterized by a high degree of knowledge uncertainty, where one actor’s solution may be another actor’s problem and ‘win-win’ solutions are hard to find, knowledge is not a neutral input for objective policy but rather a weapon in struggles about resources and their exploitation and management.

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rights to coastal resources. Second, these examples also introduce the important topic of ‘local’ or ‘indigenous’ knowledge that has been much debated in the social sciences. It is now widely accepted that knowledge cannot be restricted to the domain of western scientific knowledge, but is also developed outside the domain of scientific knowledge production. In that case it is often referred to as ‘indigenous knowledge’ or ‘local knowledge’.

This session deals with the debates about culturally specific ways of dealing with natural resources (e.g. in resource exploitation, management, and governance) and aspects of ‘local knowledge’ that play a role in coastal zone management.

Session 6 Aims This session aims to: ■ Show that there is more to life in the coastal zone than economics only.

■ Demonstrate the potential value of local practices, ways of using and managing resources, etc.

Session 6 Learning outcomes Key learning/teaching points (see Teacher’s note 9) for this session: ■ To show students that culture plays a role in how people use and manage resources, allocate rights and responsibilities, and give meaning to social and other processes.

■ To make students aware of the possible tensions and contradictions in situations where external scientific knowledge and technology meet with local forms.

Teacher’s note 9 ■ Ideas for teaching Session 6 ■ Again, the use of DVDs or slides to illustrate this topic can work very well. A useful link with other sections can be established by relating discussions in class about local knowledge to other topics, e.g. culturally specific ways of legally regulating resources and specific ways of defining rights to such resources.

■ This session can also be used to make students aware of the role played by both resource characteristics and socio-cultural and political factors in devising ways of regulating resource use. One the one hand the characteristics of a resource co-determine what is feasible in terms of its exploitation, management and definition of rights to that resource (e.g. compare fish which is movable, consists of many species, and cannot be seen, with land or trees; compare surface water with groundwater in irrigation). On the other hand, the property and management solutions devised by people are also determined by sociocultural and political factors in specific societies.

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■ It is very important to pay due attention to both material and the non-material aspects of the role of culture. Discussions about fishing gear and other technology used in exploitation of coastal and marine resources illustrate the material side. For the non-material dimension of culture, it should be stressed that people give specific meanings to resources, the relationships between human society, natural resources, and the relationship between these and the superhuman world. They will also associate resource use and claims with objectives that cannot be reduced to their immediate material and economic dimension: resources can be related to group identities (e.g. ethnic groups), to the continuity of society as a whole or kin group (think about inheritance), to ideas about access for specific sections of local societies in times of food scarcity etc.

■ It is also important to avoid instrumentalist and naive idealistic approaches to culture.

Instrumentalist views can be biased in seeing culture only as a ‘tool’ that can be used and manipulated to reach specific managerial objectives formulated by policy-makers. Naive idealistic views tend to see local culture as the solution to all management problems. Such a-priori valuations - whether negative or positive - of either local culture and knowledge or scientific knowledge should be avoided. Practices related to both can be either very useful or utterly destructive.

Student notes 6 ■ Guidance for reading of the recommended texts and questions pointing to important issues in the literature The following questions can be used for both texts: 1 How do fishers use fishers’ ecological knowledge (FEK) to regulate their fishing practices in terms of when they can fish, where they can fish and what they can fish for? (This can also be used as a generic question when students go to the field to do research on fishing communities and local fishing practices).

2 How do local rules of use affect different types of fishers? (This helps highlight the fact that rules are asymmetric, that different people might benefit or suffer differently and the ways the rules are devised are not tied in a ‘natural’ way to the resource but are inherently socio-cultural and political).

3 How is local knowledge used by the state to regulate fishing and what are the consequen­ ces of this? (This can help highlight the fact that local knowledge which is context-specific is often taken out of context and put into generic rule-making by the state and its agencies).

4 How have local practices changed over time? (This will alert students to the fact that local practices (shaped by local knowledge) are changing in different politico-economic contexts).

5 What is the difference between local and scientific knowledge? (Though Agrawal argues that these categories are not useful, there are differences in terms of scientific knowledge being generalizable and local knowledge being context-specific).

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Session 6 ■ Culture, local knowledge, and the valuation of different knowledge systems

Suggested reading Holm, P. (2003) On the relationship between science and fishermen’s knowledge in a resource management context. MAST 2 (1): 5-33.

Holm (2003) introduces the concept of fishermen’s ecological knowledge (FEK). While he highlights the importance of recognizing FEK, he also warns against the dangers of decontextualizing it for the purposes of policy-making and implementation. When used in this way FEK, intended as a way to democratize knowledge, might end up working in an opposite direction.

Karunaharan, K. and Bavinck, M. (2006) A history of nets and bans: restrictions on technical innovation along the Coromandel Coast of India. MAST 5 (1): 45-59.

Karunaharan and Bavinck (2006) look at the knowledge systems of local fishing communities of the Coromandal Coast of Tamil Nadu, India. By taking a historical focus the article shows how fishing councils have restricted gear types and nets, and stresses the cultural origin and character of these rules: there are links between practices aimed at regulating fisheries and local culture. Specifically, the article focuses on restrictions aimed at preventing harm to fish stocks, to other gear users and to the community as a whole.

A very useful text on the debates about the similarities and differences between, and merits and demerits of, scientific and ‘indigenous’ knowledge is:

Agrawal, A. (1995) Dismantling the divide between indigenous and scientific knowledge. Development and Change 26 (3): 413-439.

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MODULE 1 ■ Social analysis of the coast

Session 7 Livelihood, vulnerability and resilience Processes of globalization, urbanization, changing life styles and food consumption habits create global product chains that have an impact on the livelihoods of fishers and other inhabitants of the coast who depend on local resources for making a living (Figure 9).

These developments are not neutral, and they have differential influen­ces on various stakeholders or social groups. They may provide new opportunities to entrepreneurs who are well connected to global networks, but at the same time marginalize others who cannot mobilize access to crucial relationships and forums of decision-making to benefit from these developments. Examples are artisanal fishermen whose activities are restricted by government policies for conservation or tourist development, or subsistence seafood gatherers in coastal floodplains that used to have a common property status that are increasingly privatized and allocated to private producers with good linkages to local decision-makers and seafood traders.

The (sustainable) livelihood con­cept is a reaction to the rather coarse approaches of macro-focused development studies, policies and implementation practices (Figure 10) (Box 11). Such approaches did not pay attention to the possible consequences of interventions for specific groups in society like the poor, vulnerable and marginalized.

By proposing a more differentiated approach, livelihood approaches contribute to the improvement of both research, policies and intervention practices.

Another earlier approach was the field of ‘household studies’, which proved to have been too much developed from a nuclear household perspective and to assume full-time occupation in one economic sector or activity (e.g. in agriculture or fisheries) rather than analyzing the multiple options people have and activities they perform in real-life situations. By taking an actor focus, a livelihoods approach can yield a much more fine-grained type of analysis of how people manage in life, allocate resources and react to options and opportunities, shocks and stresses than these earlier approaches. The related concept of ‘sustainable

Figure 9 This photo shows the ‘Kuthagai’ system of pre-purchase of fish catches even prior to the landing. The fishermen have a link up with the middlemen and close the deal by using cell phones even before the catch has reached the landing centre. The fish are then weighed and immediately transferred to the exporter. What is the impact of such a system on small-scale fish sellers? Has it impacted their livelihood? These are questions that students can explored during their field observations.

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Session 7 ■ Livelihood, vulnerability and resilience

Figure 10 Fishermen along the coast at Pulicat Lake, near Chennai, India. What do we know about the fisherfolk, their way of life and their economic activities?

The livelihood concept can be used to get to know more about the fishermen and their families: what type of fishing activities are they engaging in? How important is fishing for the daily subsistence of their families? What other economic activities are they and their families engaged in? What kinds of social networks and relationships that sustain their fishing activities are these people part of? In what ways would certain interventions in the coastal region (e.g. construction of concrete coastal protection works; reallocation of fishing rights; closure of the beach for tourist resort development) affect their livelihoods?

livelihood’ stresses the need for doing so in a sustainable and flexible way on a longer time perspective.

Related concepts such as vulnerability and resilience are reminders that coastal people are not equally vulnerable to stress or disaster, have different ways of coping with it, and are to different degrees able to protect themselves against it or recover from it. Further, these conditions are not purely of their own making but do also crucially depend on macro-factors, e.g. the protective role of the state.

The tragic event of the 2004 tsunami in Asia has made people, governments and NGOs all over the world much more aware of and attentive to these issues.

Box 11 ■ Defining livelihood, vulnerability and resilience Allison and Ellis (2001: 379) define a livelihood as comprising ‘the assets (natural, physical, human, financial and social capital), the activities and the access to these (mediated by institutions and social relations) that together determine the living gained by the individual or household’.

Important related concepts are vulnerability and resilience. Vulnerability refers to ‘a high degree of exposure to risk, shocks and stress and proneness to food insecurity’ (Allison and Ellis, 2001: 378). Two important and related aspects of vulnerability are: 1 the existence of external threats to livelihood security (risk factors like climate, markets, disasters); 2 internal coping capability (depending on factors like available assets, food storage, social security provided by kinship, community and government-provided safety nets, etc. (see Allison and Ellis, 2001).

The concept of resilience ‘refers to the ability of an ecological or livelihood system to “bounce back” from stress or shocks’ (Allison and Ellis, 2001: 378).

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Finally, according to the same authors sensitivity ‘refers to the magnitude of a system’s response to an external disturbance’ (Allison and Ellis, 2001: 378). The characteristics of livelihoods systems in terms of resilience and sensitivity determine their degree of robustness and vulnerability: robust livelihood systems have a high resilience and a low sensitivity; vulnerable livelihood systems have a low resilience and a high sensitivity (see also Brown et al. 2002).

Session 7 Aims This session aims to: ■ Make students aware of the multiple ways in which livelihoods are constituted.

■ To make students aware of the relationships between livelihoods and the natural and other resources in coastal regions.

Session 7 Learning outcomes Key learning/teaching points (see Teacher’s note 10) for this session: ■ Students are sensitized to the multiple ways in which people respond to pressures, crises, and to the varying degrees to which they can actively change existing situations and develop new opportunities.

■ Students are familiar with the concepts of vulnerability and resilience, and apply these to conditions and processes in coastal regions.

Teacher’s note 10 ■ Ideas for teaching Session 7 ■ The discussion of livelihoods also provides an opportunity to pay more attention to some of the earlier approaches to which the livelihoods approach reacted, and more systematically compare the different approaches and the degree to which they provide us with information about and understanding of the kinds of socio-economic realities that resourcedependent inhabitants of coastal regions have to live in.

■ The livelihoods approach also pays attention to the role of organizations, institutions and access to a variety of resources. Using these concepts, this section can be linked with issues discussed in earlier sessions (institutions and property rights, access and entitlements).

■ Especially by paying attention to concepts such as resilience and vulnerability this session also makes it possible to focus on the problems caused by climate change and sea level rise that are increasingly experienced in coastal regions all over the world. Compare countries like Bangladesh and Vietnam (Mekong region) with the Netherlands, both in terms of the natural properties of the coastal regions and in terms of economic characteristics and options for anticipation and prevention. Focus the discussion on the consequences of these macro-factors for inhabitants of the various coastal regions.

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Session 7 ■ Livelihood, vulnerability and resilience

Student notes 7 ■ Guidance for reading of the recommended texts and questions pointing to important issues in the literature Carney (2002): This text should be considered as a general background document that gives you an idea of how the (sustainable) livelihood concept is used in development policy. Try to distil from this paper the important characteristics and elements of the ‘sustainable livelihood’ concept, and pay attention to the many boxes on specific issues, illustrations and cases. The text by Allison and Ellis will provide you with a more conceptual approach applied to the fisheries sector.

Allison and Ellis (2001): 1 Why is it important to pay attention to the problems and prospects of small-scale artisanal fisheries? How are small-scale fishers defined by the authors?

2 On what view of small-scale fisheries are the prevalent sectoral and equilibrium views based? What is the main criticism?

3 How is a livelihood defined? What does the livelihoods approach centre on in its analysis?

4 What is meant by vulnerability, resilience and sensitivity?

5 At what levels can research of livelihood adaptations to uncertainty take place? What kind of adaptation strategies do we see at these levels?

6 Mention three main sets of instruments and institutions of equilibrium-based management. Are they effective? What can be an alternative, often based on local knowledge?

7 What tensions exists between fisheries policy for increasing efficiency and for regulating catch?

8 How can modernization programs undermine fishers’ adaptive responses?

9 Which two misconceptions of the economic aspects of fisheries have misguided policies?

10 Why are diversified livelihood strategies important?

11 What does (occupational) mobility mean in a sustainable livelihoods framework?

12 What makes the concepts of ‘community’ and ‘community management’ so problematic?

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Suggested reading Carney, D. (2002) Sustainable Livelihood Approaches: Progress and possibilities for change. Department for International Development (DFID). www.dfid.com Carney attempts to show the usefulness of the sustainable livelihoods framework. It discusses the five ‘capitals’ central to the framework, and shows how institutions and policies enable or hinder people’s abilities to utilize these capitals. It also suggests that livelihoods experience stresses and shocks due to both natural and social phenomena and that livelihood strategies respond to these stresses and shocks.

Allison, E.H. and Ellis, F. (2001) The livelihoods approach and management of small-scale fisheries. Marine Policy 25: 377-388.

Allison and Ellis use the livelihoods approach to highlight the complex livelihoods of smallscale fishing communities. The main purpose of doing this is to criticize the limitations of current approaches to fisheries management and development that view solutions only in terms of increasing efficiency. The authors stress alternatives like complementary household activities and a focus on the options and possibilities available for small-scale fishers.

An additional text that provides a very useful overview of the debates about, and changing approaches to (sustainable) livelihoods is:

De Haan, L. and Zoomers, A. (2005) Exploring the frontiers of livelihood research. Development and Change 36 (1): 27-47.

De Haan and Zoomers (2005) focus on how livelihood opportunities are governed by social relations, institutions and organizations, with power as an important variable. The authors use the concept of ‘livelihood pathways’, suggesting that livelihoods are not individual in nature but much influenced by specific contexts (social relations, institutions and organizations).

Some suggestions for additional literature on resilience and vulnerability:

Adger, W.N. (2000) Social and ecological resilience: are they related? Progress in Human Geography 24 (3): 347-364.

Adger, W.N. (2006) Vulnerability. Global Environmental Change 16: 268-281.

Folke, C. (2006) Resilience: the emergence of a perspective for social-ecological systems analyses. Global Environmental change 16: 253-267.

Session 8 Coastal governance, policy and management between the local and global This last session of module 1 returns from the preceding social scientific concepts and approaches to the realities of coastal zone management and the more practical consideration of putting in place or improving management practices. Management takes shape in an increasingly complex governance and policy context in which many institutional actors are involved at all levels between the local and the global. Resource use may be regulated locally by customary arrangements and/or government administrative arrangements of district, province, or national state. But it is necessary to look beyond these ‘traditional’ levels at which governance structures are designed, and legal regulations and policies created. Both higher-level public regulation and forms

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Session 8 â– Coastal governance, policy and management between the local and global

Figure 11 Kiengiang Province, Vietnam: transport of shellfish from the harvesting site (left) to the processing plant (right) from where the shellfish are exported to various countries on the expanding Southeast Asian market.

of private regulation are becoming increasingly important as regulatory instruments. Quality standards for fish and aquaculture products devised by the European Union, for instance, determine what aquaculture products can be exported by companies in countries like Vietnam and India (Figure 11).

In addition, separate private quality standards in market chains connecting producers and consumers all over the world also circumscribe the social and environmental conditions under which production takes place. Images of products and the ways in which they are produced, known to the public through media coverage or the work of NGOs, may co-determine consumer choices. NGOs may exert pressure on national states or companies to improve their legal regulations pertaining to labour, rights to resources, or production processes.

Figure 12 Fish products on an Amsterdam market. Even a cursory look at the products and the labels showing their area of origin illustrates the global character of the trade in fish and fish products. We can see a mix of fisheries and aquaculture products originating from countries all over the world.

This development is made possible by the increasingly intensive networks of communication through air traffic. Demand for seafood continues to grow, both in developed and in developing countries. At the same time environmental and other quality standards deriving from both private and public sources of regulation become increasingly influential and may also have a growing impact on consumer choices. What does this mean for the producers and other people who depend on fish for their subsistence for the areas where market-oriented fisheries and aquaculture are expanding, or for coastal environments? Though often presented as booming business and creating win-win situations for producers, traders and consumers alike, how risky are high-input monocultures like shrimp aquaculture for both the producers and long-term environmental sustainability?

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Box 12 ■ Globalization Aside from the general idea of globalization as involving ‘the widening, deepening and speeding up of worldwide interconnectedness in all aspects of contemporary social life, from the cultural to the criminal, the financial to the spiritual’ (Held and McGrew 1999: 2), there is little agreement on what the term ‘globalization’ exactly refers to. Globalization is a relatively recent concept to describe and analyze supposedly new developments that distinguish our era from earlier periods in history.

The existence of global networks and relationships (e.g. through trade) is, in itself, not sufficient reason for distinguishing a new era of globalization. Global trade networks like the Dutch and British East India Companies, for instance, have connected places all over the world for ages! However, the increasingly intensive flows of knowledge and information, money, labour, goods and raw materials made possible by recent developments in society, the emergence of new public and private regulatory networks and instruments with a regional or global scope, and the consequences these have all over the world show that something distinctive is at stake. To analyze globalization, according to Held and McGrew (1999: 17), attention should be paid to both spatial, temporal and organizational characteristics of global relationships and networks: the extensity of networks, the intensity of interconnectedness, the velocity of global flows, and the impact of the interconnectedness. Globalization does not mean the emergence of a socially, culturally and otherwise homogeneous world, a ‘MacWorld’. Complex interactions between the global and the local (and everything in-between) may make the world more homogeneous in some places, respects and domains of life, and more diverse in others. Nor should globalization be associated with the emergence of a greater degree of social, political and economic order and control. It involves both processes of ordering and greater control, and of creation of new tensions, disjunctures and differences between localities (see Robertson, 1994: Appadurai, 2001).

It is important to see both processes at work at various levels, including the local or regional level at which coastal regions tend to be managed.

Thus, Held and McGrew (1999) stress that globalization is a process involving the emergence of new (global) networks and systems of interaction and exchange.

These are interacting and overlapping in complex ways at various levels, as well as providing both new opportunities and constraints and new forms of inclusion and exclusion involving new winners and losers. It influences not only the economic domain but also the social, cultural, legal, political, military and other domains of society. It does not coincide with the ‘traditional’ territorial boundaries of national states; rather it re-territorializes and de-territorializes political and economic power at multiple levels of scale. It also entails a radical structuring and restructuring of power relations, leading to new and difficult questions of legitimacy, legitimate control, inclusion and exclusion from decision-making etc. These characteristics of globalization are extremely important for coastal resources management.

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Session 8 ■ Coastal governance, policy and management between the local and global

Thus, governance, policy and management issues can no longer be analyzed in the framework of discretely bounded national states only. The concept of ‘globalization’ helps us in coming to grips with these new realities (Figure 12) (Box 12).

However, there are two sides to globalization: to understand what is going on in coastal regions we must not only be aware of the new global forces influencing coastal settings, but also of the new, varied and often unexpected processes set in motion and new conditions created in specific coastal localities. Any framework for coastal management should take into account these increasingly complex processes with uncertain outcomes. They create new social, economic and political networks and relationships involving complex interactions between the local and the global, public and private domains, and producers, traders and consumers all over the world.

Session 8 Aims This session aims to: ■ Make students aware of the need to analyze, discuss, devise and practice coastal zone governance, policy and management from a perspective that takes into accounts multiple private and public actors and institutions at different levels of socio-political organization.

Session 8 Learning outcomes Key learning/teaching points (see teacher’s note 11) for this session: ■ Students are aware of the links between practices of governance, policy and management to processes of globalization, and aware of the role of globalization in coastal resource management.

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Teacher’s note 11 ■ Ideas for teaching Session 8 ■ For this last section new literature is not introduced. Discussion of this section in class should focus on drawing lessons from the earlier sections and relate the concepts and theories discussed earlier to a more general perspective that takes into account globalization and the emergence of more complex, diffuse and diversified institutions for governance and policy-making. It should also discuss aspects of what this means for coastal management objectives, plans and practices.

■ If reading for this section is considered, recognizable and accessible case studies that describe a specific coastal problem or management experience against the background of this diverse and complex regulatory environment would be very useful here. For example, case studies on the changes brought about by aquaculture production in the coastal zone, the new economic realities it creates, the new property rights that might go with it, the environmental issues associated with it, and questions around access to international markets for the products.

■ This section can also be used as a linking section between module 1 and module 2, preparing the students for ‘seeing’ in a real-life coastal setting what they have learned in this module.

■ Finally, it is important to return to the earlier discussion about transdisciplinary approaches here. An understanding of the complex regulatory environment of the coastal zone requires such an approach.

Literature Module 1 Aarts, N. and C. van Woerkum (2002) Dealing with uncertainty in solving complex problems, in: C. Leeuwis and R. Pyburn (eds.) Wheelbarrows full of frogs. Social learning in rural resource management. Assen: Koninklijke Van Gorcum, pp. 421435.

Agrawal, A. (1995) Dismantling the divide between indigenous and scientific knowledge. Development and Change 26: 413-439.

Appadurai, A. (ed.) (2001) Globalization. Durham and London: Duke University Press.

Benda-Beckmann, F. and K. von Benda-Beckmann (2006) The dynamics of change and continuity in plural legal orders, Journal of Legal Pluralism 53-54: 1-44 Brown, K., E.L. Tompkins and W.N. Adger (2002) Making waves. Integrating coastal conservation and development. London: Earthscan Publications.

Cilliers, P. (2005) Knowledge, limits and boundaries, Futures 37: 605-613.

Coulson, M.A. and D.S. Riddel (1970) Social Structure, in: Approaching sociology: a critical introduction. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, pp. 43-67.

Eriksen, T.H. (2001) Small places, large issues, An introduction to social and cultural anthropology. London: Pluto Press.

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■ Literature Module 1

Feeny, D., F. Berkes, B.J. MacCay and J. Acheson (1990) The Tragedy of the Commons: Twenty-Two Years Later. Human Ecology 18 (1): 1-19. (dig.)

Giddens, A. (1984) The constitution of society. Cambridge: Polity Press.

Giri, A. (2002) The calling of a creative transdisciplinarity. Futures 34: 103-115.

Gordon, D.M. (2005) States and Patrons, in: Nachituti’s Gift: Economy, society, and environment in Central Africa. Madison, Wisconsin: The University of Wisconsin Press, pp. 141-169.

Grindle, M.S. (2007) Good enough governance revisited. Development Policy Review 25 (5): 553-574.

Hardin, G. (1968) The Tragedy of the Commons. Science 162: 1234-1247.

Held, D. and A. McGrew (1999) Introduction, in: D. Held and A. McGrew, Global Transformations. Politics, Economics and Culture. Stanford: Stanford University Press, pp.

1-28.

Jentoft, S. (2004) Institutions in fisheries: what they are, what they do, and how they change. Marine Policy 28: 137-149.

Jentoft, S., T.C. van Son, M. Bjorkan (2007) Marine Protected Areas: A governance systems analysis. Human Ecology.

Johnson, C. (2004) Uncommon Ground. ‘The ‘Poverty’ of History in Common Property Discourse. Development and Change 35 (3): 407-433.

Lawrence, R.J. and C. Després (2004) Introduction: futures of transdisciplinarity. Futures 36: 397-405.

Leach, M., R. Mearns and I. Scoones (1999) Environmental Entitlements Dynamics and Institutions in Community-based Natural Resource Management. World Development 27 (2): 225-247.

LeTissier, M. and J. Hills (2006) Widening coastal managers’ perceptions of stakeholders through capacity building, in: Chu Thai Hoanh, To Phuc Tuong, J.W. Gowing and B. Hardy (eds.) Environment and livelihoods in tropical coastal zones. Managing agriculture-fishery-aquaculture conflicts. CABI in association with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), pp. 249-257.

Lewicki, R.J., B. Gray and M. Elliot (eds.) (2003) Making sense of intractable environmental conflicts. Frames and cases. Washington: Island Press.

Long, N. (1992) From Paradigm Lost to Paradigm Regained? The Case for an ActorOriented Sociology of Development, in: N. Long and A. Long (eds.) Battlefields of Knowledge. The Interlocking of Theory and Practice in Social Research and Development. London: Routledge, pp. 16-43.

McCay, B.J. and J.M. Acheson (eds.) (1987) The Question of the Commons. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.

McCay, B.J. (2002) Emergence of Institutions for the Commons: Contexts, Situations, and Events, in: E. Ostrom, Th. Dietz, N. Dolsak, P.C. Stern, S. Stonich, and E.U. Weber (eds.) The Drama of the Commons. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, pp. 361-402.

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Nuijten, M.C.M., G. Anders, J.N. van Gastel, G. van der Haar, C. van Nijnatten and J.F. Warner (2004) Governance in action. Some theoretical and practical reflections on a key concept, in: D. Kalb, W. Pansters and H. Siebers (eds.) Globalization and Development. Themes and concepts in current research. Dordrecht, Boston, London: Kluwer Academic Publishers, pp. 103-130.

Ostrom, E. (1992) Crafting Institutions for Self-Governing Irrigation Systems. San Francisco, California: ICS Press.

Ostrom, E. and E. Schlager (1996) The Formation of Property Rights, in: S.S. Hanna, C. Folke and K.G. M채ler (eds.) Rights to Nature: Ecological, Economic, Cultural, and Political Principles of Institutions for the Environment. Washington, D.C.: Island Press, pp. 127-156.

Ribot, J. and N.L. Peluso (2003) A theory of access. Rural Sociology 68 (2): 153-181.

Rittel, H.W.J. en M.M. Webber (1973) Dilemmas in a general theory of planning. Policy Sciences 4: 155-169.

Robertson, R. (1995) Glocalization: time-space and homogeneity-heterogeneity, in: M. Featherstone, S. Lash and R. Robertson (eds.) Global modernities. London: Sage Publications.

Scott, W.R. (1995) Institutions and Organizations. London: Sage.

Uphoff, N. (1986) Analyzing options for local institutional development, in: Local Institutional Development. An analytical sourcebook with cases. West Hartford, Connecticut: Kumarian Press, pp. 1-19.

Warner, J.F. (2006) More sustainable participation? Multi-stakeholder platforms for integrated catchment management. Water Resources Development 22 (1): 15-35.

Warner, J. (ed.) (2007) Multi-stakeholder platforms for integrated water management.

Aldershot: Ashgate.

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Module 2 Observations of human and natural dimensions of the coast Martin Le Tissier, Sarah Coulthard, Purvaja Ramachandran, Dik Roth, Tomasz Boski, Alice Newton, V.B. Nguyen, Irene Divien & Maarten Bavinck

The coastal landscape can be considered to be made-up from a patchwork of natural and human components. However, there is a tendency to view coastal areas as a natural environment that has been interfered with by humans. The challenge for ICM, and training for ICM, is to develop awareness of the importance of ‘the human factor’ in coastal resources management. Coastal managers need to be able to ‘see’ the features and components of the human and natural setting of the coast, the functions of components and relationships between them. Such an analysis shows that many coastal issues/problems are actually not ‘natural’ in origin but the product of human behaviour and interventions. Understanding theoretical concepts of the coastal zone does not necessarily lead to skills needed to explore and interpret the reality of the coastal zone. This module is designed to develop the practical skills required to examine the coastal zone with the purpose of interpreting and identifying coastal issues and their underlying causative problems.

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Introduction Section A Learning through observation Section B Observing in practice Section C Interpreting observations Concluding remarks Module 2 Exercises Exercises A1, A2 & A3 Exercises B1 & B2 Exercises C1, C2, C3 & C4 Social Indicators Descriptions

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Module 2 ■ Introduction

Introduction The coastal zone is a complex environment, where multiple components, originating from both natural and social domains, interact with each other creating a variety of management challenges. Classroom teaching and literature alone does not convey the complexity and subtlety of real world problems that can be experienced through field visits. Module 2 is designed to reinforce the importance of ‘the human factor’ in coastal management through developing student skills in observing and interpreting the coast. These observations and interpretations form the foundations to bridge between theoretical learning in the classroom and the application of knowledge and understanding to address real-life coastal situations.

This process is subtly yet fundamentally different from coastal sciences and has different teaching demands (Box 11).

Box 13 ■ Teaching for coastal management contrasted with teaching for coastal sciences Traditionally both in education and in the workplace observation and analysis of a coastal setting has tended to be broken into a series of discipline specific orientations and viewpoints.

Where coastal issues are viewed from the standpoint of individual coastal sciences, this often leads to their interpretation of a coastal issue from a narrow and sector specific perspective (e.g. that of a coastal engineer, or an urban planner, or fisheries officer). Here the symptoms of a problem are dealt with rather than the underlying root cause, for example: ■ A sea wall is built to protect from erosion but does not address the source where sediment supply is altered; ■ New slum dwellings are built without addressing the underlying cause of migration that is generating the new demand for housing; ■ Fish quotas are applied without addressing local community health and nutrition needs.

The consequence of such a process is that in the real world such an approach often, if not usually, addresses one problem without tackling the underlying cause and/or creates new problems. Attempts to address issues across various individual sciences often emphasise the divisions between them in terms of their outlook and approaches to problem solving.

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MODULE 2 ■ Observations of human and natural dimensions of the coast

The approach of coastal management essentially attempts to interpret coastal issues in terms of cause to effect pathways to determine the root source of a problem. The purpose of this is to understand the linkages and relationships between the various causes that lead to the central root problem, and how the problem leads to a multiplicity of effects – some of them on the environmental system and others on the social system.

Teaching for this approach cannot be organised according to disciplinary lines but has to ask from individual disciplines what information they can contribute to develop an understanding of the particular coastal issue under investigation. The contrast in teaching is therefore: ■ Coastal sciences – considers a coastal setting from a single discipline perspective to identify a discipline specific problem and how that discipline would address and ‘solve’ the problem: Coastal problems tend to be viewed as single issue (discipline) problems. Each discipline designs its own solution and some attempt may be made to ‘join’ solutions together. The limitations of such an approach are that often one person’s solution becomes another’s problem. For example, an erosion problem may be viewed as the province of coastal engineering and solutions designed, such as building of sea walls, that do not take into account the needs of local communities, such as access to the sea.

■ Coastal management – considers the array of cause and effect pathways to determine a central problem that explains why a situation has arisen: Problems are seen as being made up of an array of issues and all disciplines are interrogated to describe and understand the central problem. Solutions can then be designed to address the central problem to which all disciplines can contribute. In such cases, a component of a problem requiring coastal engineering would be forced to design a solution that met both the needs of the structural changes required and the needs of local communities.

odule 3 combines field visits and activities, that are tailored for students M who are undertaking, or have completed, Module 1 (or a similar course/module).

Moving between theory and practice Activities that take place in the coastal zone involve a mixture of natural, social and economic processes that operate at a wide range of temporal and spatial scales. A coastal manager should be able to observe an area of coastal landscape where an activity is leading to problems causing an existing or potential issue, and determine a ‘shopping list’ of knowledge requirements that collectively provide a ‘holistic picture’ (see Definition box 2) of the coast and the issues faced. It is important to recognise that any given observation usually portrays a seemingly static condition. An observer must be able to interpret each observation made to a particular dynamic process from past to future time lines and scales.

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Module 2 ■ Introduction

Definition box 2 ■ Holistic Characterized by the view that a ‘whole’ system must be analysed, rather than simply its individual components, taking into account all of the physical, chemical and biological as well as social, economic and political conditions.

Usually each piece of knowledge will originate from a particular science discipline using appropriate methods to collect, analyse and interpret the required data. The coastal manager has to collate and integrate all the different pieces of knowledge to understand holistically an issue and ultimately construct solutions that address both natural and social needs. In making observations there is a need to avoid description in terms of listing everything that is known.

Rather, observation should build an understanding of how the system is working in time and space to decipher cause and effect pathways and underlying root problems (Box 14).

Box 14 ■ The interpretation of information for coastal management A coastal manager is required to design solutions to coastal issues based on the available information but mindful of what information that is missing or unknown. The solution is therefore ultimately made up of a component that makes the best use of available information to mitigate/alleviate an existing issue and a component that has a strategy for plugging information gaps.

Where information is available it is also important to recognise the uncertainty and limitations that may be associated with it. Inevitably information that is available will ultimately be derived from the methodology of a particular discipline, and its interpretation needs to draw on the science of that discipline to try and explain something that goes beyond the confines of the discipline from where it originates.

Where information is missing, and where questions need to be asked of existing information, the coastal manager needs to be able to frame questions in an appropriate language and format to be passed to experts in the relevant discipline to direct and narrow the enquiry and research within limitations that will plug the information gap.

With these caveats in mind, the analysis of information should be focussed on determining what it contributes to: ■ Identifying and characterising the natural and man-made components of the environment in terms of the functions they perform and the scale of their effect. For example, aquaculture in an estuarine location affects tidal prism, biological productivity and biodiversity within the boundaries of the estuary; natural (unplanted) sand dunes function as a sediment source/sink and energy dissipation mechanism to the immediate beachfront and hinterland;

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MODULE 2 ■ Observations of human and natural dimensions of the coast

■ Predicting current changes and impacts on each component in time and space, the impact on their environmental functions (present and future) and consequences to users and uses on the coast. For example, aquaculture ponds likely to be abandoned leading to changes in soil chemistry, or sand dunes being planted leading to reduction of function as a sediment source and reduced capacity for energy dissipation in a time of increased storm frequency due to climate change). The magnitude and consequences of change must be considered in the context of present conditions and probable future conditions using the best available information and best informed interpretation of what is known. The timeframe for future predictions must be determined by environmental conditions (e.g. the probability of extreme events); the built environment (e.g. the probable life span of infrastructures); and political decisions (e.g. establishment of tourism development goals); ■ Identifying the uses that are made of the system, the users, and their interact­ ion with the system in terms of the variety of communities, market activity and current policy and legislation at local, regional and national levels. For example, fishermen, market traders, local subsidies and rules and state legislation.

I t is far from easy to ‘see’ directly processes of the environment in a coastal landscape, and, for the social and economic dimensions, difficult to see individual components and structures. It is important to recognise that limited knowledge and understanding of any discipline does not preclude that a pertinent observation of it can be made by students.

Field visits can be used to develop capacity for problem-solving, analytical and decision-making skills for synthesis of multi-disciplinary components in order to produce integrated responses to coastal management issues (Box 15).

Box 15 ■ Advantages of field visits in a teaching environment A field visits provides a unique learning experience because it: ■ provides opportunities for practising techniques that cannot be carried out in the class room; ■ demonstrates and/or illustrates objects or phenomena not accessible in other settings; ■ stimulates higher level understanding of information encountered elsewhere (i.e. in the classroom); ■ stimulates an attitude of appreciation, concern and valuing of particular environments (human, economic and natural).

Learning in the field offers: ■ originality – where participants are challenged or encouraged to obtain information that is new/original;

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Module 2 ■ Introduction

■ holism – enabling phenomena and features to be appreciated in the most holistic manner; ■ integration – where fragments of information acquired from other sources are brought together.

Particular cognitive benefits of learning in the field are: ■ an appreciation of the scale of phenomena/ features; ■ intellectual application; field situations force the asking of questions and the need to make decisions, e.g. what is important to observe?, what needs to be measured?, what should be observed next?; ■ an appreciation of complexity; developing an understanding of the nature of the relationships between phenomena; ■ the ability to synthesise information; to place a range of phenomena/features relative to one another within a context, and conceptualise holistically; ■ the ability to evaluate phenomena/features; understanding how reality may vary from model examples and being able to adjust and account for any such variation.

Field visits also provide opportunity to develop many skills both ‘generic’ (team work, communication, observation and issue recognition) and technical (collection and assimilation of data, application of learning to real environments).

Observations and exposure to the reality of an area of coast both affirms the concepts developed during Module 1 and improves the understanding of the students to their relevance to coastal settings in real life (Box 16).

Box 16 ■ The value of fieldwork to reinforce classroom teaching A teachers and students perspective Comments – Teacher of Module 2 “Students felt that a field experience advanced their understanding of concepts taught in Module 1, and they appreciated movement between the field and the classroom. Module 2 stimulated their thinking and provided opportunity to relate their observations back to Module 1. It also enables the teacher to use Module 2 observations to illustrate his or her lectures.”

Comments – Student of Module 2 “Having field orientation really helped my understanding of the human factor of the coast. It helped clarify many of the concepts from Module 1 and understand them in the context of a real life situation.”

Perhaps most importantly, field visits can address and resolve the inherent problem of compartmentalisation of knowledge that originates from tradi­ tional teaching methods. However, the execution and control of the learning

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MODULE 2 ■ Observations of human and natural dimensions of the coast

experience during field visits is difficult; this centres largely on maintaining focus on aims and learning outcomes for individuals whose background and experience directs them to observing the coastal landscape from the perspective of a single discipline. Field visits for ICM need to include three distinct stages (Table 1) that: A Unpack the complexity of the natural and social landscape under study.

B Provide opportunity for investigative approaches with an emphasis on ICM as a process.

C Develop enquiry with an emphasis on decision-making and interpretat­ion.

Table 1 Three commonly used approaches to teaching field visits that describe a sequential development to field observation skills.

Approach

Characteristics

Typical Activities/Strategies

I Look and see (teacher as expert)

■ Passive factual ■ Prescriptive ■ Specific ■ Informationbased

■ Knowledge ■ Observation­oriented ■ Non-participatory

■ Demonstrate ■ Field teaching

■ Listen ■ Unstructured observation

II Investigation (teacher as provider of exercises techniques and equipment)

■ Active ■ Measurementbased ■ Systematic ■ Participatory

■ Searching out ­answers ■ Methodological ■ Skills-oriented ■ Activity-based

■ Observation ■ Structured ■ Hypothesis testing

■ Measuring ■ Model testing

III Enquiry (teacher as guide)

Interactive Interpretative Open-ended Fully participatory

■ Participant ­centred and led ■ Evaluative ■ Outcome-oriented ■ Discovery-based

■ Formulating ■ Testing hypotheses ­hypotheses ■ Problem-solving ■ Decisionmaking

The structure of Module 2 mirrors the three stages conveyed in Table 1. The purpose of Module 2 is to equip students with the skills to make observations (both social and environmental) in the coastal zone for use in coastal management. It provides much of the data and discussion that lay a foundation for Module 3.

Module 2 Aims The overall goal of the module is for students to be able to deconstruct and make sense of the complexity of the coastal zone and its many social and nat­ ural components. The specific aims of Module 2 are:

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Module 2 ■ Introduction

1 To confirm, reinforce and extend the social and economic know­ledge and skills of students developed in Module 1. This is a process of ‘looking back’ to what has already been learnt and applying that knowledge to make observations that help develop understanding towards real-life contexts.

2 To utilise a series of social and environmental indicators that describe the coastal setting of a case study area.

3 To make a series of observations of the social and natural coastal setting from a case study area to be used as field data and evidence for use in Module 3.

4 To make students aware of the processes of change to which single obser­ vations have to be related.

Learning outcomes of Module 2 Developing a deeper learning of the social science concepts from Module 1 and practising the use of the skills developed are the primary purposes of Module 2. After following this module, students will be able: ■ To make observations on social and environmental aspects of the coast.

■ To apply basic social science knowledge and understanding to obser­vations made from the coast.

■ To make observations of the coastal environment that relate to the functions, goods and services provided to human uses and activities in the coastal zone.

■ To interpret coastal observations and analyse linkages within and between natural and social dimensions of the coastal zone.

■ To formulate coastal issues, and underlying problems, from observation of the coastal zone and identify knowledge gaps and areas of complexity ■ To work with scenarios of coastal issues, problems and management needs.

Outline description of Module 2 To meet the aims and learning outcomes, Module 2 is split into 3 sections (see Figure 13) that take their rationale from the three stages described in Table 1: Section A ■ Learning through observation has a focus on skill development and affirms and confirms the content of Module 1 through two learning events. First, students are taken into the field where teachers can give structured illustration to support the theoretical knowledge presented in Module 1. Observations are focussed on a discussion of human features of the coast. The process is guided by teachers and moves between the classroom and the field to enrich learning, understanding and student motivation.

Secondly, students develop their own skills of observing the coast in a reallife setting. This is achieved through a transect walk that encourages students to make and explore observations more deeply, ask questions and

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MODULE 2 ■ Observations of human and natural dimensions of the coast

Section A Recognising ‘indicators’ to identify components of the coast Section B Deconstruct coast into constituent components using social and natural indicators Section C Analysis and interpretation of observations in ­relation to a coastal scenario to identify coastal issues

Figure 13 The process of moving from teacher directed observation and explanation of a coastal setting (Section A) to independent observation guided by social and natural indicator categories (Section B) to the interpretation of observations (Section C) followed in Module 2.

challenge their assumptions about what they see and how they interpret coastal activities. A set of social indicators is used to facilitate this pro­cess.

The use of indicators enables students to deconstruct the coast into manageable and logical pieces. Indicators can also act as proxies for pro­cesses taking place in the coastal zone.

Section B ■ Observing in Practice based wholly in the field, students are given structured tables in which to make observations of social and environmental indicators of the coast. Environmental indicators are introduced at this stage so that students can make linkages between social and environmental obser-

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Session A ■ Learning from observation

vations. This begins a process to understand the nature of the relationship between people and their coastal environment. The process is less guided and encourages students to practice using their skills developed in Part A. Section C ■ Interpreting observations focuses on interpretation of observations made in the field and should be conducted in the classroom. A scenario or coastal setting is introduced at this stage to guide the process.

Exercises look at the relationships between environmental and social aspects within the coastal setting provided. Linkages between observations are discussed resulting in a web of connected coastal issues. Finally, a list of coastal issues is formulated around the introduced scenario, which is forwarded for use in Module 3. Students, at this stage, reconstruct the coast identifying the issues that exist and have an impact on humans and the environment in the coastal area.

These stages will bring into view the social elements of the coastal zone. The identification of coastal issues marks the end of Module 2. Each of these sections is described in detail below.

Section A Learning from observation Aims Section A is guided by the teacher to ensure that students are clear and confident that they understand and can observe concepts presented in Module 1, and provides an opportunity for students to practice observation skill development. The specific aims are: ■ To provide an introduction to making observations in the field.

■ To provide a complementary field-based learning to teaching in Module 1.

■ To develop student skills in observing and interpreting the coast in a reallife setting.

Activities The implementation of Section A is structured along a series of sequential stages that incrementally reinforce and develop the theoretical knowledge gained in Module 1 into skills that students can apply in a field setting. These stages are: ■ Stage 1. Teacher guidance to making observations which illustrate the learning and concepts introduced in Module 1 (Exercise A1).

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MODULE 2 ■ Observations of human and natural dimensions of the coast

■ Stage 2. Transect walk to enable students to experience and learn how to make and interpret observations (Exercise A2).

■ Stage 3. Group discussion on the making of observations, their benefits and risks of interpretation, and linking observations back to Module 1 (Exercise A3).

Section A aims to develop social-scientific field skills on the basis of the contents of Module 1 so students are able to place social and economic inform­ ation in the context of the natural setting of the coastal landscape. In Module 1 a number of topics and concepts are introduced that are important to developing a social scientific understanding of the coastal zone (see Teacher’s note 12). However, often it is not possible to directly see these features in the field and, therefore, ‘indicators’ or ‘pointers’ are needed that can be used in the field through which elements of the social system become visible and observable.

There are three categories of general pointers to social science ‘observation’ (see Definition box 3) that can help sensitise trainer and participant alike to key aspects of conditions and processes in the coastal zone (see Table B1, page 103). Though the real-life complexities of the coastal zone should not be reduced to a kind of ‘quick and dirty’ rapid appraisal, it is useful to use a limited number of categories to help contextualise general observations.

Teacher’s note 12 ■ Understanding the relevance of social science through ­observation.

Module 1 introduces a substantial amount of new literature, concepts, knowledge and understanding for students, often within a short time scale. This can sometimes appear overwhelming to students, especially those who come from non-social science backgrounds. Students may question the relevance of certain topics to coastal management, which has traditionally been a largely engineering oriented subject. Short field visits can prove useful to increase understanding of theoretical content of module 1, and reiterating its relevance by seeing human factors in action on the coast. Talking to coastal actors, witnessing first hand their livelihood activities motivates students in the classroom. Guided observation of any setting, whether it be a coast, urban street, or market, creates a new experience and changes the way a student looks at the world.

Definition box 3 ■ Observation For the purposes of Module 2, an observation can be defined as a piece of evidence which has been collected by seeing, hearing or reading in the field or classroom (Figure 14). This can, for example, include background documents, published articles, measurements and recordings, conversation, responses to questions, signposts and information boards in the field and legal documents.

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Session A â– Learning from observation

The purpose of Section A is to ensure that students feel comfortable with the elements of the social system, and are guided in the use of indicators to assist in recognising and deciphering what they observe. The emphasis is on the elements of the social system. The means of using the indicators to recognise the individual elements is gradually introduced. However, the natural setting of the coast should not be ignored: Both social and natural settings of the coast can be deconstructed using a series of indicators to describe individual components.

At this point in time, although the teaching process is leading towards the identification of coastal issues and coastal management, the focus of the learning experience is on identifying and understanding the social system of the coastal zone. Therefore, emphasis should be placed on understanding what is seen rather than trying to identify how these observations lead to recognising coastal issues (this comes later towards the end of Section B and in Section C).

There are two elements to each observation that is made: 1 The observation provides a piece of factual evidence – the observation of a church provides evidence that religion and faith are a feature of society at that location.

Seeing, hearing or reading

In the classroom or in the field

Figure 14 Learning from observation

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MODULE 2 ■ Observations of human and natural dimensions of the coast

2 Each observation can also lead to a question – to what extent does the activity of the church dictate the behaviour of individuals towards their activities?

Section B Observation to identify social and environmental coastal components Aims Section B is the main field component of Module 2. Students are facilitated to make observations to deconstruct the coast into its constituent parts. The purpose of this is to gain understanding and comprehension of the coastal zone from the perspectives of individual disciplines and sectors in a manner that subsequently allows the coast to be interpreted and explored from a nondisciplinary and non-sectoral management perspective. Section B introduces a set of indicators for the social and natural components of the coast for this function. The specific aims are: ■ To provide students with a means to deconstruct the coast into constituent social and environmental components.

■ For students to gain some experience of conducting stakeholder interviews.

■ For students to gain a holistic, multi-disciplinary vision of the coast and its management needs.

Activities During Stage B a formal set of indicators is introduced that provide a series of observations to ‘see’ the social and environmental setting of a coastal area.

These ‘indicators’ or ‘pointers’ assume an important component of the methodological process described here. However, more important than the indicators in themselves, which are tools for visualising the coastal system, are the topics and concepts that describe elements of the social and environmental system. Section B is structured around a field trip (Exercise B1). Depending on the time available, a case study site is required where students have ample time to utilise the full suite of social and natural environment indicators (see Indicator sets in Exercise B1): the process described cannot be engaged with a sub-set of the indicators as only part of the ‘story’ of the coastal setting would be acquired. It is important that the case study area has a level of complexity which enables all of the indicators to be present, but not so complex that it is difficult for the students to see and tease out the indicators from within coastal setting they are presented with: The aim of the exercise is not to ‘test’ students on whether they know and can identify the indicators but to give them prac-

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Session B ■ Observation to identify social and environmental coastal components

tice and confidence in using the indicators as a tool to assist them in their understanding of the coastal setting.

The use of indicators to collect together groups of individual observations enables students to deconstruct the coast into practical and logical pieces (Figure 15). Effectively the rationale of the process is that the coastal setting is a narrative of its human activities and characteristics along with its physical, biological and chemical make-up (the natural environment). To understand the narrative, the coastal setting has to be de-constructed into its constituent parts (the chapters of the narrative story). Although the focus of teaching to this point has been centred on the social setting of the coastal zone, for management of human activities this must be considered side by side with the natural setting of the coastal landscape. The concept of indicators for understanding the human setting of the coastal zone have already been introduced in Module 1 and Section A of Module 2, and this concept is further extended to include a suite of indicators for the social and natural environment here (See Teacher guidance on Indicators – Exercise B1). The design of the social indicators is directly based on describing the concepts and theory introduced in Module 1 (see Teacher’s note 13).

The design of the environmental indicators (see Indicator sets in Exercise B1) is based on understanding the nature of the relationship between people and their coastal environment. These specific indicators enable a more detailed analysis of coastal components, to follow on from the general observations made in Section A. The indicators are used as proxies that represent an illustration of individual components of the de-constructed coast. It is important that students understand that these indicators effectively form a link between an observation (be it from raw data, a visual sighting, heard or read information) and the interpretation of the underlying message that emerges from the analysis, and which is used to reconstruct the coastal zone. In effect the indicators are a Figure 15 Conceptual diagram of the process of deconstruction of the coast through a series of indicators to describe those social (S1-S4) and natural (N1-N4) components that are important to understand the dynamics and changes that are taking place.

The indicators have to be interpreted in a manner that allows them to be interrogated against crit­eria that help explain dynamics and changes, rather than describes discipline focussed knowledge, to build a picture of the coast that is not sectorally/disciplinary oriented but holistic. The purpose is to reveal causes of change and economic and social effects of change. Reconstruction of the coast describes the current situation and how it has been arrived at with suggestions of what could be a better and more sustainable situation.

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MODULE 2 ■ Observations of human and natural dimensions of the coast

link between scientific information that describes a part of the coastal setting, management use of information to understand issues that exist and comprehension of the situation of the coastal setting.

It is important that Exercise B1 remains focussed on gathering information and observations on the coastal setting of the case study site without any emphasis on issues that might become apparent – although it will not be possible to ignore that some observations explicitly suggest a coastal issue. The reason for this is that an emphasis on particular coastal issues may lead or bias students to make observations focussed on that issue rather than developing a holistic picture of the coastal setting. However, each observation should be queried in terms of what it shows and also what it does not show (see Section A).

Section B concludes with an exercise (Exercise B2) that allows students to begin to discuss how they can collate, compare and contrast observations that they have made between themselves and, importantly, with those of stakeholders in the field site. The purpose of this is to encourage students to start thinking about how observations can be interpreted in order to identify issues, and connections between issues (the focus of Section C).

Teacher’s note 13 ■ Using the social indicators In practice, there is likely to be substantial overlap between categories in terms of assigning any given observation. Using the categories enables a single observation to be comprehended from different perspectives. For example, the observation of a ‘church’ can appear in as many as 4 categories: ■ A social actor – the role of the church in society and decision making, as a coastal stakeholder, a possible participant in coastal management discussions.

■ A part of social structure – the church’s role in how society works, its influence over the behaviour of people, the establishment of rules for society, its role in family life events such as weddings and funerals.

■ A part of culture – societal practices of religious beliefs, festivals, ceremonies, and customs.

■ An institution – part of a larger organization which extends over local, state and institutional scales and has influence, politics, followers and allegiances, agendas and values.

This is exactly the type of multi-dimensional understanding of coastal factors which should be instilled in students and they should be encouraged to explore and interpret observations across as well as within categories. The ability to assign several meanings to what (at first) seems as a single observation, and the ability to work with different perspectives and meanings of observations, is at the very core of social science philosophy.

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Session C ■ Interpretation of observations

Section C Interpretation of observations Aims Section C focuses on the analysis and interpretation of observations made in the field and should be conducted in the classroom. Section C begins the pro­ cess of analysis and interpretation that leads to the approach and process of integrated coastal management. The specific aims are: ■ To analyse and interpret field observations using the context of a scenario.

■ To explore relationships and inter-linkages between observations made in the field.

■ To explore the relationships between environmental and human aspects within the scenario provided.

■ To produce a list of coastal issues around an introduced scenario, which is forwarded for use in Module 3.

Activities Students will return from the field with a multitude of observations from which a wide range of coastal issues could be drawn (some of these will have emerged from Exercise B2). In a teaching setting, it is not possible to address all possible issues that will be identified. In addition, literally hundreds of observations will have been made, too many to be handled in the time likely to be available. However, it is equally important that students ‘use’ all the information they have collected and do not feel that they have made observations just for the sake of it (see Teacher’s note 14).

The sheer volume of information that students collect will in itself make an emphatic statement to students of the complexity and diversity of the coastal zone from the perspective of its natural and social setting. In order for students to learn from this experience in a manner that will equip them for a future workplace, it is imperative that a relatively simple example – or scenario – is extracted from the coastal setting. A scenario (see Box 17 and Teacher’s note 14) that provides an assignment that goes beyond a single issue situation, which would more approximate an EIA exercise, is introduced at this stage to guide the process. The use of a scenario extracts, from the coastal setting of the field study site, a synthetic description of a hypothetical situation that might arise from a series of interlinked issues: It is useful to use the issues identified from Exercise B2 to construct the scenario so that it retains relevance for students. The use of a scenario assists with the interpretation of data and avoids overwhelming students with too many observations. Its purpose is to narrow down the analysis and focus the discussion of coastal management.

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MODULE 2 ■ Observations of human and natural dimensions of the coast

Box 17 ■ Criteria for a suitable coastal scenario The scenario should not focus on the impact of one change or development per se. Rigorous approaches to this have been developed through Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), Environmental Social and Economic assessment (ESE) and Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). In these approaches the impact of a development is assessed in terms of its impact upon various features of the environment. The holistic nature of ICM takes a different approach: In ICM, the functioning of the system as a whole, through an appreciation of the links between various features, is the initial conceptual backdrop to the area. ICM is a planning tool and thus attempts to inculcate the ongoing or future changes in the target area. However, the changes in the area are viewed through the effect of change on the network of understanding of the linkages (physical-natural-social-economic) which govern the system. Using the analogy of a spiders web, rather than looking at the impact of a change on each of the threads of the web (the threads representing different features of the natural and human environment) which is the process of EIA, ICM looks at the impact of the change on the web as a whole and considers whether the web will maintain its functional entity, or not.

Scenarios should have the following properties: ■ Focus on describing an interaction between 2 or more features of the coastal zone (either human and human or human and environmental); ■ Be based on a change or threat, which requires coastal management intervention; ■ Be human focussed in order to complement the module; ■ Be as simple as possible, involving no more than 2-3 aspects, e.g. erosion of the coastline threatens a power station, or a marine park threatens the livelihoods of local fishers; ■ Be known to the teacher(s) so background knowledge and experience is available to guide observations in the field, steer debates and establish a suitable and rich coastal scenario applicable to the region.

The ICM scenario should avoid the following features: ■ Focusing on just one change (e.g. development such as a hotel) to the system, whilst negating the effect of other changes. A small number of priority changes may have to be formulated into a shortlist by the students; ■ Addressing just selected sectoral features of the system rather than appreciating the impact of the change upon the whole system. If changes are likely to have consequent negative effects, then the scenario should have possible planning outcomes which are of relevance and use to the students, e.g. planning construction of a sea wall, development of a fisheries co-operative.

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Session C ■ Interpretation of observations

Teacher’s note 14 ■ Choosing an appropriate coastal scenario Coastal scenarios may be decided upon prior to the field trip, if a particularly strong and relevant scenario is already available. However, it is preferable that the scenario be allowed to emerge from the field experience itself. It is important to recognise that it may not be possible to collect all the information necessary for Module 3 from the field visits and additional information collected from other sources will be required and should be made available to the students. Therefore, it is important to control the formulation of the scenario to strike a balance between students ‘controlling’ the process through their field experiences and producing a plausible scenario that can be supported by supplementary information.

It is important to recognise that a scenario is best not aligned to some actual or planned event as this can distort people’s perceptions of the likelihood of what might happen in the future – and this can have an influence on the nature of interactions with stakeholders met as part of the field activity. Students return from the field with large quantities of information and data.

In the analysis of this data, several hypothetical scenarios may present themselves. It is particularly rewarding for students to be able to work with ‘realistic’ scenarios based on issues/ problems which they have discovered as part of the module. It instils a sense of ‘ownership’ over the scenario or problem with which the students are working.

This is particularly important for Module 3, which uses more specific forms of analysis. The activity for Section C is set around a series of discussion/debate sessions with students that sequentially collates and links observations made under each of the indicator categories to construct a number of sets of packages consisting of grouped observations that provide information relating to the scenario. The effect of using a scenario is to restrain the complexity of the coastal setting so as not to overwhelm students with the complex realities of what they have seen and learnt from the field experience. Activities in Section C are, therefore, focussed on collating and synthesising the information gathered during Section B. As identified in Teacher’s note 13, there can be overlap between categories in terms of assigning any given observation to an indicator. In addition, there will be linkages between individual observations – these take two forms: 1 Linking observations made within social or environment categories (Box 18).

2 Linking observations made between social and environment categories (Box 18).

Individual observations provide a point-in-time static piece of information and usually do not in themselves say anything about the significance and consequence for processes and activities in the coastal area (Box 19).

Identifying the presence of an observation within more than one indicator, and links between observations (See Teacher’s note 15), allows observations to be interpreted in terms of the consequence, dynamics, relationships and linkages between processes and activities in the coastal area. Therefore

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MODULE 2 ■ Observations of human and natural dimensions of the coast

Box 18 ■ The linking of observations Two or more observations can be joined together to provide a more comprehensive picture, for instance: 1 Observations made under environmental indicators that reveal the presence of degraded mangroves and undercut sea walls can be joined to construct a higher level observation that the area is subjected to erosion and altered shoreline stability. The ‘joined’ observations also lead to a clearer identification of the underlying issue – in this case one of altered sediment regimes and the need to find what alterations in sediment dynamics (natural and/or human induced) cause this; 2 Observations made under social indicators that reveal billboards advertising luxury goods and shops selling luxury items combine to suggest that people have disposable income and are being targeted by manufacturers. Here the joined observations lead to questions about how income is being generated and whether disposable income is a new feature in the economy of an area.

As well as joining observations made within either social or natural categories of indicator, joining can also be across categories, for instance: ■ Under the environmental categories an observation is made of poor water quality and under a social category locals talk about reduced fishing success and boats laid-up. The combination of observations suggest that if the security of a local community is threatened there may be reduced resources as a consequence of reduced environmental quality. The joined observations suggest that issues of resource availability and quality may be leading to social hardship.

Joining of observations effectively produces a ‘new’ piece of information that either produces more clarity of the circumstances and background to the coastal setting or, importantly, directs the observer towards further observations that need to be made to help fully explain the coastal setting. This form of enquiry around observations that have been made directs students to move from making single observations, which describe in a relatively static sense some feature of the coastal setting, to enquiry across observations to reveal what processes are changing, e.g. growth of tourism; pressure on land space/allocation; erosion leading to loss of land space and threatening existing land structures.

observations need to be interpreted in terms of what take home message they suggest or convey.

Section C is built around three exercises that first develop the scenario (Exercise C1), explore the links within social and natural indicator categories (Exercise C2) and finally the links between social and natural indicator categories (Exercise C3). Exercise C4 is where the issues that relate to the chosen scenario are discussed and confirmed to be carried forward to Module 3. It may appear contradictory to decide on a scenario prior to an analysis of ob-

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Box 19 ■ The significance of observations Each observation made is a piece of evidence that will have a degree of accuracy and a degree of uncertainty associated with it. The piece of information needs to be collated and interpreted collectively to construct a story – as in a police investigations, each piece of evidence needs to be pieced together to re-create the circumstances of the crime, its background and consequences in order that the crime can be solved.

It is important to recognise that each observation can be open to a range of interpretations, there will be assumptions that are made in how the observation is interpreted, and the observation can lead to unanswered questions. In a teaching setting, discussion within the student group should reveal some of these issues and lead to a consensus-based interpretation that can be qualified through subsequent observations and analysis (see Box 16).

Therefore, each observation needs to be interrogated and questioned for what it says about the coastal setting. For example, a single observation of a church is made – so what?, what does this observation say about the impact and significance of a human presence and activity in a coastal area? The observation of a church can fit into more than one of the social indicator categories.

Across the range of indicators the significance can be interpreted in terms of: 1 Effects from the institution outwards: ■ The presence of an institution that exerts control and influence on groups of people affecting their behaviour within their social group and outside of it towards others (maybe from a different church or religion); ■ An institution that can provide a collective voice to groups of individuals providing greater power and influence that could influence decision making; ■ Authorities may chose to exert their influence and power through the institution rather than to each person individually.

2 Effects from the institution inwards: ■ The institution may contribute to the wellbeing of individuals in the community; ■ The institution may place a financial burden on individuals demanding money and time; ■ The institution may exert a moral pressure on individual actions persuading them to behave in a certain manner.

This type of observation is also an example of when the presence of one or many types of the observation may have significance as, for example, different churches may advocate different approaches and positions on particular issues and/or may compete with other types of institution (e.g. church versus state).

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servations and their inter-linkages to recognize coastal issues. However, there are two points to consider: 1 The number of observations that students make will mean it will not be possible to consider all observations in the context of all possible issues that exist within even a relatively simple coastal setting – therefore a means must exist in a teaching situation to restrain the use of observations against a sub-set of possible issues. However, rather than simply taking an unrelated sub-set of issues it is much more preferable to take a related and interconnected sub-set of issues joined through a scenario. In practice it is often not possible to consider issues in isolation of each other.

2 In reality it is not possible to observe a coastal setting in a totally disinterested or impartial manner. In making individual observations it is inevitable that some degree of interpretation and judgement will be made by students.

Allowing students to query and integrate the impressions and opinions they form, but in a structured manner to build up a picture of issues and how these may relate to trajectories of change leading to possible future scenarios, provides a point of reference that can be used to re-affirm, or not, their interpretations and structure of the scenario during Module 3.

Teacher’s note 15 ■ Guiding the linking of observations The links between observations that are possible are numerous and can become overwhelming. This process therefore needs to be well managed by the teacher. Multiple connections and relationships between observations is in part a good visual picture of the reality of the coast.

The coast and its connectivity between features is complex. However, teachers must be careful not to allow students to become overwhelmed and lost in this complexity, and the discussion should be carefully monitored against the scenario.

Students often have a tendency to try to link everything. This is not the objective. The teacher must carefully steer the discussion and encourage students to question whether they truly know whether observations are linked or whether they would need to find out more information. How students can find out further information is one useful route of discussion in the class.

Concluding remarks Conducting an effective programme of field visits in a coastal area that provides a range of learning opportunities for a group of participants is a delicate job that requires considerable pre-planning (see Teacher’s handbook to field visits at Appendix 1). Not everything is in the control of the training team during field visits. They have to be managed sensitively and flexibly with a clear focus on participants gaining enough understanding through their own ob-

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servation of particular issues/problems. It may not be possible for all relevant observations to be made, in which case teachers need to be prepared to provide information to fill gaps and complete the ‘picture’ that students construct through observation. It should be remembered that the purpose of a teaching field visit is not to solve a coastal management issue, but to inculcate within participants the learning to be able to address tasks in a holistic and integrated manner in a future work place setting. Successfully conducting and completing field visits is thus dependent on participants being able to develop understanding of the complex interactions and relationships that exist within and between natural and social features of the coastal landscapes. The challenge is to strike a balance between details and the overall picture. What level is sufficient to build a picture of the coast and its setting? As the scale of analysis increases, the wider picture decreases – it is important to decide the right level as these may differ between disciplines.

Exercise A1 Making field observations for social science features and components of the coastal zone Aims ■ To introduce students to making observations of human dimensions of the coastal zone.

■ Understanding the risks of misinterpretation.

Instructions In essence this is a simple and straightforward exercise. Students are taken to a vantage point that provides a clear view of a piece of coastal landscape – this may or may not be part of the case study site. From this vantage point the teacher points out a variety of features and through guided discussion makes students aware of how these features can be observed and interpreted to describe the human dimensions of the coastal zone that have emerged from Module 1. A simple handout and template for students to help identify the interpretation of observations should be provided – examples of handouts identified in the following text can be found at Appendix 2. The handout should identify features from Module 1 that are visible from the vantage point and ask students to note how the observation can be interpreted (see example Handout A1 in Appendix 2). However, because any piece of coastal landscape is likely to be complex, teachers need to be aware of two key teaching requirements:

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1 Simplifying the observational experience – to ensure that students are presented with a clear and unambiguous ‘picture’ to observe and interpret.

2 Helping students decide whether an interpretation of an observation is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’.

These requirements can be met by ‘staging’ the exercise.

Teacher guidelines for exercise A1 Stage 1 ■ Teacher guidance to making observations It is far from easy to directly ‘see’ important components, structures and pro­ cesses of the social environment in a coastal zone landscape (see Teacher’s note 16 and Appendix 1: Teachers handbook – Organising field visits).

Teacher’s note 16 ■ Experience from India ‘It was sometimes challenging to teach social science to engineering students. Challenging for a number of reasons. First, social sciences are not considered very important and are often treated as a soft science. It has taken, therefore, quite a lot of time to convince students of its importance. The second constraint is the methodology of teaching and learning. As a social scientist, I think it is important to read a lot. Reading is very much essential to learning and expanding one’s horizons and to introduce different perspectives on a particular issue.

Students from natural science subjects find a lot of reading cumbersome and tend to lose interest easily. The real challenge therefore, is to keep them engrossed in lectures. One has to continuously draw links back to the field. A couple of field visits at the start of the course enables students to be aware of the ‘human’ dimension out there. This field work need not be structured much – just simply used as a means to familiarize them with the coast.’

Rocks, sand, water and fish can be seen and analysis of their structure, composition, quality and species characteristics made. But what about the social world? In this field visit exercise a complex coastal zone landscape can be di­ ssected to make elements of the social structure and social processes ‘visible’.

In doing this exercise the following points are important: 1 The purpose of the fieldwork is not an exercise of anthropological research but a field exercise to acquaint students from a non-social disciplinary background with the basics of social research for policy and management purposes.

2 Observations should be focussed specifically on elements of the social system as described in Module 1 and the concept of indicators to visualise these elements shown to students.

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3 Observations need to be linked to the issues and underlying problems of the coastal zone: why are observations pertaining to certain indicators and pointers relevant for understanding the coastal zone and improving intervention and management?

Making observations for the first time based on their learning from Module 1 is likely to be a demanding experience for students. Teachers can facilitate this learning experience by simplifying the process and presenting a situation that can help students make a judgement as to whether their interpretation of an observation is ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. To achieve this the teacher needs to carefully stage the first observational experience through having made a reconnaissance and noted the features that will be visible in order to prepare the handout (see example Handout A1). It is also useful to stage this exercise with a view the social and environmental indicators that will be presented in Exercise B1.

The challenge in ‘correctly’ interpreting an observation As shown in Figure 16 a variety of ‘pictures’ may be seen even at one location that could be open to a variety of interpretations: 1 An observation on social actors The pictures could be interpreted as showing that the market provides only the most basic facilities for selling fish, with display of fish just on the market floor, without ice or cooling and in direct contact with the sunlight.

But even on a small market place, social-economic differentiation can be observed, as 3 meters to the right a higher caste woman displays cleanly washed, big fish, sheltered, on a wooden platform. So the pictures could portray a ‘story’ of social hierarchy; 2 An observation on social system/structure (markets) The pictures could be interpreted as showing the auctioning space in the market where usually one or two women auction piles of fish to the highest bidder, which are then sold on fish stalls (the raised platforms) by the buyers (right photograph). The reason the floor fish don’t have ice is because they are not there long – they come, they are auctioned, then removed. So the pictures could portray a ‘story’ not of social hierarchy, but one of the operation of the market and selling and buying of fish.

Therefore, any given observation should not lead to an immediate conclusion, but should lead to questions to solve/gather missing knowledge, and to more accurately interpret what is seen. In this example, the initial observation could lead to the question – is there social differentiation within the market or is there some other (e.g. market structure) reason for the differences seen?

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Figure 16 The fish market at Pulicat Lake, India showing ‘pictures’ that are open to varying interpretation requiring further observation/s to find the ‘correct’ understanding

Staging the observational experience When using observation as a technique it is important to remember the following: ■ By choosing a specific location for observations or by looking in a certain direction each observation becomes ‘framed’ in a specific way in terms of space and scale. Standing on a high hilltop it is possible to discern the broader structural features of the landscape, and the different zones and functions allocated to it by people. But are the details of human activity observable?

■ A single observation gives a snapshot of conditions prevailing at the time it was made. Depending on time and the characteristics of the object observed, longer observations may reveal more detail about a process. Repeated observations through time may be another relevant way of dealing methodologically with the processional character of the social world.

Even a one-time observation may give clues about the history of the landscape, human settlement, resource use and other relevant aspects. Let us take an example: the Rio Guardiana estuary of the Algarve coastal zone, Portugal (Figure 17). This estuary, located in the border area between Portugal and Spain (the river Guardiana forms the boundary), is known for its sea salt production

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Figure 17 Salt pans in the Rio Guardiana estuary showing a general perspective (left) and detail including local staff (right)

and as a bird sanctuary. Even from the two pictures it is possible to make several observations: ■ The structure of the salt ponds is visible.

■ Details of the production process and techniques of harvesting salt from the ponds are observable.

■ Young people, both men and women, work in the salt ponds.

■ How the salt ponds are located in the wider landscape is observable.

■ The nearby urban centre and the building activity can be seen.

Taking another perspective, looking in different directions, or doing observations of pond labour at different times of the day or through time (taking other ‘pictures’), many more observations could be made that would add detail to the setting of the salt ponds. However, there are many questions that need to be answered to give a definitive ‘picture’ of the activity and context of salt production in the coastal landscape that cannot be gained through either a single or many field observations. In the above case of Portuguese salt production, it would be necessary to know, for example: ■ When was salt production introduced into the area?

■ How has salt production developed since then?

■ What markets does it cater to? How is salt marketing organized?

■ Who owns the salt ponds? Are the workers also the owners?

These are the kind of questions that can only be answered if additional research tools are employed. The following tools are crucial: ■ Interviewing (e.g. with administrators, historians, salt producers, traders).

■ Studying written documents (books, government or non-government documents and maps).

■ Internet sources.

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In combination, these sources of information (observations, interviewing, documents, internet) should give a clearer picture of relevant conditions and processes in the coastal zone.

Note also the following: often combinations of data collection methods are needed to cope with the various levels at which certain processes relevant to the coastal zone occur (Definition box 4). Where direct observations at the local ‘field’ level may yield information on, for instance, aquaculture (production, labour, rights to the resource), information from other sources gathered locally or at higher levels might provide knowledge and insights that cannot be gained from pure observation (e.g. statistical data on shrimp exports, legal regulation, export destinations).

Definition box 4 ■ Methodology in the social sciences In the social sciences, triangulation is often used to indicate that more than one method is used in a study with a view to double (or triple) checking results. This is also called ‘cross examination’. The idea is that one can be more confident if different methods lead to the same result. If an investigator uses only one method, the temptation is strong to believe in the findings. If an investigator uses two methods, the results may well clash. By using three methods to get at the answer to one question, the hope is that a) two of the three will produce similar answers, or b) if three clashing answers are produced, the investigator knows that the question needs to be reframed, methods reconsidered, or both.

I t is very important to critically compare information gathered from various sources and be aware of possible contradictions and discrepancies. It can also be a very useful exercise to critically compare observations on the same location between students and discuss similarities and differences in perception (understanding of the ‘picture’ observed).

Last but not least, this is an exercise for developing social scientific field skills. That is why there is a strong focus here on social scientific insights.

However, it is crucially important in the field to try and link observations that are socially relevant to conditions and processes in the physical and natural environment including climatic conditions (see tables B3 & B4). The kind of salt exploitation from the example above, for instance, can only take place under specific physical, environmental and climatic conditions that include: ■ The kind and extent of impact of tidal flows in the coastal wetlands, ■ Climatic conditions conducive to the salt formation and extraction process, ■ Physical and environmental conditions that protect the area against or screen it off from the impact of pollutants.

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This way of observing and looking at the coastal zone will give a stronger sense of the interrelatedness of social and physical conditions and processes, and thus make it easier to develop an integrated perspective on the coastal zone.

Exercise A2 Field transect walk and guided observation making for coastal social systems Aims â– To introduce students to making and interpreting independent observations. â– Learning about how to deepen understanding through asking and listening.

Instructions Students first make a transect walk of up to 500m maximum and record up to 10 observations that reflect/describe the social system they see (see Handout A2 in Appendix 2). The transect walk should if possible include inhabited/ built areas and uninhabited/un-built areas. It should be stressed that observations should be made visually only. As well as describing the observation, students should consider how they interpret their observation in the context of the topics introduced in Module 1, how it relates to features of the social system and what indicators could be used to illustrate the feature. At the end of the walk, students should consider what might be limiting the interpretation, and its accuracy, from only having made the observation visually and not been able to use other observation methods to substantiate it.

Subsequently, each student should be asked to choose three of these observations for further exploration and analysis in the field by asking people or reading. As well as trying to find a greater level of detail to describe the original observation, students should also consider how each piece of new information modifies their interpretation of the observation. Students should also be asked why they chose the three particular observations for further exploration.

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Teacher guidelines for exercise A2 Stage 2 ■ Transect walk for observing social systems Having had some experience and guidance on making observations on human dimensions of the coastal zone, Stage 2 provides students with the opportunity to practice their skill development. This is achieved through a transect walk.

A transect walk is where participants walk along a pre-determined path along which they can make observations (either by seeing, talking with people they meet or reading (billboards signs etc.) (see Teacher’s note 17).

Teacher’s note 17 ■ Transect walks Transect walks can be conducted within a couple of hours and do not need extensive field trip planning. Whilst it is best to conduct a walk in a coastal area, a walk within a university campus even would suffice to illustrate the social concepts which are taught in Module 1.

Further thoughts: “This was a useful exercise but also time consuming as students were eager and at ease to talk to people. It is possible for the exercise to actually produce too much data and knowledge about the site which was hard to give adequate time and fairness to analyze later in the classroom as part of Stage 3. In future, it might be worth doing the exercise as a smaller, separate, activity somewhere close to the university. It could form part of a ‘methodology’.”

For this stage, students are first asked to record observations they see and which can be subsequently followed-up in greater depth through additional observational means. This has the effect of illustrating how observations obtained by different methods can build upon each other. A well structured handout is critical to guide students in this process (see Handout A2, Appendix 2). Observations should not be made specifically against the indicators (Table B2), however Stage 2 will begin to reinforce the concept of indicators to visualise the social system by asking students to consider how their observations could map onto the indicators.

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Exercise A3 Discussing the background to observations on coastal social systems Aims ■ For students to discuss the importance of challenging the interpretation of what you ‘see’.

■ To understand how different perspectives/experiences lead to different ‘pictures’ of the coastal zone.

Instructions The purpose of this exercise is for students to gain an appreciation that their own personally held views and perspectives, which shape the picture they build of the coast, can differ from those held by others and why. It is important that each member of a group has opportunity to contribute and so group sizes should not exceed six. Where class sizes mean that there are more than 1 group for this exercise, then a final plenary session must be included for each group to report back and time provided for discussion between groups. Questions that can help shape this exercise are: ■ What observations did people make?

■ What further detail was uncovered on closer investigation?

■ Why did students focus on their chosen observations? (are there biases in what we do and don’t see?)

■ Were there any differences between what people observed and then heard/ learned about on asking?

■ Were there any surprises on what students saw and then learned about their observation?

Teacher guidelines for exercise A3 Stage 3 ■ Group discussion on making observations for social systems This stage is directed towards consolidating and confirming the learning experience from the two field exercises. It is carried out as a group discussion that explores the rationale and perspectives of individual students towards the observations they have made. The exercise will also bring out the diversity that exists within any particular student group and explore why differences in opinion are held. This is important so that students begin to appreciate why stakeholders in the coastal zone also hold differing expectations and aspira-

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tions and which can lead to competition and conflict in the coastal zone (see Teacher’s note 18).

Teacher’s note 18 ■ Organising the discussion Focus of class discussion: “Each student described one of the ‘in-depth’ observations during a group discussion. A comment on why students selected their observations led to a discussion on bias in research and how the ‘focus’ of coastal management within an individual might be led by background experiences, existing expertise and interests…something the students are trying to overcome. Students gave interesting examples of how their preliminary observations changed on asking further information – leading to an appreciation of the limitation of ‘interpreting through observation’ alone.”

Exercise B1 Observing social and natural indicators of a coastal setting Aim ■ For students to make observations of a coastal setting using a suite of social and natural indicators.

Instructions Students should be taken to vantage points that afford them a good view and contact with the case study site with opportunity to see features and interact with social actors (see Teacher’s note 19).

They should record observations against the social and natural indicators (see Handout B1 Social & Handout B1 Environment in Appendix 2). It is important that enough different vantage points are chosen so that students can observe each of the social and natural indicators. The purpose of the exercise is not a test on whether students ‘know’ the indicators, but that students can make the observations and gain confidence in observing and interpreting the coastal landscape. Where observations can only be made either entirely or in part by interacting with social actors, then interviews should be prearranged.

Depending on the size and complexity of the case study area, it may not be possible for students to complete their worksheets in a single visit or from a single vantage point and multiple vantage points and/or field visits will need to be organised.

The key to the success of the exercise is the planning and reconnaissance of the field visits so that so far as is possible the observation of indica-

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tors is unambiguous. Where interactions with social actors will take place, it is important that the social actors are aware about the visit by the students and its purpose. The briefing should make it clear what the purpose of the visit is and what students will be doing and why, that it is a teaching exercise and not a scoping for a ‘real’ coastal management project.

Teacher guidelines for exercise B1 Indicators for observing coastal areas The field visit should focus on the dynamic interactions and the complex causal linkages between natural processes and the various interest groups (‘stakeholders’) in human society (see box 20). Therefore, the field visit should be structured to assist students make observations that develop understanding of the natural components and processes and the human components and processes of the coastal landscape, and their interaction with each other (see Teacher’s note 19).

Box 20 ■ The division of stakeholders according to their role in the

plan area A stakeholder is any person, group or institution that has an interest in an activity including both intended beneficiaries and intermediaries, winners and losers, and those involved or excluded from decision-making processes. Stakeholders can be divided into two very broad groups: ■ primary stakeholders: those who are ultimately affected, i.e. who expect to benefit from or be adversely affected by the intervention. They are usually resource users; and ■ secondary stakeholders: those with some intermediary role associated with the implementation of a management plan, i.e. planning agencies who implement management activities, or secondary users of resources, e.g. traders.

Key stakeholders are those who can significantly influence the project. Both primary and secondary stakeholders may also be key stakeholders. Over time, any particular stakeholder can alter their position and definition within an activity.

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Teacher’s note 19 ■ Selection of observation platforms Students should be able to be based in one location for at least 45 minutes, in order to provide sufficient time to fill out all the categories as listed on Worksheet 2 (Appendix 2). Observation platforms should be carefully selected by teachers to provide a good view where social and natural components are likely to be seen. They must also be suitable and safe for students to observe for 45 minute periods.

Remember – observations can be seen, heard or read – students should be encouraged to ask questions and gather information from the social actors who surround them.

The categories of social observation identified in Table B1 and B2 are designed to build a picture of the social and economic setting of the coastal landscape that will develop understanding of conditions and processes in the coastal zone. When coupled with the natural environment observations (Table B3 and B4), they determine how and why humans are interacting with their natural resource base in the case study setting.

The social indicators There are three categories of general pointers to social science observation (see Definition box 3) that can help sensitise trainer and participant alike to key aspects of conditions and processes in the coastal zone (Table B1).

Table B1 General observations for social sciences: space, economic activity, and landscape history Spatial organization

For example: ■ How is human settlement organized spatially?

■ Is there a clear spatial organization of functions?

Economic activities using space and / or resources in the coastal zone

For example: ■ Fisheries (large-scale, small-scale) ■ Aquaculture ■ Agriculture ■ Tourism (reserves, beaches, construction) ■ Industrial activities (pollution)

Historical elements in the landscape

For example: ■ Traces of earlier settlement (villages, scattered houses or other buildings in the landscape) ■ Traces of earlier economic activity and resource exploitation (e.g. wells, old field bunds etc.)

The categories of social observations identified in Table B2 are designed to build a picture of the dynamics of the human setting of the coastal landscape (Table B1) that describe the resources available for human use and which human activity can affect. There are seven types of indicators that act as gen-

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eral pointers to social science observation. They can help sensitise trainer and students alike to key aspects of conditions and processes in the coastal zone.

Though the real-life complexities of the coastal zone (see Module 1) should not be reduced to a kind of ‘quick and dirty’ rapid appraisal, it is useful to use a limited number of categories to help contextualise general observations. These pointers are derived from the components and categories covered in Module 1. Thus, for example, the presence of fisheries activities indicates the importance of having fishermen on the list as ‘stakeholders’ in the coastal zone.

However, a more in-depth understanding of relationships between traditional (small-scale) and modern (large-scale) fisheries activities, or between small fishermen and the tourist sector, requires further research through the components and pointers indicated in Table B2.

Table B2 Social indicators in the coastal zone that can act as pointers to the social components discussed in Module 1. Each of these indicators is explained in more detail, with links to concepts identified in Module 1, in the Social Indicator descriptions that begins on page 115.

Component

Examples of pointers discussed here

1 Social actors (stakeholders)

■ Primary and secondary stakeholders ■ Individual and institutional actors ■ Gender aspects

2 Social system / structure

■ State- and non-state institutions, bodies and authorities ■ Markets ■ Religion, ethnicity, class, caste, gender and household

3 Livelihoods and resource use

■ Ways and means of making a living using natural resources ■ Social/ economic activities related to the coastal zone

4 Culture

■ Material culture ■ Religious and ritual expression ■ Rules (for food, access to resources, institutions) ■ Local knowledge ■ Changing lifestyles

5 Property rights and access

■ Boundary markers and signs that limit or prohibit access, use etc.

■ Gear (e.g. fishing nets) ■ Other evidence of claims ■ Legal titles ■ Mapping and zoning

6 Institutions

■ Government and non-governmental institutions (administration, policies, legal regulation, projects and programs); see also social structure.

■ Political institutions ■ Public bodies, meetings, mutual help and credit groups ■ Customary and kinship institutions

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7 Linkages and networks between the local and the global

■ Communication technology ■ Trade and trade facilities (storage, transport) ■ Presence of foreign private enterprise (production, processing, supermarket chains, etc.)

■ Tourism and tourist facilities (e.g. spatial beach zoning).

■ International regulations pertaining to coastal resources and their uses.

■ Foreign development organizations and environmental movements

The environmental indicators The environment is a term that comprises all living and non-living things that occur naturally on the Earth or some part of it. This term therefore includes all the biological, chemical and physical components and characteristics of the environment (see Box 21), which are often aggregated together and described in terms of: 1 Complete landscape units that function as natural systems and the natural phenomena that occur within their boundaries (see Definition box 5).

2 Natural resources and phenomena that may lack clear-cut boundaries and which provide a range of goods and services for humans.

Box 21 ■ Natural environments, resources and the coastal zone Within the coastal landscape, the natural environment is often contrasted with two other types of environment with which it has a significant influence and interaction: ■ The built environment, which comprises the areas and components that have been extensively modified and influenced by humans such that the biological, chemical and physical characteristics are fundamentally (and often irreversibly) altered; and ■ Land that is used for agricultural purposes often compromises a large proportion of land area. Agriculture and nature exercise a profound influence over each other. This has contributed to creating and maintaining a variety of valuable semi-natural habitats.

Natural resources are naturally occurring substances that may be exploited/extracted through human activity. In this sense, agriculture is an industry that utilises the space of the natural environment and exploits natural resources in order to create new commodities.

Natural resources are often classified into renewable, flow, and non-renewable resources. Renewable resources are generally living resources (fish and forests, for example), which can restock (renew) themselves if they are not over-harvested.

Once renewable resources are consumed at a rate that exceeds their natural rate of replacement, the standing stock will diminish and eventually run out.

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The rate of sustainable use of a renewable resource is determined by the replacement rate and amount of standing stock of that particular resource. Flow renewable resources are very much like renewable resources, only they do not need regeneration. Flow renewable resources include wind, tides and solar radiation.

A non-renewable resource is a natural resource that cannot be re-made, re-grown or regenerated on a scale comparative to its consumption. It exists in a fixed amount that is being renewed or is used up faster than it can be made by nature.

Often fossil fuels, such as coal, petroleum, and natural gas are considered nonrenewable resources, as they do not naturally re-form at a rate that makes the way they are used sustainable. Both extraction of the basic resource and refining it into a purer, directly usable form, (e.g., metals, refined oils) are generally considered natural-resource activities, even though the latter may not necessarily occur near the former.

Definition box 5 ■ Landscape The term ‘Landscape’ as used in the context of ICM refers to the expression of interactions between humans and their environment and stresses the agency of culture as a force in shaping the visible features of the Earth’s surface in delimited areas. Within this definition the physical environment retains a central significance, as the medium with and through which human cultures act; it is a product of the dialectic of biophysical environments and culture.

It is possible to categorise natural science observations, in a similar manner to that for social science observation (Table B3 cf. Table B1), that can help sensitise trainer and participant alike to key aspects of conditions and pro­ cesses in the coastal zone. In general, natural science disciplines collect data that describes the existing status of a system. Measurements made over time can mean that data can be interpreted to provide a picture of the dynamics of a system. However, for management purposes information is required that not only describes the dynamics of a system (what is changing, how and why), but also needs to be accessible in a format that allows its association with other pieces of information to be determined. In effect, each piece of information should be interpreted in terms of its implications and consequences.

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MODULE 2 ■ Observations of human and natural dimensions of the coast Table B3 General observations for natural sciences: space, natural dynamics, and landscape history Spatial organization

For example: ■ How are landscape units organized spatially?

■ Is there a clear spatial organization of functions?

Natural functions producing space and/or resources in the coastal zone

For example: ■ Riverine inputs/nutrient budgets ■ Patterns of sediment movement/storage ■ Goods and services provided by natural features

Historical elements in the landscape

For example: ■ Evidence of shoreline change ■ Evidence of changing resources (ecosystem change)

These categories point towards considerations of time and space of natural system factors and processes in the coastal zone. Changes in these factors and processes, whether natural or anthropogenic in origin, will likely alter the natural resource base available for human use. Observations on the categories mentioned above will lead to the environmental indicators (Table B4) required.

Table B4 Natural environment indicators in the coastal zone Component

Examples of pointers discussed here

1 Ecosystems

■ Loss of habitat/land reclamation ■ Change of land use/destruction of habitat ■ Overwhelming species dominance/ nature reserves/marine protected areas

2 Resources use

■ Number of fishing boats/fishing gears/abandoned gears/landing centres/ ice factory ■ Infrastructure ■ Indicators of other types of collection (shellfish etc.)

3 Coastline stability

■ Erosion/accretion (overhanging houses/beach profile) ■ Coastal defence structures ■ Evidence of altered river hydrology (dams, barrages, water extraction) ■ Coastal geology (soft rock/hard rock/cliffs)

4 Water quality and pollution

■ Sewage treatment plants ■ Agriculture practices ■ Urbanization ■ Industry ■ Water colour and smell ■ Abandoned wells/salinisation/tar balls

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5 Climate and natural hazards

■ Changing/altered vegetation ■ Changing animal species ■ Altered/changing ecosystems ■ Altered/changing soil quality ■ Unusual sediment sequence/monotypic coastal vegetation/ drying of trees/ dead corals/exposure of reef surface

These indicators will describe the resources and their dynamics that are available for exploitation. Thus, for example, the presence of a sand dune indicates the importance of sediment dynamics and storage to provide protection (a service) against storm and flooding activity.

The categories of environmental observations identified in Table B4 are

designed to build a picture of the dynamics of the natural setting of the coastal landscape (Table B3) that describe the resources available for human use and which human activity can affect.

Exercise B2 Identifying ‘hot’ debates from the case study area Aim ■ To allow students to begin the process of debate and discussion around interpretation of observations.

■ To give students the experience of stakeholder interviewing.

Instructions The handout sheets will likely lead to a high degree of consistency between observations made by students. However, it is important that students compare and contrast observations made and discuss whether, and why, some ‘pictures’

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have been seen differently. It is at this stage, when students have begun to develop an appreciation and understanding of the field site, that formal interactions with stakeholders can be a useful exercise and experience for students (see Handout B2). Having gained some of the perceptions and perspectives of stakeholders (from Exercises A2 and B1) students can begin to compare and contrast their own impressions from the field site to those of other stakeholders. A useful approach to achieve this is to consider observations in terms of what impressions the observations give in relation to pressures, problems and debates which are evident in the case study area: ■ What they have heard from local people.

■ What pressures they have seen.

■ Is there evidence of conflict and competing claims of coastal resources and space?

Students should be encouraged to discuss whether there are links between any of the emerging issues and how they might interact with each other: these should be recorded. From this discussion, an initial impression can be gained for the area’s management needs. This can inform the development of an appropriate scenario to use in Section C and Module 3 (see Teacher note 14).

Teacher guidelines for exercise B2 Identifying ‘hot’ debates Students will have had some informal interaction with social actors during Exercise B1. Here the intention is that students have an experience of a more formal interaction with stakeholders, which could be either in the form of interviews or focus groups. Both students and stakeholders need to be prepared for the exercise. Students should be aware of the stakeholders they are going

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to meet and have had guidance to prepare for the meeting – both in terms of how they are going to ‘stage’ the exercise, and what questions they are going to ask, and for what purpose. Stakeholders should know the purpose of the visit and what students will be doing and why. It is also important that stakeholders are aware that it is a teaching exercise and not a scoping for a ‘real’ coastal management project.

After the stakeholder exercise, teachers should moderate a discussion to draw out what are the debates and emerging issues that exist in the field study site. The discussion should consider the perceptions the students have gained from the field experience and how these match, or otherwise, those of stakeholders and why.

Exercise C1 Creating a coastal scenario Aim ■ To determine a coastal scenario to be used during Module 2, Section C and Module 3.

Instructions An output from Exercise B2 is initial ideas of management needs in the coastal field site. These can form the basis for determining a scenario that describes a possible future event or situation in the area. Students should be encouraged to discuss the amount of data which has been gathered during the field trip and the overwhelming sense of complexity of the coast and its multiple factors. This is necessary so that students appreciate the need to restrain the training/educational learning experience into a scenario that is manageable within the time frame available within the module. The development of the scenario should follow the following process: ■ Students should discuss what they have seen in the field and the picture these observations collectively can reveal in terms of past changes in various features that have impacted the coastal setting.

■ Students should be encouraged to discuss what these observations collectively can reveal in terms of future change in various features impacting the coastal setting. For instance, if erosion has been observed: • Where already impacting the human setting, what will the consequences be?

• Where not already impacting the human setting, at what point in time and space will this do so?

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■ Students should determine whether observations can be linked to describe possible causal relationships: • Between past changes, • between future changes; and • between past and future changes.

■ Students should determine what might lead to any differences within the student group in their interpretation of observations in terms of past and future changes. From this discussion an agreed list of possible changes, past and future, should be produced.

■ Based on the list of possible past and future changes students can construct a hypothetical future situation that could arise from the suite, or a subset, of changes that have been identified.

It is important that the scenario is phrased primarily in terms of events and/ or situations that affect the social and economic setting and secondarily the social, economic and environmental changes that are leading to the event/ situation. This is to ensure that the scenario, and in particular its analysis in Module 3, is not environment-centric and not solely focussed on technical solutions to environmental problems (e.g. degrading habitat, erosion). The changes and pathways of change (cause to effect) that have been identified constitute the issues that need to be addressed by coastal management and are considered in Module 3.

It is appropriate within the discussions that will arise from the above pro­cess to consider issues of time and space that apply to the changes identified. It is useful in the construction of the scenario to make it time bound to a realistic planning horizon – often planning authorities work to a detailed 5 year plan, for instance, with an overall planning target of 20 years.

Exercise C2 Identifying links within social and natural indicator sets Aim ■ To determine links between observations made under individual social indicator categories.

■ To determine links between observations made under individual natural indicator categories.

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Instructions Links between social indicator observations In the context of these exercises the term ‘link’ is used in the meaning of using observations to determine possible causal relationships between features and/ or processes. This exercise requires students to consider each of the observations they have made under each individual indicator category and determine links between observations made to: 1 Firstly extract all those observations that have any relevance to the chosen coastal scenario, and, from this sub-set of observations, 2 Determine the linkages between the observations made within and between social indicator categories.

For instance, the observation of ‘stone sculptures’ in the category ‘culture’; ‘sculptures’ in the category ‘social actor’; and ‘sculpture imports from China’ in the category ‘linkages and networks’ can be linked together and suggest that the industry may be undergoing change with cheaper imports threatening the livelihood of local people.

Linking of observations, e.g. ‘tourists’ in the category ‘social actor’; and ‘tourism’ in the category ‘livelihoods’ allows students to become aware that the categories assign different meanings to an observation (in this case the presence of tourists) that might have otherwise gone unnoticed.

Links between natural indicator observations This exercise follows the same format and process as for social indicators. An example is, the observation of ‘storm warnings’ in the category ‘seasonality and weather’; ‘erosion’ in the category ‘coastline dynamics’; and ‘shells’ in the category ‘resource use’ can be linked together and suggest that the industry around the collection of shells may be undergoing threats from altered shoreline geomorphology and loss of coastal space.

It is worth noting that these activities will lead to groups of linked observations and that there may be additional sets of links between these groups.

In addition, the links between indicators may not always be reinforcing and complementary but could also be contradictory and incompatible, e.g. where the activities of one social actor impinges on a feature associated with another actor. For instance, how do tourism and fishing communities interact: for instance this could be the identification of opportunities, e.g. livelihoods (selling fish), and conflicts, e.g. culture (changing lifestyles)?

A useful method to conduct this exercise is to use coloured post-it notes stuck onto sheets of white paper with drawn lines to indicate links. Questions that might arise from the link between one or more individual observations should also be identified and discussed – particularly with reference as to how those questions might be answered.

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Exercise C3 Identifying links between social and natural indicator sets Aim â– To determine links between observations made under individual social and natural indicator categories. â– To identify a suite of coastal issues to take forward to Module 3.

Instructions The execution of this exercise follows the same procedure as that for Exercise C2. The discussion should focus on identifying issues that exist around the relationship or interaction between humans and the environment, for example, the services that the coastal environment provides for society. As well as identifying what is known, it is equally important that the discussion identifies what is not known and how to find out further information.

Whereas Exercise C2 focussed on links within social and environmental indicator categories, this exercise is directed towards identifying those features of the environmental setting of the coast linked to social features in the sense that they have: 1 Some limiting or controlling dynamic on the options for human activities in the coastal zone. For instance, the livelihood of fishermen is affected by storms, rough seas and the fish resource, but we may need to know more to determine if they are affected by erosion, given that fishing villages are located close to the seashore.

2 Provide an advantage or exclusivity to one social actor over others. For instance, there may be a link between shells (as a natural resource) which are sold to tourists through a tourism-related livelihood (observed vendors).

However, it may not be known whether this livelihood is (i) harmful to the biomass source, or (ii) a sustainable form of livelihood.

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Exercise C4 Determining coastal issues to be carried forward to Module 3 Aim ■ From observations and experiences from the field site identify the issues that are associated with the chosen coastal Scenario.

Instructions Although further investigation may be required to understand the nature of the link in reference to a change and management need, the links do not in themselves identify the issues that are management needs for a coastal situation. To achieve this, it is necessary to re-interpret the links to describe the relationships between environmental and social indicators in terms of how they might be driving change processes, and what the consequences of these change processes might be. From this it is possible to identify those issues that impact human activity and security in the coastal zone. Issues should be framed in terms of the characteristics of risk and vulnerability to humans resulting from the change processes and their consequences on maintaining human activities in the coastal zone. It is important that this discussion is undertaken in the context of the scenario that was developed in Exercise C1. A list of issues relating to the scenario should be made and is carried forward for Module 3.

In the context of this text there has been a clear and purposeful use of the term ‘issue’ rather than ‘problem’. This is because often, if not usually, different stakeholders will have widely different perceptions of what the ‘problem’ is.

In many cases, what is a problem to one stakeholder can be a solution to others.

A simple example would be market prices: if the market price of a product increases, this can be a solution to the producer (who gains higher income from his products) but a problem to consumers who are able to buy less with their income.

However, although the narrative of a ‘problem’ can mean different things to different people, what people can often agree with – to a greater or lesser extent – are the issues that are associated with the narrative. Therefore a clear challenge for coastal managers is to identify the issues that are associated with a situation – without making any judgements as to whether the issue is a problem or not, or for whom. Subsequently it is necessary to determine what those issues mean for different stakeholder groups and thereby attempt to find a way to address the issues in a way that is sustainable and equitable across stakeholder groups. Therefore, in essence, the job of a manager is not so much to deal with problems but to find solutions to issues so that they do not become problems or, where they are for certain stakeholder groups, take mitigating actions without disadvantaging others.

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Social Indicators Descriptions 1 Social actors (‘stakeholders’) Management must take into account the views, priorities and interests of those individuals, groups, and organizations that have a stake in the coastal zone (stakeholders). The analysis of stakeholders is based on the actor-oriented approach discussed in Module 1.

Not all social actors are stakeholders. A full-time urban shopkeeper is a social actor but probably not a stakeholder directly involved in coastal resource issues – although his livelihood may be dependent on other social actors who are dependent on coastal resources (and are, therefore, stakeholders). Care is needed not to exclude stakeholders from an analysis as they may then become not formally represented in a management plan, and may obstruct or object to it. Stakeholder analysis should Figure 18 never be influenced by ideological arguments (e.g. ‘the Woman fish traders from Pulicat Lake. government represents the interests of the people, so the small fishermen are already represented by the government’). Distinction is often made between individual and institutional stakeholders. Examples of individual actors with clear stakes in the coastal zone are: fishermen and women (Figure 18), fish traders, tourists, workers on a shrimp farm, or government representatives acting in their own interest (e.g. demanding bribes). Examples of institutional actors are, a development-oriented NGO, a government agency, a fish traders’ organization, or a fishermen’s’ cooperative. Figure 19 shows land accretion in Vietnam planned and organised by government in coastal zone issues (see also ‘social structure’ and ‘institutions’).

Observations of individual social actors can lead to further distinctions along lines of, for instance, gender. Observation of trade going on at the Pulicat fish market near Chennai in India (Figure 18), for instance, shows that the majority of people selling fish to consumers here are women.

Figure 19 Land reclamation for building development in Vietnam.

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Actors need not always be physically present in the coastal zone to ‘see’ them. For instance, the presence in the coastal zone of institutional actors can often be literally read, i.e. signpost notices stating the do’s and don’ts for visitors to a protected nature park make people aware of the government or other higher-level institutions (e.g. European Union) as actors that regulate use of the coastal zone.

2 Social structure Observation of the structural elements of society is not an easy task as such structures are not physical entities Figure 20 and so are not there ready for observation by a researchRubbish at Pulicat Lake, India. er. Often inferences will have to be made of the existence and presence of such structural elements from certain physical markers in the landscape. Note that there is unavoidably a close relationship and overlap here with institutions. A major structuring force in society is the state (the government and its administrative bodies, authorities and agencies at various levels). Their presence can be ‘seen’ in the infrastructure of government buildings, meeting places, electric wires, etc. One could ask: why is it important to know that the government is present? Observation may actually give us important clues to the degree of infiltration of the state and its agencies in isolated rural or coastal zone settings like poor fishing villages.

More general questions that could be asked are, for instance: ■ Is there a health centre or clinic?

■ Is basic infrastructure like housing, sanitation, clean water, garbage collection available (Figure 20)?

■ Are children going to school?

■ What is the government doing to combat poverty? Can we see evidence of anti-poverty programmes?

More directly related to the coastal zone and its resources, questions pertaining to the presence or absence of government authority, policy and regulations may be asked: ■ Are there government agencies with a crucial function in resource management?

■ Are there authorities to enforce resource regulations?

■ Can we see evidence of state planning involvement in the coastal zone (Figure 21)?

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Non-governmental organizational bodies (e.g. NGOs) and authorities (e.g. customary leaders) may also play a role in the structuring of society. Their presence in local society may be observed directly from, for instance, public meeting places, office buildings, project activities, or be inferred from interviews and other sources. The presence of such bodies and authorities can be a very important factor, as it may Figure 21 have consequences for the ways in which Notice informing on urban planning in ­Vietnam. property rights and access to resources are defined locally (see also below: ‘property and access’), management issues are dealt with, and relationships between the local population and the government are structured.

Markets structure relationships between resource users (e.g. fishermen), buyers and sellers. Therefore, through observations on the workings of local markets (in combination with other methods, like interviewing) it is possible to learn much about their structuring role. The information gathered may help in finding answers to questions such as: ■ What division of labour can we see? (see also ‘stakeholders’) ■ Who make use of the market (fishermen / women; middlemen; wholesale buyers for the local market and / or local consumers; traders for the regional, national or even global market)?

■ What kind of market infrastructure is there (capacity, display of the fish, availability of ice / cold storage, transportation links etc.).

Other components of the social structure that can, at least in part, be directly observed are: Religion Religious affiliation structures society in various ways that can also be relevant for issues of coastal management: ■ Religion may, for instance, prescribe certain roles in society, ways of dealing with natural resources, or prohibit certain food products.

■ Religion may be a source of motivation for forms of social and political organization, for development initiatives or for defending the rights of the poor.

Ethnicity Ethnicity, people’s sense of belonging to a population group with distinct characteristics that differentiate it from other groups, gives people a specific social, political and cultural identity in society.

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■ Ethnicity may be related to specific uses of or claims to natural resources.

Ethnic identity may play a role in claiming access, or denying access, to specific resources.

■ It may be on the basis of socio-spatial organization, e.g. ethnic groups may have distinct settlement patterns (e.g. separate villages, residential quarters etc.).

Gender and household Gender refers to the social and cultural dimensions of differences between men and women. Specific interpretations of/assumptions about these differences may result in specific roles, tasks and functions ascribed to men and women. These may be either observable or researchable through, for example, interviewing. Gender relationships play a crucial role in the household, the place where people eat, sleep, and work together. This is the basic social unit in which such differences are given shape, reproduced or changed. Examples for observation and additional methods: ■ A gender-based division of labour in the fisheries sector (see also above: ‘actors’).

■ Relationships between men and women in a household: e.g. in economic decision-making, use and control of resources, labour, access to and control of income and proceeds of resource exploitation, etc.

Class Class refers primarily to people’s differential control of the means of production (resources, capital, and labour). Differences of social class are relevant for people’s social and economic capacity to change, and can be inferred from, for example; ■ Living conditions (the neighbourhood and type of house people live in, the material goods they own etc.).

■ The resources, capital goods and labour they command (compare, for instance, a small-scale fisherman with the owner of a trawler).

3 Livelihood A livelihood describes how individuals and households make a living and how they relate to their environment technically and culturally. A livelihood is more than just economics; it can be defined as the ways and means to make a living, to meet consumption needs, search for new opportunities, and protect existing lifestyles or seek new ones. The definition used by the UK’s Department of Foreign and International Development (DfID) incorporates these sentiments - ‘A livelihood comprises the capabilities, assets (including both material and social resources) and activities required for a means of living. A livelihood is sustainable when it can cope with and recover from stresses and

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Figure 22 Vendors (above) and a local shellfish collector (left) are both types of stakeholder, but their activities describe very different relationships with the coastal zone.

shocks and maintain or enhance its capabilities and assets both now and in the future, while not undermining the natural resource base’.

Social conditions of caste, ethnicity, gender, and class, are determining factors in the differentiation of livelihoods, the financial and material goods (or assets) people have access to, like gear, labour or credit, and their capabilities to engage in natural resource exploitation. The livelihood of each stakeholder will differ from each other according to their role and relationship within the coastal landscape (e.g. a vendor selling merchandise to tourists is likely to have a different livelihood from a poor widow who reaps shellfish on the beach (Figure 22)).

4 Culture Like many other social science terms, ‘culture’ is an umbrella concept given a wide variety of meanings. It may, moreover, overlap with several other components discussed here. Property and institutions, for instance, also have clearly cultural dimensions. We can observe culture in, for instance, the following ways: ■ Forms of material culture (e.g. buildings, house styles).

■ Forms of culturally specific local knowledge (e.g. fishing techniques, land preparation and land use techniques, local management practices).

■ Culturally specific ways of classifying the environment, natural resources or combinations of resources.

■ Cultural preferences (e.g. for specific kinds of animals and other natural resources assumed to have medicinal or other beneficial properties (Figure 23)).

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■ Prescriptions or restrictions related to food, and to access to resources, spaces, and institutions.

■ Cultural and ritual manifestations or ceremonies.

However, a better understanding of the precise meaning of these forms of cultural expression and interpretations given by various actors requires more in-depth research, as that engaged in by social anthropologists.

Local, culturally specific knowledge is of primary importance for coastal management Figure 23 and development programs. For instance, Various animals collected and does the outcome of a fisheries development preserved for their ‘healing’ programme match with the experiences, properties in Vietnam. knowledge and preferences of local users?

Another example is the diet of people – eating shark fin soup which affects markets and resource exploitation and has a clear cultural driver. A further example is conflicts between international tourism at the coast and local culture, e.g. sunbathing in bikinis. Questions pertaining to this domain will have to be answered by combinations of observations and more in-depth methods such as interviewing. More material dimensions can often be observed directly, for example: ■ Types of boats, nets and other implements used by fishers.

■ Techniques of land and other resource use; planting, breeding, managing, harvesting etc.

Other issues for coastal management, like specific ways of classifying species, the environment and specific (combinations of) resources within it need more in-depth research. Questions that could be asked are, for instance: ■ What culturally specific ways of delineating property claims to land and sea space / resources exist?

■ How are specific elements of the environment classified as resources and defined as property?

■ Are there differences in the ways in which resources, the environment, space and property are delineated or defined between local people and external actors (e.g. state agencies, NGOs, migrant settlers).

■ Where (with whom, using what techniques) is such specific knowledge stored in society?

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Certain cultural expressions contain very relevant information about related dimensions of social life that may have multiple meanings / purposes. In Figure 24, groups of effigies both protect the village against all kinds of evil and act as boundary markers between neighbouring coastal villages For dealing with natural resource management issues, it is of particular importance to take such forms of cultural expression into account. A fisheries management plan that does not take into account local ways of allocating rights to fish or fisheries areas, or local fishing techniques and technology is a recipe for failure.

Figure 24 Effigies acting as wardens against evil and boundary markers at Pulicat lake, India.

5 Property rights and access to resources

Property rights (claims to valuable goods that are seen as legitimate by a social group) are a crucial element of resource use in the coastal zone. Property rights allow or restrict the legitimate use of resources, including some people and excluding others. Where government interventions for development take place, the recognition or non-recognition of existing property rights is often a very sensitive issue that might lead to situations of competing claims and conflicts between individuals or groups. Note that, as discussed in Module 1, access is another important concept that is researchable in combination with a property focus.

Often, property rights can be ‘seen’ in the shape of boundary markers in the landscape. Property rights are marked with signposts, rows of trees or plants, bunds, canals, fences etc. Figure 25 shows such a marker used to delineate areas in the lagoon along the Algarve coast in Portugal, where people who rent a stretch of tidal land from the municipality are allowed to breed and harvest clams for commercial or subsistence purposes.

However, there is more that cannot be seen through such observations (and need to be researched by other methods): ■ By which authority or social institution have these property rights been defined?

■ How has the property been defined?

■ Are there any other authorities or social institutions defining other rights?

■ What are property holders allowed to do with the property, and what not? (which ‘bundles of rights and duties’ are attached to the property?).

Any research on property through observation requires additional in-depth research using other methods (interviewing, consultation of land registers, legal sources, and court cases). Important ways of allocating property are the issuing of legal titles, mapping, and zoning. The importance of each of these

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will have to be established by more in-depth research (e.g. interviewing).

Access (or the ability to benefit from a resource) is another important and, in part, observable element. Important to note here is that access can be based on property definitions from a variety of legal systems. ContraFigure 25 dictions between these definiProperty markers in the Algarve, Portugal. tions may create property conflicts (competing claims). Note that access can also be based on other factors (stealing, the exertion of power, threat of violence).

6 Institutions As discussed during Module 1, the term ‘institution’ has a complex definition and is commonly used in a range of contexts and with different meanings in the social sciences. For participants on a field visit, the challenge is how institutions can be observed in a way that demonstrates the range of institutions that can be present and provide some detail about their composition. Such observations can be made in a variety of ways and it is useful to organise them as those that can be seen directly and those that can be implied from observation.

Some institutions can be seen from their physical appearance. Often institution is interpreted as meaning a government institution, which can be seen as a public building where a number of civil servants are working behind desks. In these instances it is necessary to record what governmental bodies they belong to - police offices, taxation bureaus, schools, ministerial offices, etc. For such institutions it may be necessary to ask about their sphere of influence, effectiveness and attitude towards them by the general public.

Political institutions, such as political parties, may also have a physical appearance, especially during election time, through the presence of billboards and posters for example (Figure 26). Another way that political institutions can be seen is through political symbols such as historical monuments and statues. Or the historical event of the pulling down of such political institutional symbols: the Lenin statue, the Berlin wall in 1989.

Government institutions are essentially concerned with creating or maintaining order and allocating scarce resources such as goods and services, and are usually directed by an incumbent political institution, which may change over time. Not all political institutions are part of government, e.g. opposition parties. However, the observable presence of other political institu-

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Figure 26 Examples of posters and billboards that illustrate the presence of political institutions (left) and nonstate institutions (through advertising the existence of a conservation area) (right).

tions, e.g. billboards and posters, does say something about freedom of speech and the ability for alternate views to be held, which is an important observation in a management context because it says something about how management interventions and activities may need to include process of public participation and consultation. Protest meetings and/or demonstrations are also observable features of the relationship between the institutions of government and politics, and in addition often take place at a public space that has historical institutional value.

The availability of non-state institutions can be observed, for example, through billboards advertising a RAMSAR site (Figure 26) and the activities of NGOs, etc. In many societies customary institutions play an important social and political role.

The social sciences in particular also recognize institutions in the form of social structures, or organizational networks between relatives through kinship and co-residence. A group of relatives can be such an institutional structure, coming together at the house of a deceased for a funeral or travelling long distances to attend a wedding. In this sense, the wedding or funeral as a social event can be observed, and with it all kinds of social rules and regulations about where men and women are allowed to sit, who presents what to whom, and in what sequence, what food should be prepared for whom, etc.

There are other features that point to social structures that exists within an area and which have an influence on the way that people conduct their daily lives. For instance, bus stops indicate the presence of a public transportation system. There are aspects of a public transportation system that represent a marker for more invisible aspects of institutions, such as rules, time frames, spatial arrangements, organization of labour and payment, hierarchy of functions, laws that tell to keep to the right (or left) side of the road, etc.

Property rights are another important institutional setting in the coastal zone because they often dictate rights of access to resources that people,

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especially the poor, may need to secure their livelihoods. Understanding property rights as an institution may be often difficult to establish from a field visit.

However there are often boundary markers that indicate that property rights are at stake in a particular place. Other examples include garden fences; traffic signs indicating the border of a province, state, or country; poles in the coastal waters marking private or collective rights of access to marine resources (see Figure 25).

7 Linkages and networks between the local and the global An element that makes processes in coastal areas so complex is the existence of multiple linkages and networks that interconnect local, global, and all intermediary scales and levels. The existence of these networks and linkages may have a structuring impact on the coastal zone and bring about changes at the same time, e.g. in forms of economic exploitation, governance regimes and protection regimes. However, how can these aspects of the coastal zone be ‘seen’ in the field? We can, first, look for physical appearances of the existence of linkages between coastal regions and the outside world (Figure 27). Transport infrastructure (roads, ports, airports), technical infrastructure (e.g. telecommunications), and the existence of facilities for trade (e.g. cold Figure 27 storage) are important indicators of such networks and Plane taking off over the Rio linkages. Other manifestations that can be easily obFormosa, Faro Portugal. served are the presence of tourist infrastructure and facilities, and some of their impacts in coastal regions (hotels, tourist beaches, zoned coastal spaces with restricted access). The availability of certain products from the global market, shopping centres and supermarket chains are evidence of the penetration of global markets into coastal localities, rapidly changing lifestyles and the presence of middle and upper classes sufficiently large for establishing these facilities.

Some important manifestations of multi-level (-scale) networks and linkages cannot be directly observed but have to be deduced from observable and researchable phenomena, activities, and trends. For instance, the rise and expansion of a global market for fisheries and aquaculture products reacts to changing lifestyles, tastes, food demands and preferences in the EU, USA, Japan and China. Though we cannot literally ‘see’ the global market, the growing demand for fish and aquaculture products, or increasing competition between coastal regions producing fish and aquaculture products, are observable and it is possible to investigate the extent to which processes in coastal regions are a reaction to such broader processes and trends. To give an example (Figure 28):

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in the Algarve salt ponds skills are closely related to a globalizing market satisfying demands for ‘natural’ or ‘healthy’ foods, resulting in salt production under a quality label. Possibly, the growing market for this salt in Japan was a spin-off from already existing global economic links between Portugal and Japan in fresh tuna trade.

Questions can also be asked as to what extent certain economic activities are stimFigure 28 ulated by government institutions, private Salt ponds at Castro Marina, the Algarve, Portugal. enterprise, or other relevant actors. Such choices by, for example, a government have important consequences for coastal regions (land use, spatial planning, rural and coastal livelihoods, etc.). Another manifestation of the ‘outside’ world in coastal regions is the presence and influence of non-governmental environmental movements, nature conservation organizations and their projects (e.g. mangrove conservation and rehabilitation), and global forms of norms, principles or legal regulation (e.g. Ramsar convention).

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Module 3 Understanding the coastal zone to develop integrated approaches for management Martin Le Tissier, Sarah Coulthard, Tomasz Boski, Dik Roth & Maarten Bavinck

Coastal areas often embrace a diversity of activities from many users who compete for limited space and resources. Management of multiple uses of the coastal zone demands a procedure that is unconditionally holistic, integrating social and environmental processes. This includes concepts of rights of access to space and resources, equity and sustainability. ICM provides a procedure and approach to develop understanding of how human activities affect the natural environment and available resources, and how the natural environment functions and generates resources. This is a circular process as the environment provides resources for humans to exploit/ extract whilst the act of exploiting/extracting resources modifies the environment. This relationship potentially alters the sustainability of resource provision (see Definition box 6). An objective of ICM is to develop capability to make decisions in a multi-user situation. This module is designed to develop proficiency in the interpretation and analysis of coastal issues in order to determine appropriate approaches to manage the association of humans with the coastal environment.

Definition box 6 ■ Resilience and coupled human and ecological systems Human and ecological systems are dynamic, interacting and interdependent.

Resilience (the capacity to endure stress and recover) in combined social-ecological systems concerns: ■ How much shock the coupled human and natural system can absorb and still remain within a desirable state; ■ The degree to which the system is capable of resisting change and how close it is to a limit or threshold; ■ The degree to which the system can build capacity for learning and adapt­ation.

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Introduction Teaching considerations Section 1 Stakeholder analysis Section 2 Problem and objective analysis Section 3 Monitoring and evaluating management Concluding remarks Module 3 Exercises Exercises 1.1 & 1.2 Exercises 2.1, 2.2, 2.3 & 2.4 Exercises 3.1 & 3.2

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Introduction There is a considerable body of literature available that explores the principles of ICM as a management procedure and approach. Coastal management activity is generally initiated when a change is perceived to be either taking place, or will take place in the future. The change may threaten an existing or future use and benefit made from the coastal zone. Uses and benefits can be derived directly from resources and space, or indirectly from a perceived or acknowledged value of a component of the coastal zone, e.g. the conservation of biodiversity. Unlike coastal sciences, which are exact in the sense that they can research a question until an authoritative answer is achieved, coastal management takes place in inexact and often imperfect circumstances because: ■ Identification of management needs and objectives are often based on judgements that may be contested and appear contradictory, i.e. of the multiple actors, whose value counts most, and which uses are more important than others.

■ Any ‘new’ management activity may be affected by other existing forms of management, e.g. spatial planning mechanisms, sector specific management plans (i.e. fisheries).

■ Many issues are not the ambit of the environment and its processes and dynamics, but are the product of human behaviour and interventions, which are often unpredictable and do not follow set patterns.

■ Decisions often have to be made in a situation of imperfect knowledge, in the absence of key information and where there may be a degree of uncertainty surrounding the available information and knowledge.

Uncertainty, ICM and teaching Attempting to teach a concept such as ICM that is set within such variable and often vague circumstances is difficult. Teachers cannot know all the answers themselves because the answers may not exist and/or may be outside their experience and expertise. One solution would be to focus teaching on a specific issue (e.g. coastal defence, fish processing, infrastructure, disease). This is actually what most courses do and has an advantage that it replicates how the issue-orientated world of politics often works. However, such single issue/sectoral treatments do not represent the holistic nature of ICM adequately. The alternative is to accept that there is imperfect understanding of the dynamics and causality of the coast. It also means accepting the real situation of coastal managers who have to struggle with imperfect data/understanding. This is why ‘adaptive management’ is so commonly endorsed (see Definition box 7).

Coastal sciences, whether natural, social or economic, are concerned predominantly with the measurement and collection of qualitative or quantitative data (see Definition box 8) in order to address a question that is usu-

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Definition box 7 ■ Definition of Adaptive Management A standard working definition for the term Adaptive Management is: A systematic process for continually improving management policies and practices by learning from the outcomes of previously employed policies and practices. Its most effective form – ‘active’ adaptive management – employs management programs that are designed to experimentally compare selected policies or practices, by evaluating alternative hypotheses about the system being managed.

The adaptive management process is often portrayed as a six-step cycle: 1 Acknowledgement of uncertainty about what policy or practice is ‘best’ for the particular management issue; 2 Thoughtful selection of the policies or practices to be applied (the assessment and design stages of the cycle); 3 Careful implementation of a plan of action designed to reveal the critical knowledge that is currently lacking; 4 Monitoring of key response indicators; 5 Analysis of the management outcomes in consideration of the original objectives; and 6 Incorporation of the results into future decisions.

ally subject specific. To this end, teaching for coastal sciences has an emphasis on developing methodological and analytical skills and is output (production of knowledge) focussed. In contrast, coastal management requires an integrated analysis that combines the approaches, insights, and knowledge of a wide variety of disciplines relevant to the issues at stake. To achieve this, teaching for coastal management should have an emphasis on skills to understand and identify knowledge needs as well as on interpretation of the implications and consequences of knowledge outputs, i.e. be outcome (the application of knowledge) oriented. This can be unnerving for students and teachers alike who are more used to learning experiences that lead to a definitive answer.

Academic rigour is essential to develop deep learning and understanding of the disciplines which supply knowledge that can be used in coastal management. Much of this knowledge will come from other taught parts of a course, such as Module 1. However, the purpose of coastal management is directed more to understanding the consequences and implications of any given piece of knowledge against the wider setting of the coastal landscape, and human interactions with the natural environment and resource base.

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Definition box 8 ■ Qualitative versus quantitative data Quantitative data are generally taken to refer to statistical and numerical analysis.

However, data are not inherently quantitative, and do not necessarily have to be expressed in numbers. Data can come in the form of words, images, impressions, gestures, or tones which represent real events or reality as it is seen symbolically or sociologically. Qualitative research uses unreconstructed logic to get at what is really real – the quality, meaning, context, or image of reality in what people actually do, not what they say they do (as in questionnaires). Unreconstructed logic means that there are no step-by-step rules with prefabricated methods or reconstructed rules, terms, and procedures to make research look clean and neat.

Teaching ICM poses a number of challenges for a teacher: ■ Many teachers will also have some experience of ‘real’ management projects so there will be a tendency to view field visits and subsequent analyses as exercises in finding the ‘correct’ management solution.

■ Students are also sensitised, through assessment procedures, to wanting to learn how to find a ‘correct’ answer. Effort will be required to re-direct their focus towards learning a correct process.

■ There is often a leaning towards focussing on issues with which the teacher has some in depth familiarity – and these tend to be centred on the particular sector to which their own expertise is relevant, e.g. biologists to fisheries; geologists towards erosion.

■ An emphasis on a specific sector will lead to the identification of a sector-specific problem rather than an overarching issue that crosses sectoral boundaries.

Therefore, learning for ICM should be focussed on ensuring that the context in which knowledge is applied leads towards solutions that are not sector specific but integrated between sectors (Box 22).

Box 22 ■ ICM as a framework and process Many types of resource or spatial management produce either a single, or limited range of, possible solutions through a deterministic set of steps. Often these steps require a set of inputs that are analysed in a formulaic manner to produce an ‘answer’. This is not the case in ICM. Instead ICM describes a framework that allows inputs from a range of sectors/disciplines to be interrogated and analysed against a single or range of issues. For teaching purposes, the process of ICM describes a sequence of steps that students should follow and which guide them through the framework. This process builds understanding of how holistic solutions may be arrived at and how they may be evaluated as addressing coastal issues/problems.

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An important component of this is to apply cross-sector analysis to identify the true core of an issue that face humans living in the coastal zone, and the suite of problems that lead to it and not only its symptoms (Box 23).

Box 23 ■ Differentiating issues, problems and symptoms ICM addresses issues. An issue describes the final outcome of a series of events or actions – in effect the culmination of a series of problems. For instance for coastal erosion, the issue at hand goes beyond the actual loss of coastal material, but includes, among others, problems of why sedimentation patterns are changing, the impact of the loss of space on human occupation and activities and the effect on coastal biodiversity. Each problem largely falls within the field of individual disciplines – geomorphology, socio-economics and biology in this case – but no single discipline can in itself determine a solution to the whole issue, that needs an integrated response drawing on all the disciplines.

A problem can be defined as an obstacle which makes it difficult to achieve a desired goal, objective or purpose. It refers to a situation or condition that is unresolved. For instance, a problem of poor waste treatment manifests itself as a series of symptoms that we can experience, e.g. poor health, noxious smells. If only the symptoms are addressed, e.g. antibiotics to combat the disease and perfume to cover-up the smell, the problem still remains.

A symptom may be used to refer to an undesired effect occurring in a system. To eliminate the effect, a root cause analysis is performed that traces the symptom to the problem that is the ultimate cause. Symptoms may be constantly present, may come and go, progressively become worse or progressively become better.

In a coastal context, if a fishery is overfished fisheries management may address the specific fishery problem but not the human drivers that lead fishers to overexploit their resource and/or natural changes that may be affecting fish stocks: In this type of example management measures may be implemented to protect the fishery, but the underlying drivers and pressures will not be removed and the issue will persist often becoming transferred to other resources. This leads to a cycle of management interventions that moves problems on without ever tackling the issue.

In many courses with a focus on coastal management, understanding of the human situation of the coastal zone is discussed as a confining and/or interfering component to a ‘naturally’ functioning system; this flawed assumption is addressed by Module 1. It is important that students not only know theory and concepts of how humans function and associate with the coastal zone, but can also ‘see’ these features in a coastal setting to identify issues that affect the security and welfare of humans and communities; this is addressed by Module 2. Understanding the linkages and pathways between processes (human and environmental), how these might be changing and the consequences to risk

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Module 3 ■ Introduction

and vulnerability of human society are important for designing management solutions to issues; this is the focus of Module 3.

Module 3 has a focus on teaching the process of ICM as a management tool where knowledge inadequacies are part of the inevitably imperfect process.

Part of the message of Module 3 is: ‘How can we manage complex coasts when we don’t understand them.’

Part of the answer, and the skill development for students taking this module, is consensus based understanding, adaptive management and effective monitoring of management interventions, as well as the standard answer of ‘more research’.

Module 3 Aims The overall goal of the module is for students to be able to organise their understanding of a coastal setting in order to (i) suggest pathways to resolve issues, and (ii) determine the pressures that arise from human activity. The intention of this is to establish criteria for management responses. The specific aims of Module 3 are: 1 To demonstrate a process for the examination and analysis of coastal issues.

2 To provide a framework for determining criteria for coastal management solutions.

3 To give students a basis for decision-making in a situation where know­ ledge is imperfect and uncertainty is high.

Learning outcomes of Module 3 The primary purpose of Module 3 is for students to develop a comprehension of the challenges and procedures necessary for developing management res­ ponses to coastal issues. After following this module, students will be able to: ■ Establish cause-effect pathways to understand coastal issues.

■ Identify components of issues that can be directly affected by management (e.g. resource extraction) and which cannot (e.g. climate change).

■ Understand the origin of different perspectives and positions of coastal actors.

■ Interpret observations across disciplines in order to identify and describe issues that exist in the coastal zone and understand connections between discipline oriented problems.

■ Construct interdisciplinary approaches to construct and evaluate possible solutions (see Definition box 9).

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Definition box 9 â– Defining multi-disciplinary and inter-disciplinary A multi-disciplinary approach (also equated with a sectoral approach) brings together diverse disciplines/sectors to collectively address a complex problem, with each addressing the issues from the perspective of their own discipline/sector. The approaches are not altered nor modified.

In contrast, an inter-disciplinary/cross-sectoral approach results from uniting two or more disciplines/sectors to develop new models of understanding the issues under investigation.

Within the confines of teaching schedules, it is likely that time will be limited to portray the complexity of the interactions between natural processes, social processes and natural with social processes. Therefore, the objective of teaching for ICM should not be based on finding the ultimate solution. Instead, it should illustrate how a pathway through the complexity can be found to leave students with clarity and confidence of how it can be handled and unravelled.

Outline description of Module 3 During Module 2 observations have been made and organised against a ser­ ies of indicators that in effect deconstruct the coastal setting of the field visit area. The links between individual observations have been identified in order to recognize some of the dynamics of human activities and environmental processes taking place. From the correlation between human activities and environmental processes, a number of issues have been identified in the context of a scenario that describes how a future situation for the coastal setting might develop. The individual observations, their links and derived issues are brought forward into Module 3 for further interpretation and analysis.

A fundamental viewpoint in this teaching is that to develop skills as a coastal manager traditional teaching objectives are not appropriate. Rather students need to be able to explore and interpret the coast in order to: 1 Recognise changes taking place in the social and natural setting; 2 Understand the consequences such changes have on human uses of coastal space; 3 Identify cause and effect pathways that describe the coastal issue and deconstruct it into constituent problems and symptoms; 4 Suggest processes and actions that could reverse cause and effect pathways to mitigate, adapt or remove changes and alleviate individual problems.

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Box 24 ■ Solutions in coastal management Because management is an activity that is initiated in response to a change that is, or might be, affecting human uses of the coastal landscape, appropriate management responses must be based on an understanding change and the effects of change. A process of change can be thought of as imposing an alteration in the trajectory of a dynamic process that is undesirable to one or more stakeholders.

This situation can become complicated if a change provides benefit to one group whilst imposing cost to others. Therefore solutions to issues have to be designed to alter trajectories that are undesirable to one or more stakeholder group and which accommodates the needs, expectations and aspirations of other stakeholders.

The use of a scenario provides a context for students to explore the issues that are at its origin, as well as the issues that will arise from it in the future. The scenario paints a ‘story’ of a current status of the coast – with both negative and positive implication – and what this might lead to in the future. The use of a scenario also allows the teacher to effectively extract a portion from the overall complexity of the coastal field site. Exploration of the scenario and its issues provides students with a challenge to deconstruct the coastal setting, using the observations they have made during Module 2, and understand the dynamics of processes taking place (see Figure 29). This analysis can lead to management interventions that target individual components of an issue in a complementary manner and ultimately construct holistic solutions. These solutions need to be holistic to target multiple issues and benefit multiple stakeholders (see Box 24).

The teaching process described below sets out a procedure for students to use the observations they have made in Module 2 as a foundation for a series of exercises that will lead them from (i) problem analysis, (ii) to issues and causal chains (change), and (iii) to focal problems and their consequences in the context of the scenario. The procedure is supported by role play to explore and illustrate different stakeholder perspectives, as well as those of managers who are attempting to solve coastal issues. Hereby students gain experience of working in groups where reconciling different expertises/experiences and perspectives have to be negotiated in order to arrive at a collective response to management issues.

The central principle of the learning process is that for any coastal setting, management becomes necessary when a change is anticipated that may take place that may affect the wellbeing of a stakeholder group. This effect could be either by modifying their access to and/or availability of a resource, or their relationship to another stakeholder group. The teaching process is split into a series of exercises that utilise the concepts of stakeholder, problem and objective tree, and risk analysis to facilitate the interpretation of informa-

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Figure 29 Conceptual diagram of the process of deconstruction of the coast to describe those social and natural components that are important for understanding the dynamics and changes that are taking place. Indicators are interrogated against criteria that help explain dynamics and changes, rather than describing discipline focussed knowledge. The aim is to build a picture of the coast that is not sectorally/disciplinary oriented but holistic. These processes explain how the coast has arrived at its current situation and status today and what might be expected in the future. A reconstruction of the coast in this sense builds a picture of what the situation and status may be in the future – the scenario setting that is used as the basis of Module 3.

tion. Underlying this approach to developing managerial skills for ICM is an awareness of the need and benefits of: ■ Promoting stakeholder participation in order to understand coastal issues from the perspective of those whom management action intends to benefit; ■ Building an auditable and transparent process that allows feedback and learning at all stages; ■ Using result-oriented management tools to explore and derive solutions; and ■ Transforming own attitudes, behaviours and skills in support of each of the above.

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Module 3 â– Introduction

To meet the aims and learning outcomes role play is extensively used. This is so that students develop an appreciation of the factors that explain why different social actors behave differently, and have different aspirations and expectations in relation to coastal issues. Module 3 is split into three sections (see Figure 30):

Figure 30 Conceptual diagram of Module 3 showing the process of taking the coastal scenario and associated issues from Module 2 to explore the juxtaposition and relationships between stakeholders (Section 1); to identify cause-effect pathways and their connection to stakeholders (Section 2, Exercises 2.1 & 2.2) and objectives to reverse cause-effect pathways (Section 2, Exercises 2.3 & 2.4); and the design, monitoring and evaluation of solutions for coastal management (Section 3, Exercises 3.1 & 3.2).

Section 1 ■Stakeholder analysis – has a focus on developing students understanding and appreciation of the role of various social actors in the coastal zone.

This exercise expands the analysis beyond those that are easily visible to others who may be largely invisible but who nonetheless have a high degree of significance for coastal management. The activities in this section reconcile some of the principles outlined during Module 1 with the experiences of trying to disentangle the human elements of the coastal zone during field visits. Recognising the vertical and horizontal hierarchies of social actors in the coastal zone is

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important. Equally important is beginning to understand the ‘what’, and ‘why’, which determine how different social actors interact and relate to each other.

Section 2 ■ Problem and objective tree analysis – for students, and future managers, it is important to comprehend that ‘issues’ and ‘problems’ can be very much contested. What is an issue/problem to one social actor may be a benefit/solution to another. Exercises in this section develop skills needed to deconstruct an issue into constituent problems, as well as problems into constituent symptoms, in order to interpret the underlying processes that are in force. This builds understanding of how and why changes lead to situations that are undesirable to some stakeholders. Deconstructing the processes and consequences of change helps identify and assemble objectives that address the pathways of change. Again how this is seen is likely to differ according to perspectives, aspirations and expectations of different social actors. Exercises in this section allow students to explore such differences, their backgrounds and the challenge for managers to reconcile contestations for coastal resources and space.

Section 3 ■ Monitoring and evaluating management – focuses on considering how solutions can be applied against the complete causal pathway, rather than only components of an issue or problem (e.g. suggesting constructions to arrest erosion without addressing the source of altered sediment supply driving the erosional processes). This section also considers (i) the interaction and interplay between solutions to such problems and how such solutions can either compound or oppose each other, and (ii) the impact of solutions on different stakeholder groups. The consequence of this form of exploration by students promotes concepts of integration and holism in coastal management, as well as the need to consider the coastal zone as a series of integrated and interdependent systems.

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Teaching considerations In a teaching situation, as with the reality of coastal management, this process has to be conducted in recognition of: 1 Uncertainty of scientific knowledge This can be addressed by ensuring that for each observation (equals a ‘known’ fact) questions are asked about what is not known about the observation, and what could therefore lead to the observation that could lead to its misinterpretation (Box 25).

2 The fact that problems and objectives are not necessarily common to all

stakeholders This can be addressed by using role play. Role play can identify areas of commonality and conflict between stakeholder groups, as well as facilitate consideration of how solutions can be constructed to achieve a negotiated compromise position.

3 Realization that definitive ‘answers’ with win-win situations may be the

realm of fantasy Traditional forms of science teach students that data can be analysed to provide an ‘answer’ with confidence limits to either side of the answer. The distance of the confidence limits from the answer is dependent on the quality and quantity of data collected. As more data are collected, it can be expected that the ‘answer’ becomes more definitive and confidence limits move closer to the answer. In the contested and multi-user environment of the coastal zone, however it is unlikely that what is an ‘answer’ to one stakeholder group is going to be the answer for all stakeholder group.

So implementing any one ‘answer’ may create winners at the expense of losers. In addition, a technical solution to an environmental problem can often severely restrict or compromise stakeholder uses of environmental goods and ser­vices. Therefore, coastal management aims towards finding solutions that represent a compromise position, which brings more closely together all stakeholder groups. Such an aspiration means that solutions should not only mitigate the environmental pressure but also provide benefit to all.

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Box 25 ■ Interpreting observations in the context of change Each observation provides a piece of context and leads to further questions, for instance: A social science observation – there is a fish market (Figure 31) that shows that: (1) different people are doing different things – buying, selling, moving fish around and out of the market; and (2) different types of produce are being sold. From this observation other questions emerge that require further investigation, for instance, (a) where do sold fish go – local consumption or other markets? (b) how have the prices of produce varied in the past to today? (c) has the demand for produce changed? and (d) has the supply of produce changed?

A natural science observation – sand bags are being used to protect housing (Figure 32) that shows that: (1) erosion Figure 31 has been occurring and is probably still doing so as there Fish market at Pulicat Lake, India is further erosion beyond the sand bags; and (2) people are having to divert from normal activity to attempting to arrest the erosion. From this observation questions emerge that require further observation, for instance, (a) how long has the erosion been taking place? (b) is the rate of erosion changing? and (c) how has the erosion affected local communities? Preliminary observations tend to describe the context of the coastal landscape and subsequent observations the changes that are taking place to each contextual setting.

Figure 32 Soft cliffs protected by sand bags at Digha, India.

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Session 1 â– Stakeholder analysis

Section 1 Stakeholder analysis Aims Section 1 uses stakeholder analysis as a framework for students to explore the background and perspectives of different stakeholder groups associated with the coastal zone. The specific aims are: â– To identify primary, secondary and key stakeholder groups associated with the scenario. â– To explore why different stakeholder groups have different perspectives.

Activities It is important to identify all of the stakeholders associated with the scenario and their relationships to each other. One should also begin to understand how the perspectives and background of each stakeholder group underpin these relationships and determine attitudes towards each other. It is necessary to recognise that the identification and characterization of stakeholders is specific to the chosen scenario, and, if this were to change, so would the position of stakeholders in the analysis. First the student group undertakes a formal stakeholder analysis (Exercise 1.1). This may require them to look beyond those stakeholders that have actually been seen during the field work of Module 2 to others who may have some role in the planning and management within the study area, as well as those who can influence the success of management and implementation of policy. Secondly (Exercise 1.2), students are split into groups to: (i) role play a selection of each stakeholder type (1o, 2o and Key) in order to develop a statement that reflects their perspective and outlook regarding the issues that arise from the scenario (identified from Module 2, Exercise C4), and (ii) then discuss how and why these affect attitudes and relationships between different stakeholders.

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rom these exercises, students can begin to consider how the standpoint F of each stakeholder group might form barriers to solutions to overcome the identified issues (e.g. cultural beliefs preventing changing practices; social hierarchies; vested economic interests or political power positions). A further output from these exercises should be a preliminary list of the problems that constitute the issue/s that arise from the coastal scenario from the perspective of each stakeholder group.

Section 2 Problem and objective tree analysis Aims Section 2 uses the arrangement of problem and objective tree analysis as a framework for students to explore cause-effect pathways associated with each issue identified as part of the scenario. The specific aims are: ■ To identify cause-effect pathways for individual problems from the perspective of individual stakeholder groups; ■ To consider cause-effect pathways from the perspective of a coastal manager; ■ To interpret cause-effect pathways to determine overarching issues; ■ To identify objectives for reversing cause-effect pathways for problems and issues from the perspective of individual stakeholder groups; ■ To consider objectives for reversing cause-effect pathways from the perspective of a coastal manager.

Activities – Problem tree Whether a solution to a problem is a good one, or not, depends primarily on whether two aspects have been completely identified and understood: (i) Whether the focal problem has been discovered, and (ii) whether the causes that generate the focal problem and effects that result from the focal problem have been identified. Depending on background, perspective and viewpoint people can have very different interpretations of problem, causes and effects.

For instance, taking the observation in Figure 33, within a multi-disciplinary group of scientists the situation could be analyzed variably depending on their discipline. This can produce an array of interpretations (Table 2). Extrapolate such confusion beyond a multi-disciplinary group to all stakeholders and the scope for misunderstanding and disagreement increases exponentially.

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Session 2 â– Problem and objective tree analysis

Depending on the perspective of the observer, not only is identification of causes, problems and effect different, what one observer may see as a problem another may see as a cause (Geology & Biology), or an effect (Geology & Economics). Causes and effects may also be seen interchangeably as well (e.g. Biology & Geology).   Within the context of ICM, problems rest with coastal stakeholders, and knowlFigure 33 edge and understanding is needed to (i) Coastal erosion north of Chennai, India that is impacting coastal communities and their comprehend causal pathways that lead to property. effects/impacts, and (ii) design solutions that will alter changes from undesirable to desirable trajectories, thereby solving the problem. It is therefore important that the problem is articulated in terms of that faced by stakeholders and not in terms of a scientific question.

To discuss this in a teaching setting, students should be split into stakeholder groups (as for Section 1) and, through role play (Exercise 2.1), interpret the observations made relating to each issue from their stakeholder viewpoint in order to: 1 Produce a series of causal change leading to effects pathways, and 2 articulate the focal problem from their perspective.

Effectively, this exercise unpacks each issue into its constituent problems.

Consideration of each problem, and its symptoms, deciphers the causes and changes that lead to the problem and the effects and impacts that arise from it. Often this will result in a re-phrasing of the problem and/or a realisation Table 2 Possible interpretations of causes, problems and effects for the situation portrayed in Figure 33.

Discipline

Cause

Problem

Effect

Geology

Altered sediment transErosion of coastline port by port breakwaters

Loss of coastal space

Biology

Erosion of coast

Loss of ecosystems

Reduced biodiversity and productivity

Sociology

Loss of infrastructure

Increased vulnerability of coastal communities

Lost livelihood security

Economics

Poor spatial planning

Capital assets at risk

Cost of shoreline defence and capital loss

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that what was considered to be the problem is actually a cause/change or effect/impact.

A second exercise asks students as coastal managers to take the set of problem trees for each issue and to try and reconcile them into a single problem tree for each coastal issue (Exercise 2.2). Problem tree analysis provides a framework to facilitate this exercise and leads to: 1 Identification of the changes and their causes – past, present and future – that are associated with the coastal scenario and issues (Figure 29).

2 Identification of the effects and impacts (on humans) that result from these changes.

3 Relating causes, changes, effects and impacts to the coastal issues that were identified from Exercise C4, Module 2 and refine if necessary.

4 Redefining the issues associated with the scenario to a series of focal problems that are phrased so as to be relevant and applicable across stakeholder groups.

Activities – Objective tree A starting point for addressing problems is to understand how cause to impact pathways are created by current use patterns and existing management systems. Solutions to address these pathways need to be focused on means to alter existing use patterns and/or management systems. In effect the challenge is to find means to reverse cause elements of an issue in order to achieve an end that alleviates its effect. Questions that need answering to determine the form of a solution include: 1 Does the scope of the problem definition incorporate core physical interactions and provide the basis for the resolution of conflicts between major user groups?

2 Which groups/institutions are involved? Do weaker groups require support or external representation in order for their voices to be heard?

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3 Do existing management systems provide the basis for effective resource

management? (ICM is strengthened by building on existing systems, where appropriate.)

4 What type of facilitation is appropriate (e.g. do existing organisations po­ ssess capabilities and capacities necessary to implement solutions)?

Another important consideration is the linkages and dependencies between the constituent problems of issues. This means that solutions that address any particular problem will also need to be evaluated for their impact on other problems that have been identified as part of a coastal issue.

To achieve this in a teaching setting, students should be split into the same stakeholder groups (as for Section 1 and 2) and through role play consider (i) what constitutes a desired outcome to address the focal problem for each issue and (ii) what, from their perspective, would be the means to achieve this outcome and (iii) what their expectations from the outcome would be (Exercise 2.3). A second exercise then asks the students as coastal managers to take each set of objective trees for each issue and try and reconcile them into a single objective tree for each coastal issue (Exercise 2.4).

The structure of objective tree analysis provides a framework to facilitate this exercise and leads to: a Identification of the means necessary to address focal problems against a clear objective. b Identification of the ends (outcomes) from addressing a focal problem. c Determining objectives that meet the expectations and aspirations of multiple stakeholder groups for each of the identified issues.

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Section 3 Monitoring and evaluating management Aims Section 3 uses situation and risk analysis as a framework to explore the interactions between solutions designed to address multiple problem and issue situations, and how such interactions can be monitored. The specific aims are: ■ To explore how management interventions can affect and impact individual stakeholder groups differently; ■ To explore the impact of solutions to individual problems upon each other; ■ To consider how negotiated solutions can be achieved that represent a compromise between stakeholder groups.

Activities Solutions for ICM issues should stimulate a holistic and coordinated approach to planning in coastal areas. Problems are unlikely to exist of each other and therefore management that addresses each seperate of others is unlikely to be successful. For instance, constructing sea walls to address erosion without considering access needs to the sea may solve the environmental problem but create new problems for stakeholders. Therefore, it is important to consider how solutions to one problem will affect/impact others. These approaches should not only address technical aspects of a problem (e.g. preventing coastal erosion), but also ensure that there are features that encourage and motivate any behavioural changes that are required (incentives are shaped by, for example, resource tenure and use right systems, fertiliser subsidies, pollution taxes, etc.).

Since coastal issues tend to be complex it is unlikely that any given solution will benefit all of the stakeholders equally. Management interventions need to be assessed for their consequences on each stakeholder group culminating in an overview of winners and losers. The ‘answer’ to a coastal issue can be viewed as the solution that provides the best compromise between various stakeholder groups. Solutions also need to be assessed in terms of whether they meet a minimum threshold that alleviates or mitigates the original problem below a level where it poses a threat to the overall coastal landscape.

Monitoring and evaluation are necessary in order to assess how management activities are performing against the overall issue.

To achieve this in a teaching setting students follow two exercises. Exercise 3.1 takes the output from Exercise 2.2 and 2.4 and explores the boundaries and scales of effect and impact associated with changes. Exercise 3.2 considers

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solution formulation and how objectives to address individual problems interact and integrate, or not.

The final outcome from this section is awareness and appreciation that coastal management is not about finding the perfect technical solution to problems – be they environmental or social or a mixture thereof. Rather, successful coastal management is where interventions are made that respect the multiple needs of human uses of the coastal zone, whilst recognising the need for viable environmental systems to make goods and services available on a long term basis.

Concluding remarks The predicament in coastal management is that the nature of the problem is complex and thus contested. In fact there is rarely, if ever, a single easily defined problem. Rather there is usually a coastal issue that is comprised of a series of individual problems. Each problem has a cause resulting in a change leading to an effect with an impact. Each problem requires a solution, and solutions to problems should complement each other so they collectively address individual problems and the overall coastal issue.

To begin with, one has to negotiate and agree between involved social actors on what the problem is, appreciating that one person’s solution may be another person’s problem. Ultimately, this may mean that coasts cannot really be managed to everyone’s benefit, in which case the disagreement will remain.

Of course this is a hard idea to accept for those who have spent lifetimes seek-

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ing the ideal solution, and in light of the urgency with which solutions are so desperately required.

Coasts are naturally, socially, politically and economically complex systems which require new governance approaches. These approaches need to embrace interaction between actors, negotiation of problems and solutions and seeking agreement on fundamental values and principles on which governance can be based. In this perspective for the goals of managing coasts, the values that people hold drive their behaviour and motivations. The governance of coasts depends on finding values and principles, which can be agreed upon by all actors – such as ‘equity’, ‘sustainability’ and ‘rights’.

The progressive nature of the teaching sections 1-3 and their exercises will bring into view the difficulty of balancing the maintenance of viable and vibrant environmental systems, for sustaining the provision of goods and services, with the management of competing and contested uses of these goods and services by different stakeholder groups. Each of these exercises is described in detail below.

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Module 3 ■ Exercises

Exercise 1.1 Stakeholder Analysis Aims ■ To identify the social actors with concerns and interests in regard to the coastal scenario.

■ To determine the relative relationship between stakeholders.

Instructions Who are the people who will benefit from any given development activity?

And whose interests might be harmed by it? Identifying ‘stakeholders’, large and small, individual and organisational, for any given activity is essential if those who could have a bearing on its success or failure are to have their voices heard. All stakeholders need to have their opinions taken into account, even if some are to be set aside at a later date. Stakeholder Analysis allows managers to identify the interests of different groups and find ways of harnessing the support of those in favour of the activity, while managing the risks posed by stakeholders who are against it. It can also play a central role in identifying real needs.

What is a stakeholder?

A stakeholder is any individual, community, group or organisation with an interest in the outcome of a programme, either as a result of being affected by it positively or negatively, or by being able to influence the activity in a positive or negative way. There are three main types of stakeholder: ■ Primary stakeholders –Those individuals and groups who are ultimately affected by an activity, either as beneficiaries (positively impacted) or nonbeneficiaries (adversely impacted) in their own perception.

■ Secondary stakeholders –All other individuals or institutions with a stake, interest or intermediary role in the activity. In a coastal development scenario, secondary stakeholders might include the local workers, government departments, non-governmental organizations, developers, business enterprises and so on.

■ Key stakeholders –Those primary or secondary stakeholders who can significantly influence or are important to the success of an activity.

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Why do Stakeholder Analysis?

Stakeholder Analysis is used to identify: ■ The interests of all stakeholders who may affect or be affected by management activity; ■ Potential conflicts and risks that could jeopardise any resulting management activity; ■ Opportunities and relationships to build upon in implementing a programme and help make it a success; ■ The groups that should be encouraged to participate in different stages of the activity cycle; ■ Ways to improve the programme and reduce, or hopefully remove, negative impacts on vulnerable and disadvantaged groups.

Stakeholder Analysis should be undertaken with all stakeholders where possible, and in proportion to the planned activity. However, it may be necessary to use judgement over the practicality of doing so if stakeholders are widely spread. At the same time, it is important to avoid skewing the analysis – and possibly threatening the viability or success of the activity – by failing to take into account the legitimate concerns of stakeholders simply because they are hard to reach or difficult to incorporate into planning. If in doubt, it may be preferable to expand planning horizons rather than exclude legitimate stakeholders. There are different ways of undertaking such an analysis, but what is important is that any particular analysis, and the methods used to achieve it, meet the needs of the exercise at that particular point in time.

This exercise will use a workshop format to follow the basic steps in any Stakeholder Analysis, which are: 1 Identify stakeholders and their interests in the activity; 2 Assess the influence and importance of each of these stakeholders in the activity.

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Teacher guidelines for Exercise 1.1 The use of workshops to undertake Stakeholder Analysis is one method that has proved successful. It is not the only means of undertaking an analysis, but it is a common one. It is important that everyone has an equal chance to participate in the workshop. The workshop method assumes that a facilitator is used, who can either be an outside professional or one of the participants. He or she should be experienced in Stakeholder Analysis. One facilitator can generally manage a process involving up to 25 participants. Above this number, a second facilitator may be needed. For each of the Stages identified below, the analysis should be carried out in the context of the coastal scenario.

Stage 1  Form working groups Divide the participants into working groups of 4-6 people. Groups may either comprise individuals of similar background (e.g., managers, officials, etc) or be mixed. The participants should be involved in deciding on the constitution of groups, while the facilitator should ensure that all participants know why the groups have been formed in a particular way.

Stage 2  Inform participants about stakeholder analysis Since participants need to understand their role and the purpose of the analysis, the facilitator should convey the information below. Flipcharts are ideal for this purpose. The first flipchart should define who and what stakeholders are, using the definitions in the section What is a stakeholder? A key point for the facilitator to make is that stakeholders may be positively or adversely affected by an activity. A second flipchart should define the reasons for undertaking Stakeholder Analysis, using the reasons given in Why do Stakeholder Analysis? The facilitator should give relevant examples for each of the bullet points from that section.

■ For bullet point 2, an example could be a flood control programme that benefits farmers (whose yields go up) but not fishers (whose catches go down). If the fishers are sufficiently angry, they may breach the embankments and the programme will fail.

■ For bullet point 3, an example could be an coastal poverty programme where an activity seeks to overcome problems caused by exploitative slum landlords. Here, the partners might include governmental ministries involved in social welfare, NGOs and community-based organisations. The activity’s success may depend on building supportive links between these three stakeholders.

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■ For bullet point 4, an example could be to identify why the coastal poor should participate in all stages of a coastal livelihoods activity.

The third flipchart should show the three basic steps in undertaking a Stakeholder Analysis: 1 Identifying the main stakeholders using a stakeholder table (see Stage 3), and the reasons for their interest in the activity; 2 Identifying the influence and importance of each and showing them in a matrix (see Stage 4, below); 3 Identifying the risks that may affect activity design and discussing how they can be dealt with.

Table 1.1 Stakeholder Table Stakeholder

Interest in field area

+ve/-ve

Small farmers

Higher output and incomes

+

Food traders

More sales

+

Labourers

More jobs

+

Moneylenders

Empowered clients Less business

– –

Government officials

Sustainability Possible loss of ‘rent’ if farmers are empowered

+ –

The fourth flipchart should show an illustrative Stakeholder Table (see Table 1.1).

Stage 3 – Completing a stakeholder table Participants should be asked to compile an initial Stakeholder Table for their own activity in small groups. An hour is usually adequate for this purpose.

Only the main stakeholders should be listed at this stage, with no attempt to determine whether the stakeholders listed are key, primary or secondary.

Here, a useful method for each group is to: 1 Draw an outline table on a flipchart; 2 Identify stakeholders in a brainstorming session using Post-Its to write them down (one stakeholder per Post-It); 3 Place the stakeholders in the first column of the table; 4 Select (up to) ten main stakeholders. For each one, complete the other columns (again using Post-Its); 5 Check that no important stakeholders have been missed out. If they have, add them in and complete the other columns for them also.

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At the end, each group should present its findings to the others, followed by a discussion to identify common ground and differences of opinion. It may be possible to agree on a single table; if not, the facilitator should nominate one person from each group to produce a single stakeholder table.

A further discussion should be initial viewpoints on how each stakeholder group perceive the coastal issue and the problems that comprise it to feed into Exercise 1.2.

Stage 4  Influence and importance ‘Influence’ is the power a stakeholder has to facilitate or impede the achievement of an activity’s objectives. ‘Importance’ is the priority given to satisfying the needs and interests of each stakeholder. In an coastal livelihoods programme, local politicians may have a great ‘influence’ over a programme by facilitating or impeding the allocation of necessary resources, while the coastal poor (at least to start with) may have very little power to influence the outcome of the activity. At the same time, local politicians may have very little ‘importance’ as far as the activity is concerned, since it is not designed to meet their needs, while the coastal poor are central and very important to it. Table 1.2 shows a specimen Table of Importance and Influence.

From the initial stakeholder table agreed by the students, and using the headings shown in Table 1.2, list the main stakeholders in the first column.

Ask the whole group to agree on influence and importance scores for each stakeholder, allowing sufficient time for discussion. To score each stakeholder, use a five-point scale where 1 = very little importance or influence, to 5 = very great importance or influence.

Table 1.2 Table of Importance and Influence Stakeholder

Importance

Influence

Small farmers

5

2

Food traders

1

3

Labourers

5

1

Moneylenders

1

4

Government officials

2

5

Once each stakeholder has been scored, the Importance/influence Matrix (see Table 1.3) is introduced, and the scores transferred from the Table of influence and importance. The Matrix gives the relative locations of the various stakeholders, of whom those in Boxes A, B and C can now be identified as key ‘stakeholders’.

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MODULE 3 ■ Understanding the coastal zone to develop integrated approaches for management Table 1.3 Importance/Influence Matrix High importance/ Low influence

High importance/ High influence

A

B

C

D

Low importance/ Low influence

Low importance/ High influence

Those included in Boxes A, B and C are the key stakeholders in the activity: they can significantly influence it or are most important if the activity’s objectives are to be met.

Box A shows stakeholders of high importance to the activity, but with low influence. They require special initiatives if their interests are to be protected.

Box B shows stakeholders of high importance to the activity who can also significantly influence its success. Managers and donors will need to develop good working relationships with these stakeholders to ensure an effective coalition of support for the activity.

Box C shows stakeholders who are of low priority but may need monitoring.

They are unlikely to be the focus of the activity.

Box D shows stakeholders with high influence, who can affect outcome of the activity, but whose interests are not the target of the activity. These stakeholders may be able to block the activity and could constitute a ‘killer risk’.

Risks and pitfalls Stakeholder Analysis can go wrong. It is a tool, but it does not guarantee success: ■ The jargon can be threatening to many; ■ The analysis can only be as good as the information collected and used (‘Garbage In, Garbage Out’); ■ Matrices can oversimplify complex situations; ■ The judgements used in placing stakeholders in a matrix or table are often subjective. Several opinions from different sources will often be needed to confirm or deny the judgement; ■ Team working can be damaged if the differences between groups in an activity, rather than their common ground, are over-emphasised.

■ Trying to describe ‘winners’ and ‘losers’, as well as predicting hidden conflicts and interests can alienate powerful groups.

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Exercise 1.2 Stakeholder Perspectives Aims ■ To explore perspectives of different stakeholder groups.

■ To explore the juxtaposition of stakeholder groups with each other.

Instructions An outcome from the stakeholder analysis is the perhaps obvious conclusion that not all stakeholders are the same. But why is this so and what is it about individual stakeholder groups that leads to this situation? Understanding this is important because it will significantly influence the outlook that stakeholders will take in respect to any future management activity, especially if that activity calls upon them to alter their behaviour and practices. This exercise should be conducted using role play where the students are split into a number of groups such that at least one of each type (1o, 2o and Key) are represented.

The procedure for the role play should be as follows: 1 Before engaging in the role play, it is important that all students discuss the characteristics of the identified stakeholder groups based on the experiences they have gained from their field visits. Each stakeholder group should be characterised using the outputs of the stakeholder’s analysis in terms of their relative importance and influence but also in terms of what might constitute a ‘better’ situation for them; 2 Within designated groups, each of the identified issues from the coastal scenario should be taken and explored and discussed from the perspective of the stakeholder group arrived at above in terms of: a Whether the issue is a threat and what elements of risk and vulnerability are associated with it. b What are the problems that generate the coastal issue; c To what extent other stakeholder groups affect the impact of the issue; d Within the stakeholder group what are the barriers to changes in behaviour in relation to the issue.

3 Each stakeholder group should present its ‘position’ regarding each issue followed by a class discussion to explore where there may be barriers between stakeholder groups regarding addressing the issues, or where there may be possible alliances between stakeholder groups.

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Teacher guidelines for exercise 1.2 This exercise needs to be given sufficient time for students to engage in the role play element, but also so that a conclusive discussion by the whole class group can take place. It will be unlikely that every stakeholder group can be represented and so the greatest diversity between both primary, secondary and key stakeholders, and with position in Boxes A to D of the Stakeholder matrix, should be chosen.

Mind maps are a useful tool to facilitate this exercise to present relations of other stakeholder groups on a groups own stakeholder group and also to present the relationship of stakeholder groups on each issue. A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea.

The outcomes of the final discussion will be used during Section 3 – Management Objective analysis and particularly Section 4 – Monitoring and evaluating management.

Exercise 2.1 Problem Analysis 1 Aims ■ To identify cause-effect pathways for coastal issues from the perspective of individual stakeholder groups.

Instructions This exercise uses problem tree analysis in a workshop setting, where each stakeholder group analyses the cause to change to effect and impact pathways for each coastal issue. The discussion from Exercise 1.1 and 1.2 is first used to determine a list of problems that collectively constitute the coastal issue from that stakeholder group’s perspective. Secondly, for each problem the structure of the problem tree is used to: 1 Identify the changes that have/are leading to the problem and what is causing those changes; 2 Identify the effect that each problem has on the resources (goods and services) that are provided and what the impact of this is on the stakeholder group; 3 Present each problem in a problem tree format (Figure 2.1) where causeeffect pathways illustrate how a cause leads to change that contributes to the problem, leading to an effect that has an impact on stakeholders;

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4 The problem tree should be reviewed to verify its validity and complete-

ness of the cause-effect pathway and necessary adjustments made.

This exercise in developing the problem tree can use cards or Post-Its that can be moved so that: ■ The immediate and direct causes of the problem are placed in parallel beneath it; ■ the immediate and direct effects of the focal problem are placed in parallel above it.

Figure 2.1 Structure of a problem tree. For Exercise 2.1, the central problem is replaced by each ­problem that contributes to the issue under investigation.

Teacher guidelines for Exercise 2.1 The analysis can be concluded when there is agreement that all essential information has been included to explain the main cause and effect relationships characterising each problem that contributes to the coastal issue. Students should refer back to the observations they have made during the field visits.

There are two common difficulties that are experienced during problem identification and analysis: ■ Inadequate problem specification occurs when a problem is specified in insufficient detail so that it does not communicate the true nature of the problem. Statements such as ‘poor management’ need to be broken down so that we understand what constitutes poor management, and can there-

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fore determine and understand what the problem is, and analyse its underlying cause/s; ■ Absent solutions are problem statements that do not describe the current negative situation, but describe the absence of a desired situation. For example, ‘Lack of trained staff ’ does not describe the specific problem (staff have in-sufficient or inappropriate skills), and risks biasing the intervention towards the absent solution (‘training’) when in fact it might be an issue of recruitment or personnel management.

Exercise 2.2 Problem Analysis 2 Aims ■ To reconcile the suite of problems into a single overall problem tree that describes the coastal issue.

Instructions The previous exercise will have produced a large number of problem trees specific to the perspectives and outlooks from single stakeholder groups. Although Exercise 2.1 is based on a common issue/s shared by all stakeholders, there is likely to be considerable variability in how the different stakeholders perceive the causes, changes, effects and impacts. How should a coastal manager deal with such variability? Dealing with the perspectives of one stakeholder group is very unlikely to produce an outcome that will satisfy those of other stakeholders. Therefore, it is necessary to assess and evaluate the range of perspectives – represented by the stakeholder problem tree sets – and merge them together into a single problem tree that is representative of as many stakeholder groups as possible and describes the coastal issue under investigation. If this is not achievable for all stakeholder groups, then it should be identified where this is not possible and for whom as this will likely become barriers to eventual management activity.

Students, as a single group, should attempt to merge the problem tree sets and recognise that this may mean some rephrasing of the terms used under causes, changes, effects and impacts. The suite of problems that form the centre of each problem tree should be replaced by the coastal issue under investigation. It may even require the issue/s to be rephrased in order to provide a statement that applies to all, or as many as possible, stakeholder groups.

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Teacher guidelines for Exercise 2.2 The outcome of this exercise produces a statement that relates specifically to the overall coastal scenario. Each of the constituent problems of the issue will become the penultimate change to the issue in the problem tree structure. Some restructuring may be necessary where cause, change, effect and/ or impact are shared between individual problem trees. It becomes apparent that only by addressing the suite of changes in an integrated and holistic sense can the challenge posed by the coastal scenario be addressed. This exercise will bring home to students the predicament faced by coastal managers that finding a common perspective that can be shared by all stakeholder groups is very difficult and may often not be possible. Without a common perspective, the opportunity and chances of finding solutions that will gain the backing and support of all stakeholder groups are problematical. Knowing where common ground can be found between stakeholder groups and where this is not possible is important for coastal managers. A ‘final’ management approach may actually involve managing the failures and disenfranchised stakeholders as much as finding the perfect technical solution.

Exercise 2.3 Objectives Analysis 1 Aims ■ To identify means to end pathways for addressing individual problems of a coastal issue for the purpose of coastal management.

Instructions A starting point for addressing all problems is to understand how current use patterns and existing management systems are contributing towards the causes-effect pathways. Solutions to address problems need to be focused on means to alter existing current use patterns and/or management systems in order to alleviate/mitigate the problems that they produce. In effect the challenge is to find means to reverse cause elements of a problem in order to achieve an end that alleviates its effect. Questions that need answering to determine the construct of a solution include: ■ Does the scope of definition incorporate core physical interactions and provide the basis for the resolution of conflicts between major user groups?

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■ Which groups/institutions should be involved? Do weaker groups require support or external representation in order for their voices to be heard?

■ Do existing management systems provide the basis for effective resource management?

■ What type of facilitation is appropriate (e.g. do existing institutions have the competencies to implement solutions)?

Analysis of objectives is a methodological approach employed to: ■ Describe the situation in the future once problems have been remedied, with the participation of representative parties; ■ Verify the objectives to address individual problems.

The ‘negative situations’ of the problem tree are converted into solutions, expressed as ‘positive achievements’. For example, ‘agricultural production is low’ is converted into ‘agricultural production increased’. These positive achievements are in fact objectives, and are presented in a diagram of objectives showing a means/end hierarchy. This diagram provides a clear overview of the desired future situation.

The procedure is to use the structure of the objective tree where the problem forms the centre of the tree and students: 1 Reformulate all the elements in the problem tree into positive desirable conditions.

2 Review the resulting means-ends relationships to assure the validity and completeness of the objective tree.

3 If required: a Revise statements; b Delete objectives that appear unrealistic or unnecessary; c Add new objectives where required.

4 Draw connecting lines to indicate the means-ends relationships (Figure 2.2).

Some objectives may be unrealistic, so other solutions need to be found, or the attempt to solve them abandoned. Once complete, the objective tree provides a summary picture of the desired future situation, including the indicative means by which ends can be achieved.

The problem tree from Exercise 2.2 that describes the complete coastal issue is likely to be far too complicated to address as a single entity, and so firstly each of the problems as identified from Exercise 2.1 should be addressed by the same stakeholder groups as for that exercise.

As with the problem tree, the objective tree should provide a simplified but robust summary of reality. It is a tool to aid analysis and presentation of ideas. Its main strength is that it keeps the analysis of potential project objectives firmly based on addressing a range of clearly identified priority problems.

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Figure 2.2 Structure of an objective tree. For Exercise 2.3, the central issue is replaced by each objective that contributes to solving the issue under investigation.

Teacher guidelines for Exercise 2.3 In the objectives analysis, the problem tree is transformed into a tree of objectives (future solutions of the problems) and analysed.

Working from the top, all problems are reworded, making them into objectives (positive statements). Difficulties in rewording may be solved by clarifying the original problem statement. If a statement makes no sense after being reworded, write a replacement objective, or leave the objective unchanged.

Check that meeting objectives at one level will be sufficient to achieve the objectives at the next level: ■ Problems: ‘If cause is A, then the effect is B’ ■ Objectives: ‘The means is X in order to achieve Y’ Note: Not every cause-effect relationship becomes a means to ends relationship. This depends upon the rewording.

Working from the bottom upwards, ensure that cause- effect relationships have become means-end relationships. Draw lines to indicate the meansends relationships in the objectives tree.

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Exercise 2.4 Objectives Analysis 2 Aims ■ To reconcile the suite of objectives into a single overall objective tree.

Instructions This exercise will bring home to students the predicament faced by coastal managers that finding the perfect technical solution is not the answer, and that ‘win-win’ solutions are not often the realm of reality. Exercise 2.1 was structured around a common issue arising from the coastal scenario shared by all stakeholder groups. In the same way that the problem set that comprise the issue differs for different stakeholder groups the same is likely for determining objectives to address the coastal issue. Therefore, it is not likely that the stakeholder groups will have arrived at a common set of objectives to overcome the issue in Exercise 2.3 – this is the same situation as for Exercise 2.2 but with the added complication of needing to produce a common objective. Often this is not possible and coastal managers find that part of solution formulation is how to accommodate the losers, or the reality that some stakeholders win more than others. The reality of coastal management is that often there are serious acute and/or chronic issues that, if not dealt with, will lead to degradation of the environment and depletion of resources available for human exploitation. Ultimately, this will increase the vulnerability and decrease the security of coastal communities. Coastal managers need to find compromises that lead to solutions that simultaneously address pressures on the environment, coastal resources and coastal communities. An important step to achieve this is to be able to articulate and communicate a vision of the coastal situation that resonates with stakeholders. The problem and objective analysis is a method to discuss and negotiate an awareness and acceptance of the coastal issues that are faced.

The students, as a single group, should attempt to merge the objective tree sets and recognise that this may mean some rephrasing of the terms used under objectives, means and ends. The procedure is the same as for Exercise 2.2. It may even require the objectives to be rephrased in order to provide a statement that applies to all, or as many as possible, stakeholder groups.

The outcome of this exercise is to produce a high level objective that relates to the overall coastal scenario. In the same way as in Exercise 2.2, it will become apparent that objectives (which represent desired management processes) need to be implemented in a coordinated manner in order to realise the holistic system alterations that are necessary to address the whole coastal scenario.

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Teacher guidelines for Exercise 2.4 The notes that apply to Exercise 2.2 apply equally here. The question of finding common and shared issues and objectives is a ‘wicked problem’. Wicked problems are those which have a high degree of uncertainty associated with them, coupled with different, and often contradictory, perceptions of values of the problem and its solution. Often while attempting to solve a wicked problem, the solution of one of its aspects may reveal, or create other, even more complex problems. When attempting to address the suite of problems that comprise the coastal issue students will find that often every problem interacts with other problems and confirms the earlier assertion that a coastal issue is therefore a set of interrelated problems

Exercise 3.1 Reconciling stakeholder perceptions Aims ■ To explore how boundaries and scales affect changes and impact in the coastal scenario.

■ To consider how objectives interact and impact on each other.

Instructions Objectives determined from Exercises 2.3 and 2.4 effectively articulate the criteria that solutions would need to meet in order to address the problems that lead to the coastal issue. Before these objectives can be used to structure solutions they need to be validated for their specificity towards individual problems and the overall coastal issue.

Achieving the objectives will effectively alter the causes and changes identified from the problem analysis by imposing a new set of changes (equates to management actions) to the coastal system. Whereas the original causes and changes are undesired, these management changes should lead to a system that functions to the benefit for both environmental and social components. A first step to achieve this is to make an assessment of the boundaries and scales associated with both the changes that are leading to the individual problems and the resulting objectives that will address the issues.

Once overall changes that are taking place (from Exercise 2.2) have been identified, their boundaries also need to be determined. For example, if an issue relates to euthrophication caused by river run-off, then watershed boundaries

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may best match the issue boundary, whilst administrative boundaries may be more appropriate for treating urban pollution problems if that was the cause.

This is necessary because an important component of a solution is not only the technical and methodological aspects but the institutional arrangements for implementation. The latter have boundaries that dictate and constrain their sphere of activity and influence. In effect this is asking the question whether the management responses (is equal to the objective from Exercise 2.4) have the same scale and boundaries as the changes they are designed to address. For instance, if a management response to address euthrophication only operates within the boundaries of the field study area, but the ultimate causes of the euthrophication exist outside of the field study area, then the management activity can only address the symptom of the problem and not the actual reason why euthrophication exists. Management solutions should if possible address actual problems and not their symptoms. Associated with this is documenting and understanding the ways that current users interact with and exploit resources (whether extractive or non-extractive such as use of space) and the existing management regimes that exist to regulate access and use of resources.

For this exercise, students should consider the boundaries and scale associated with each box in the problem tree from Exercise 2.2 and corresponding box of the objective tree from Exercise 2.4 and make an evaluation whether the boundary and scales of each pair of boxes match or not. Where there is no match, students should consider whether the objective, and the means to achieve it, can be revised. Another important consideration is the linkages and dependencies between issues. This means that objectives that address any particular problem will also need to be evaluated for impact on other problems that have been identified. Where there is more than one issue, the same analysis will need to be made between issues.

Teacher guidelines for Exercise 3.1 This exercise will begin to bring out ideas for solutions that will effectively describe the management process to achieve the desired objectives. It is important that students realise and appreciate that they have undergone a lengthy series of exercises that develop a deep understanding of the field study area from both a social and environment perspective. From this understanding they will have developed an appreciation of the issues associated with the area before considering what solutions there might be. This goes some way to ensure that solutions really address problems, not symptoms. In addition, solutions should be designed with stakeholders at the forefront, and are formulated with due consideration of concerns of implementability and impact.

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Module 3 ■ Exercises

Exercise 3.2 Arriving at coastal management Aims • To design solutions to achieve objectives.

• To explore the interactions between multiple solutions.

Instructions Solutions for ICM issues ought to stimulate a holistic and coordinated approach to planning in coastal areas. These approaches should not only address technical aspects of a problem (e.g. preventing coastal erosion) but also ensure that, where behavioural changes are required to peoples practices, there are suitable mechanisms to enthuse and motivate societal support (incentives are shaped by, for example, resource tenure and use right systems, fertiliser subsidies, pollution taxes, etc.). What this means in practice is that there is no one solution to an issue – building a sea wall to arrest erosion does not solve the issue because it only deals with one of the suite of problems that comprise the issue.

Since coastal issues tend to be complex involving multiple stakeholders it is unlikely that any given solution will benefit all of the stakeholders equally.

Management interventions need to be assessed for their consequences on each stakeholder group and so concepts of winners and losers arise. The ‘answer’ to a coastal issue can be viewed as the solution that provides the best compromise between the various stakeholder groups, it meets a minimum threshold that reduces the original issue below a level where it poses a threat to the overall coastal landscape.

In a teaching setting the procedure for constructing solutions to issues should be based on the notion that management means changing an existing (undesirable) trajectory to a new (desirable) trajectory. In other words, management maintaining and enhancing existing desirable trajectories avoiding the appearance of ‘new’ undesirable trajectories. The procedure for constructing solutions that are integrated and holistic is complex and requires careful structuring. A framework to achieve these complex tasks is necessary so that teachers and students can be clear at all times where they have reached, and have a structure for organising discussion before arriving at decisions with regard to aims, objectives and outcomes of proposed management intervention.

Students should discuss possible solutions to meet the objectives identified in previous exercises. Each solution should be assessed and evaluated in terms of its impact on both the overall issue and on other solutions designed to address other problems associated with the issue.

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MODULE 3 ■ Understanding the coastal zone to develop integrated approaches for management

Teacher guidelines for Exercise 3.2 The framework for constructing and evaluating solutions is broken into a number of stages each of which require discussion and negotiation within the student group. Each member of the group can be assigned a specific role according to a discipline/sector expertise within a management team to give reality to the process.

Stage 1  Determining the relative contribution of each cause to the focal problem Using the problem tree from Exercise 2.2, the issue (that encompasses all the individual problems) needs to be interrogated to determine the trajectory of change that it is imposing on the coastal system. Students should discuss why a current trajectory is not desirable and how the proposed focal objective from Exercise 2.4 will alter the trajectory to a more favourable one, and what the criteria would be to monitor and evaluate this? Note that as a teaching exercise it is not important whether objectives are right or wrong, but it is sufficient for students to have a rationale for their decisions. Such considerations will emerge when solutions are evaluated both within and between individual problems that make up an issue.

Here it is necessary to introduce the concept of ‘thresholds’. The issue of thresholds has not been raised before and is a contentious and debated issue in relation to coupled human-environment systems. Where the environment provides resources that are exploited by human uses, there is a tight coupling between the quantity and rate of exploitation and the ability of the environment to replace the extracted resources – this is, in effect, a maintenance of the balance between supply and demand, which can be regarded as a sustainable situation. Where the environment is changing, whether by human or natural reasons, the characteristics and dynamics of this coupling can be affected. It is likely to be the case that there is a degree of elasticity within the coupled environment-human system to absorb change, but that there will also be a point beyond which the system is unable to absorb the change and the supplydemand balance becomes upset and cannot be maintained.

What is important for students to understand is that broadly speaking there are three ‘zones’ regarding human uses and exploitation of resources: 1 Up to a point, it is possible that use of resources can take place where, so long as it remains below a certain level, future provision of the resource is not put at risk; 2 Above a certain level of exploitation the intensity of use of resources is such that it cannot recover back to the situation described in (1), even if the

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Module 3 â– Exercises

pressure on the resource is removed. Here only the sourcing of alternative resources is a long term option; 3 Between the situation of (1) and (2) above, there is a zone where if the intensity of resource exploitation is managed it is possible to return to the situation of (1).

As a generalization, it can be taken that the challenge of coastal management is to manage the way society uses and exploits resources to ensure that the status of 2 is never reached and if 3 occurs it returns back to 1 and does not become 2.

In the context of the teaching here, the identified coastal issue associated with the scenario will be at a stage of 2 or 3, and this situation will be comprised of a series of interlinked and interdependent problems (Figure 3.1a). Although a simplification, it is not unreasonable as a teaching assignment to put forward the idea that the broad goal of coastal management is the maintenance of coastal goods and services. In this case, students are required to design a package of solutions to achieve a set of objectives that will reduce the cumulative effect of individual problems that comprise the coastal issue (Exercise 2.2). The purpose of this is to achieve the broad objective articulated in Exercise 2.4 sufficient to return the coupled environment-human system below a level whereupon the provision of resources returns to a sustainable level.

Section 2 exercises will have shown that issues that affect stakeholders in the coastal zone are made up from a collection of individual cause-effect pathways that collectively lead to a issue. Because any issue is a product of a collection of problems, with associated cause-effect pathways, if independent solutions are constructed against each pathway and problem it is unlikely that the overall issue will be solved. That is to say, there should be a package of integrated solutions with components that address each individual pathway and problem in a manner that collectively addresses the issue. This means that each individual problem contributes a proportion of the combined total that make up the issue: this proportion may not be equally divided between all the contributing problems. Determining the relative contribution of each individual problem can be achieved by assigning to each a number between 1 (no significant contribution) and 10 (very significant contribution). Although largely arbitrary, making this assessment against and between each problem will allow students to discuss and negotiate the relative contribution and importance of each to the overall issue. Once each problem has been attributed a contributing ‘score’, their combined total score can be viewed as a hurdle (Figure 3.1a).

Solutions need to overcome this hurdle in order to alleviate or mitigate an issue below a level whereupon the situation can be considered removed, or at least within tolerance levels that do not significantly impact coastal users. This provides the aims (see Definition Box 10) for a management solution that are used to construct intervention strategies that are applied to each of the change components identified in Steps 1 to 3.

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MODULE 3 â– Understanding the coastal zone to develop integrated approaches for management

Definition box 10 â– Aims and objectives Aims are internal activities within a management intervention, which describe the measures that will be used to address any given issue. Objectives are the intended outcomes of the management intervention.

Stage 2 ď Ž Providing solutions to alter a trajectory Given the complexity of the coastal landscape it is unlikely that any suite of solutions will totally resolve the issue. So it is the combination of solutions that best addresses individual problems and the overall issue most effectively that is being searched for. For any given individual problem there is likely to be more than one solution option. Therefore, solutions need to be assessed to determine which gives the best answer to any problem by having the most significant positive impact whilst generating the least negative consequences.

Solutions also need to be assessed for their interactions with other solutions designed to address other problem components of the issue. Construction of solutions can be designed in two ways (Figure 3.1): 1 Against each problem individually with the intention that these will reduce the overall magnitude of the focal issue.

2 Against the overall issue with features that address both the individual problems and the interactions between them.

If each problem is treated independently of others, then it is likely that the derived solution will focus only on that problem and not consider its relationship with other problems. In such cases it is possible that a solution designed to address one problem may be rendered ineffective because features of other problems become barriers to its working (Figure 3.1b). In these instances, the overall impact of the combination of independently derived solutions is that some chains are alleviated whilst others remain (Figure 3.1c, d).

If the issue is addressed directly with solutions that not only address the individual problems but also specifically address the inter-relationships between problems then they are more likely to reinforce each other leading to a stronger, more integrated and holistic solution to the focal problem (Figure 3.1e). This provides a means to assess and evaluate the objectives for management interventions and structure solutions designed to achieve the objectives.

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Module 3 â– Exercises

Figure 3.1 Problems (P1 to P6) combine to construct the issue (a) in the coastal zone which, if it exceeds a threshold level threatening coastal users and uses, requires a solution. If each problem is treated separately and largely in isolation of other constituent problems (b) then the interaction between solutions may mean that some solutions do not work (solutions 1, 3 and 6) so they are ineffective and the magnitude of their contribution to the issue is not changed (c). In such cases the combined magnitude of the problems means the issue may not be reduced enough to fall below the critical threshold level (d). However, if solutions are constructed and applied to the issue and its constituent problems in an integrated and holistic manner then it is more likely that solutions applied to each problem are likely to mutually reinforce each other reducing the issue below critical thresholds levels (e). Note that the solution should be designed to reduce the overall issue so that as long as the magnitude of the combined problems are reduced sufficiently then the solution can be considered as effective even if one or more of the problems may increase in proportion (e.g. P1 in e) and some not change at all (e.g. P3 in e).

Stage 3 ď Ž Interrogating the impact of solutions It is important to recognise that any management intervention will in itself produce a suite of changes, albeit hopefully ones that positively impact the plan area and the stakeholders. Because any change can impact one or several components of a system altering their interactions and dynamics it is critical that solutions – whether independent (Figure 3.1 b-d) or compound (Figure 3.1e) are analysed for their consequences on the overall issue and its constituent problems. Strategies should also exist to monitor and evaluate the consequences and progress of management interventions. A risk matrix is a method to provide a forum for analysis and discussion (Figure 3.2) where each solution can be analysed in terms of its anticipated impact and the probability of the impact being achieved.

The consideration of probability is an evaluation of what conditions would be necessary for the solution to have its maximum impact on addressing the coastal issue it is designed against, and what might prevent this being realised. It is here that considerations regarding stakeholders identified in Ex-

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MODULE 3 â– Understanding the coastal zone to develop integrated approaches for management

Figure 3.2 Structure of a risk matrix. For Exercise 3.2, each solution is assessed in terms of the impact it will have on the coastal issue it is designed to address and the probability of whether the maximum level of impact can be achieved.

ercise 2.4 and 3.1 as being ‘outside’ of an agreed management objective come into play. The reasons that solutions do not work, although other environmental factors may be to blame, is often because of the actions and behaviour of stakeholder groups who feel threatened or disadvantaged by the implementation of a management response and resist its execution.

This exercise provides an evaluation of the predicted outcome of management interventions and a means to evaluate the likely success/consequences of the interventions. As a final activity, students can discuss how the solutions, individually and collectively, could be monitored to assess their progress and evaluate how the management approach is addressing the coastal scenario.

Part of this discussion should focus on the criteria and conditions that would constitute successful management.

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Appendices

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1

Teacher’s Handbook Planning for field visits Introduction Structuring a schedule and timetable for a field visit that is realistic and logistically feasible is important, and also helps identify achievable training outcomes, and necessary supporting resources. The schedule should include: timings; people and places to be visited; features to be seen; and facilities available.

The schedule should allow for all timings, for example, it can take as much as 10 minutes for 30 students to get on or off a coach. Sufficient time is needed for tea and lunch breaks so that students can rest and reflect on their field visit.

The time available for each part of field visits, including any interactions with local stakeholders, has to be known by not only the students but also all resource persons. Where resource persons are from external organisations they need to be clearly briefed of time available, specific aims and objectives and background of students prior to the event.

Field visits for ICM require a range of different events to be included that cover: ■ Explanation of the physical, biological and human processes specific to the study area. Students should be guided to observe evidence for these processes and any associated changes to them; ■ Interaction with stakeholders through structured or semi-structured meetings. Students should have time to structure their questions and to confirm them with a trainer prior to the meeting; ■ Informal sessions to summarise field observations through facilitated discussion to bring out the background, identification and confirmation of issues, stakeholders’ perceptions of the issues from the field site. Through these summary sessions the trainer should guide students towards obtaining suitable secondary information that may be required to complement observations made in the field.

Background information, such as maps, books, tables, charts, text materials and scientific articles, audio-visual aids etc. about the study area should be provided for the students. Most importantly, for students to derive the intended learning outcomes from a field visit, they must have clear guidance on what is expected at all times, with unambiguous aims and objectives, and a structured template to record their experience (see Appendix 2 Student Handouts).

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Appendices â–

Stakeholders as resource persons Although information can be provided directly to students by the teacher, students are more likely to gain a complementary learning experience through interacting with stakeholders. Here stakeholders can include researchers as well as people who live and work within the field visit area. Stakeholders have to be identified and engaged with well in advance of a field visit to confirm their participation, and given a clear briefing about the course in general as well as on their specific role within the context of the field visit. Stakeholders can provide real world information about the study area and help fill gaps in secondary data and reports, as well as providing an overview of issues. Students should be given prior notice of who they will be meeting and be given time to prepare relevant questions.

Implementing field visits Introduction Field visits for ICM are complex because they need to include the coastal landscape in its broadest sense, including all of its social, economic and natural dimensions. This is in contrast to many other types of field visit where the objective is confined to a specific method (e.g. ecological methods for sampling a sea shore). The objective of a field visit for ICM is to generate understanding by students of the processes, and changes to them, that are taking place within the coastal landscape, and how these are affecting human activities and uses of coastal resources from a social, economic and natural perspective. To achieve this, it is important that students are guided in their observations and how to interpret what they see. Often processes may not be directly observable and so a proxy or indicator has to be demonstrated, for instance, advertising boards, their presence or absence and the goods they advertise is an indicator of economic wealth. It is also important that there are secondary materials available to substantiate and triangulate observations made in the field.

The Field Visit Field visits are often carried out in order to demonstrate and/or provide practical experience for a method whose theory has been a feature of prior classroom training. ICM does not have a specific methodology or recipe for its execution, but is centred on developing a holistic comprehension of the coastal landscape from the perspective of its social, economic and natural dimensions. The execution of a successful field visit for ICM is based around:

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1 ■ Teacher’s Handbook

■ Pre-Field visits Preparation, Planning and Training – to prepare students and trainers for the experiences that are the objective of the field visit/s.

■ Effective Teaching in the Field – to exhibit the diversity of the social, economic and natural (physical and biological) landscape through directed observations; team work; group work and independent work.

■ The Workplace Perspective – to place field visits in the context of ‘real life’ issues, and facilitate knowledge/awareness of key skills needed to address them.

Field visits for ICM is best based around a case study whose boundaries are confined geographically so the experience does become conceptually overwhelming to students. Any area of coast is likely to have a range of issues/ pressures present. It is important that the field visit is structured in such way that students are able to clearly observe and decipher issues, changes and pressures. These should relate to human activity that is changing, or placing under pressure, a natural function (provision of a good, e.g. fish, or service, e.g. flood protection). The selected issues should illustrate the inter-connectivity, and complex interactions, between separate changes/pressures. Emphasis should be placed on concepts, techniques and approaches to encompass social and economic dimensions within coastal management activity. Therefore the principal outcome of a field visit is to place in context the social and economic setting with the natural setting, and develop an understanding of the relationship they have upon each other.

Field visits should complement knowledge acquired through more didactic routes to the observation and understanding of real situations. A primary objective of a field visit is to provide an opportunity for students to ‘see knowledge’ through observing and analysing the interactions and interrelationships of the causes and drivers of change in relation to biological, physical, social and economic dimensions. Since students may come from different disciplines and localities, the challenge for trainers is to integrate knowledge from past experience with knowledge provided from other sources in order to interrogate the reality of the field visit site (Box 1).

As time is often limited, field visits need to be run efficiently and students guided in their observations. Following from an initial description and observation of the site, dividing into sub-groups of 3-5 can enable a better and more varied interaction especially if sub-groups are given specific tasks to focus on.

Any field visit site is likely to have a wide range of issues. In the time available for a field visit it will not be possible to tackle each one of these. In order to gain a basic understanding of the human (social, political, economic) processes in coastal regions and ways to analyze them, students should be made familiar with a number of topics, concepts and methods from the social sciences that are relevant to their future careers as coastal managers , such as those covered in Module 1 of this manual. Observations should be focused on supporting understanding of:

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Appendices ■

■ Competing claims, property rights, and access to natural resources.

■ Processes of globalization, coastal livelihoods, human security and vulnerability.

■ Impact of institutions, law, and governance in the coastal zone.

Box 1 ■ Criteria for a successful field visit programme Field visits should have: ■ Clearly defined, attainable individual tasks – best if written down in easily accessed form; ■ Hints, leads, reminders, prompts as to what needs recording, e.g. the scale of a field sketch; ■ Hints about the appropriate format for recording; ■ Indications of the purpose for carrying out particular exercises: what can be learnt about processes or environments?

■ There needs to be at all times clarity of what should be done/looked for at each location: • as scientific value/outcome – ‘for what purpose?’

• as to relevance – ‘why here, now?’

• as to the meaning of terms – no unexplained jargon, mystique, fog – ‘what does it mean?’

Unsatisfactory aspects of field visits can arise from: ■ An unclear brief as to the purpose of the field visits; ■ Different members of staff giving different ‘stories’ and emphasis often depending on their own priorities and interests; ■ Few clear targets are articulated in terms of skills. Leaving participants to make their own observations leads to uncertainty of purpose and will generally emphasise and reinforce preconceptions.

Students should be encouraged to interact with local stakeholders to elicit other perspectives of the coastal landscape, how it is changing and why in relation to various activities. Students need clear direction that their observations need to be focussed on understanding the existing situation and its management options in relation to the issues identified as the task of the field visit. To achieve this, observations should be able to answer the following questions: ■ What management needs exist for the field visit site that relate to the specific issues identified?

■ What evidence is there that explains why the issues have arisen and what are the consequences?

■ Who are the stakeholders associated with the issues and what are their roles and relationship to each other?

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1 ■ Teacher’s Handbook

■ What are the knowledge gaps/remaining questions that need to be answered to provide a more complete picture of the issues, and how would these be addressed?

■ Who would need to be aware and supportive of a management plan in order for it to work?

Briefing and de-briefing Briefing to familiarise students about the field visit area in the context of its social, economic and natural setting is very important. Students should be reminded of secondary data and a summary of the key points from this data (maps, key features and processes) provided. To keep students focussed a checklist of important coastal components can be provided as handout. During the briefing the onus is on the training team to prepare the students for the tasks of the day.

After completion of the day time should be allocated to compile and interpret observations that students have collated during the field visit. Emphasis should be placed upon meaning, consequences and implications of each observation in the context of understanding the wider coastal landscape, and what relationships/interactions might exist with other observations made.

This will help to identify the interaction among the components of the natural and human environment within the coastal zone.

Briefing and de-briefing of a field visit should also focus on addressing information gaps, how these could be addressed and clarifying understanding of the coastal landscape as it relates to the identified issues. This is important because field observations alone do not enable managers to make concrete conclusions. Other information, perspectives and priorities that students have not ‘seen’ or which may not be available from a field visit need to be taken into account as well.

Interacting with stakeholders Meeting with stakeholders is an important part of data gathering during a field visit. Students should know beforehand who, or what type of stakeholder, they can expect to meet and given time to discuss and prepare for the conversations that will be held with stakeholders. The structure of meetings with stakeholders is a complex field in its own right and can involve a wide range of techniques (e.g. structured and semi-structured interviews, focus groups etc.). It is unlikely that there will be time to teach and coach students in the techniques of interviewing stakeholders. Therefore, meetings with stakeholders should be centred on a prepared set of questions that have been discussed and explained between students and teachers. Some time should be assigned for free questions from students so they can experience the difficulty of match-

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Appendices ■

ing expectations of what information a question will extract with the actual answer received.

In a teaching environment there is often not time to collect robust stakeholder data. Therefore, the purpose of meeting with stakeholders should focus on providing an experience that demonstrates how the way questions are asked can influence the form of information that is obtained. If possible, meetings should be organised in an environment familiar to the stakeholder so that they can demonstrate points that arise from the discussion (e.g. fishermen should be met in their village or fish market). Meetings should highlight the range and diversity of stakeholders in the coastal landscape and providing information on their interests and activities, and opinion on issues as well as their views on relationships with other stakeholder groups. An important, and often interesting, conversation to have during stakeholder meetings is their perceptions of what ‘the problem’ really is and what ‘the solution’ could be.

How stakeholders perceive problems and their solutions can be very revealing of attitudes and comprehension of issues. After completion of a meeting it should be reviewed to clarify, cross reference (triangulate with other information sources) and contextualise the information collected.

The majority of students are likely to come from a traditional educational background with the perspective that ‘scientists’ know best. Students will hear a diverse range of views from local people that can create a view that ‘locals’ don’t understand the situation and it is up to the scientists to tell them the answers. However, one of the greatest challenges for successful management is accommodating the variety of perspectives from the multiplicity of stakeholders to build a common vision and stewardship for the coastal landscape. One likely outcome of a field visit will be that the diversity of perspectives of the situation that exists in the coastal landscape extends not just to local stakeholders but also to scientists, policy makers and managers (secondary and key stakeholder). It also shows that it is not just coastal people who ‘cannot agree’ about the facts, our scientific understanding is incomplete and this creates new dynamics, such as political influence in management outputs and outcomes.

Maintaining participant focus The coastal landscape is a diverse and complex environment and this is reflected in the panorama that the students will see. The purpose of the field visit is not to test students’ ability to make observations that relate to a diversity of disciplines with which they might have little experience. Rather, the purpose is to guide students on how to make observations that (i) help understand the human dimensions of the coastal landscape, reinforcing the taught element of Module 1, and (ii) have relevance to understanding the management setting and needs of the coastal landscape instead of knowledge that describes

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1 ■Teacher’s Handbook

the individual scientific aspects. It is not enough to only present students with a list of features/components that they should observe, students will require guidance and direction, with explanation, of the observations that they need to make. For this, handouts providing clear direction and explanation that will assist students to interpret scenes that they will see or hear about in the context of the social and natural indicators are necessary. This requires considerable preparation prior to the field visit.

The dynamics of the human and natural setting of the coastal landscape will mean that students will observe many changes/pressures and guidance and direction will be required to help untangle the inter-relatedness of these with each other. Although the field trip will likely have as a core focus one or a few of these changes, this is only to try and manage the complexity of the coastal setting for the purposes of the field visit and this should be made clear to the students. The issues that are the focus of the field visit should arise from other issues, e.g. a focus on development pressure that arises from/as a consequence of other pressures such as population growth, economic changes (i.e. tourism from traditional resource uses), climate change, declining natural resources base. The wording and focus of the field visit should be constructed around the needs to develop a holistic perspective and understanding by students. To achieve this, it may be necessary to present students with a case study that represents a simplified version of reality for teaching purposes

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2

Student Handouts

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Tabellen_handouts2.indd 179

What you might see (the interaction)

Fishermen’s cooperative office

Woman drying fish on the beach

Individual and institutional actors

Gender aspects

Village Panchayat leader

Prawns being sold in the market

State- and non-state institutions, bodies and authorities

Markets

Social system /structure

Men fishing

Primary and secondary stakeholders

Social actors (stakeholders)

Indicator

Prawns and fish are sold in the local market. The fishery is thus a potentially important local source of (protein-rich) food (important for local health) and a part of the local economy.

Village panchayats are informal (non state) village institutions but are instrumental in shaping village life, law and behaviour in society.

Women are also actively making a living from the fish resource and may therefore be affected by coastal management developments.

Many fishermen are members of cooperatives which play a role in the local fishery – cooperative leaders may be active in supporting the fisherman’s voice and achieving government support.

A fisherman who depends on the coast for fishing may be impacted by coastal management and may be interested in development interventions.

The significance of the observation (why it relates to the indicator)

Are prawns eaten locally or are they sold onto other markets?

How do they work? Do they interact with Formal state Gram Panchayat?

Social structures

Role of cooperatives in fisheries development (historical/fisheries / coastal development )

What do fishermen cooperatives do and is this relevant/ useful for ICM? What do women do with the dried fish?

Why are coastal people stakeholders of ICM (lecture 1-2)?

Linkages to ICM course (key words linking to classroom lectures). Students add own notes

What do people catch?

Key question (s) Question which you would need to ask to further the process of ICM/investigation?

Exercise A1 – Suggestions for the type of observations that could be used to structure the discussion and observations. It is important that students are guided on the significance and questions that can arise from a single observation, and also challenged to make their own notes relating observations to lectures of Module 1 (Some examples are given).

Table A1

2 ■ Student Handouts

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What you might see (the inter­action)

Mosques and Hindu temples

Prawn farms

Social/ economic activities related to the coastal zone

Different housing styles

Painted cows

Material culture

Religious and ritual expression

Culture

Fishermen

Ways and means of making a living using natural resources

Livelihoods & resource use

Religion, ethnicity, class, caste, gender and household

Social system /structure

Indicator

In India, cows are painted as a celebration of the Hindu religious festival Pongal. It symbolises the harvest and could be an indicator of the meanings with which people attach to harvest, livelihoods and wealth during particular seasons of the year.

Style of buildings/houses can be a useful indication of wealth, ethnicity or historical regional influence.

Aquaculture has to be located in the coastal zone – it is a key economic activity in many coasts throughout the world.

Fishing is a livelihood which is directly dependent upon the natural resource. Different types of fishing activities may take place, targeting different species of different economic values.

Different houses of worship are indications of the presence of people belonging to different faiths in the area.

The significance of the observation (why it relates to the indicator)

Are there any similar rituals associated with fishing, which we can see/ learn about?

Why are there different styles of housing?

How much does aquaculture contribute to the local and regional economy?

How many people are involved in fishing in the area?

Are there any tensions between religious entities in the coastal area? How might this affect participation in ICM, or resource use (e.g. involvement in fishing)?

Key question (s) Question which you would need to ask to further the process of ICM/investigation?

Linkages to ICM course (key words linking to classroom lectures). Students add own notes

Appendices ■

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Evidence of different quality fishing grounds

Young people wearing jeans

Local knowledge

Changing lifestyles

Boundary markers and signs that limit or prohibit access, use etc.

Fence in the shallow water

Property rights and access

Men fishing in boats, but no women in boats

What you might see (the inter­action)

Rules (for food, access to resources, institutions)

Culture

Indicator

Boundary markers indicate that coastal space and resources may already be claimed by an individual, group or organisation. Owners will be key stakeholders for coastal management and existing rights and ownership is crucial to consider in any ICM plan.

A changing lifestyle can imply a transition such as from traditional to modern, acquisition of modern technological goods (such as satellite T.V), and influences from the world external to the immediate locality (see also component 7).

The lives of coastal people are closely bound to the character of coastal resources and space, which means that local knowledge can be extremely informative to the coastal manager. Local knowledge often shapes the cultural rules and institutions (above) so as to utilise local knowledge in the use and distribution of coastal resources.

Many social rules construct how coastal resources are accessed and how space is utilised. Sometimes ‘rules’ may be observable, but they can be misinterpreted easily. As such, understanding social rules, norms and practices will nearly always demand a more in-depth investigation through asking and listening.

The significance of the observation (why it relates to the indicator)

Who owns this fence…is it still in use?

How are changing lifestyles experienced by the young and old in the coastal zone?

How is access to the best fishing grounds organised within the local user society?

How are women involved in the fishery?

Key question (s) Question which you would need to ask to further the process of ICM/investigation?

Institutions and legal pluralism

Linkages to ICM course (key words linking to classroom lectures). Students add own notes

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What you might see (the inter­action)

Fishing boat

Marker posts claiming a hereditary ownership of the sea

Lease to a house

Map defining the boundaries of a restricted (no access) area from the national ministry of defence

Livelihood material assets (Gear)

Other evidence of claims

Legal titles

Mapping and zoning

Property rights and access

Indicator

Designated use zones on maps indicate claims of ownership by state, national and often international bodies. Official maps can provide a good overview of property rights which have been recognised by the state. Ownership by government ministries, such as defence, can be particularly powerful and inflexible in an ICM plan as defence is often a top national priority.

Does the map indicate key stakeholders who could influence the ICM plan?

How long has the person owned his/ her house?

How do people feel about their interaction with the sea and what are their fears about coastal development?

People who depend on coastal resources often have strong traditional, cultural and livelihood associations to the resource. Combined with traditional practices, laws and institutions, coastal people may feel a strong sense of ownership, even though this is not formally documented in state law.

Legal titles are evidence of ownership which is recognised by state law. However, there are informal forms of law which are equally as powerful.

Where do these fishing boats fish?

Key question (s) Question which you would need to ask to further the process of ICM/investigation?

The material assets which people use to carry out their coastal livelihoods can often be clearly seen. These assets are owned by someone which can give insights into 1) who is dependent upon resources and 2) how resources are used (link with livelihoods component).

The significance of the observation (why it relates to the indicator)

Linkages to ICM course (key words linking to classroom lectures). Students add own notes

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Political posters

Women’s’ micro credit group

Wedding

Political institutions

Public bodies, meetings, mutual help and credit groups etc.

Customary and kinship institutions

A wedding represents a group of relatives and connected persons, which is a form of institutional structure.

Social events can give useful insights into social and cultural rules, regulations and norms.

You can both see and hear about meetings and organisational activities which can be key indicators of the institutions which are active in the area (above) and the roles they play in society.

Local political groups and political allegiances with active parties may play a key role in the shape of your ICM goals and the viability of your plan implementation.

Buildings can indicate local administrative forces which are active in the area. These can be of government and also non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

The significance of the observation (why it relates to the indicator)

Communication technology

People using mobile phones

Mobile phone use is a new means of communication which may impact society, economy and livelihoods in different ways. Access to internet or satellite TV can transform the ways in which people make a living.

Access to new information can provide new opportunities and also new expectations.

Linkages and networks between the local and the global

Town council building

What you might see (the inter­action)

Government and non-governmental institutions (administration, policies, legal regulation, projects and programs); see also social structure.

Institutions

Indicator

Who owns mobile phones in the area and why are they useful?

How are marriages shaped by social and cultural rules?

What purpose do women’s micro credit groups serve?

Is there a dominant political allegiance in the area? [Party members become key stakeholders in an ICM plan]

How is the coastal area administrated at local, state and national levels?

Key question (s) Question which you would need to ask to further the process of ICM/investigation?

Linkages to ICM course (key words linking to classroom lectures). Students add own notes

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What you might see (the inter­action)

The significance of the observation (why it relates to the indicator)

Tourism is a key coastal zone activity in many part of the world. Tourists generally use coastal space for recreational activities and can travel from other parts of the country or from other countries. They can form an important part of the local economy and provide job opportunities. Tourism can sometimes clash with cultural and social rules and provide a means for lifestyle changes (see Culture component).

People sunbathing

Sign stating the presence of a RAMSAR protected habitat

Tourism and tourist facilities (e.g. spatial zoning of the beach!).

International regulations pertaining to coastal resources and their uses. Foreign development organizations and environmental movements

International conservation organisations can be extremely powerful actors in the coastal zone, using international law to protect coastal space from a range of activities and development.

Where trade facilities are available, national and international market traders and enterprises are often established. Such enterprises consolidate the linkage between the local and the global.

International export company involved in aquaculture

Presence of foreign private enterprise (production, processing, supermarket chains, etc.)

Market networks are often an indicator of linkage between the local and global. Global demands for coastal goods influence life for coastal people and local economies. Extending market reach through transportation access can impact local economies and provide new opportunity.

Lorries coming and going from the fish market

Trade and trade facilities (storage, transport)

Linkages and networks between the local and the global

Indicator

How many types of conservation legislation are active in the coastal area of interest (and at what levels e.g. national, international)?

How do local people and tourists interact?

Does the company provide a source of local employment?

Where are fish products exported to?

Key question (s) Question which you would need to ask to further the process of ICM/investigation?

Linkages to ICM course (key words linking to classroom lectures). Students add own notes

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10

9

8

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

Location and time

Observation description

FIELD EXERCISE A2a: TRANSECT WALK DATA COLLECTION SHEET Stage 1: Walk the transect and record 10 observations Your immediate thoughts on the observation (what it is, what it might represent, why it might be relevant or irrelevant to ICM)

Evidence collected (photo or description)

Exercise A2 – Template for students to use to record their observations during the transect walk (Exercise A2a) and subsequently to follow-up 3 of these in greater depth (Exercise A2b).

Table A2

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3

2

1

Observation

What you found out about the observation

Method of investigation

Did it change your initial interpretation? (note how)

FIELD EXERCISE A2b: TRANSECT WALK DATA COLLECTION SHEET Stage 2: In-depth exploration of 3 observations (asking, listening and reading) Chose 3 observations and find out more about them by asking people in the locality or by reading further information Evidence collected (notes or tape recording)

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Can you identify gender aspects?

Can you identify institutional actors?

Can you identify primary & secondary stakeholders?

Indicator (Social Components are in bold)

See woman drying fish

Talk to staff at the fishermen’s cooperative

See a man fishing

What you might see/ hear (the interaction)

Key question (s) Question which you would need to ask to further the process of ICM/ investigation?

Women are also actively making a living from the fish resource and may therefore be affected by coastal management.

Many fishermen are members of cooperatives which play a role in the local fishery – cooperative leaders may be active in supporting the fisherman’s voice and achieving government support.

A fisherman who may depend on the coast for a fishing livelihood would be considered as a primary stakeholder and may be interested in development interventions.

What do women do with the dried fish? How do they get them?

What do fishermen cooperatives do?

What do people catch and how have catches changed over time?

1 SOCIAL ACTORS (STAKEHOLDERS)

The significance of the observation (why it relates to the indicator)

Social structures

historical fisheries / coastal development

Social actors lecture 1

Linkages [Key words linking to classroom lectures and other components)

Photos

Notes

Photo

Evidence collected (e.g. photo, notes, tape recording, retained document

Exercise B1 – Template for students to use to record their observations against the Social and Environmental Indicators. The template provides questions and hints for completion of the table. In addition for each component of each indicator, examples of what students might see and what information they might record are given. The first table gives the Social indicators and the second table the Environmental indicators.

Table B1

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Can you see aspects of religion, ethnicity, class, caste, gender and household?

Is there a market and how is it linked to the coastal zone?

Can you identify both state- and nonstate institutions, bodies and authorities?

Indicator

See Mosques and Hindu temples

See prawns being sold in the market

Meet and talk to a village council leader

What you might see/ hear (the interaction)

Key question (s) Question which you would need to ask to further the process of ICM/ investigation?

Different houses of worship are indications of the presence of people belonging to different faiths in the area.

Prawns and fish are sold in the local market. The fishery is thus a potentially important local source of (protein-rich) food (important for local health) and a part of the local economy.

Village councils can be formal (state) or informal (non state) and are instrumental in shaping village life, law and behaviour in society.

Linkages [Key words linking to classroom lectures and other components)

Are there any tensions between religious entities in the coastal area?

Are prawns eaten locally or are they sold onto other markets?

Social structures

Social structure

How do they work? Do state and Social structure/ Instinon state institutions interact? tutions and informal law

2  SOCIAL STRUCTURES

The significance of the observation (why it relates to the indicator)

Notes and photo

Notes and photo

Notes

Evidence collected (e.g. photo, notes, tape recording, retained document

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How many Social/ economic activities can you see in the coastal one?

How many ways of making a living can you identify, which use natural resources?

Indicator

You see Prawn farms

See a man fishing

What you might see/ hear (the interaction)

Key question (s) Question which you would need to ask to further the process of ICM/ investigation?

Aquaculture has to be located in the coastal zone – it is a key economic activity in many coasts throughout the world.

Fishing is a livelihood which is directly dependent upon the natural resource.

Different types of fishing activities may take place, targeting different species of different economic values.

How much does aquaculture contribute to the local and economy?

How many people are involved in fishing in the area?

3 LIVELIHOODS AND RESOURCE USE

The significance of the observation (why it relates to the indicator)

Livelihoods

Livelihoods and social actors

Linkages [Key words linking to classroom lectures and other components)

Photo/ Notes

Photo

Evidence collected (e.g. photo, notes, tape recording, retained document

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Are there culturally associated Rules (for food, access to resources, institutions)

Can you see Religious and ritual expression?

Can you see any material aspects of culture?

Indicator

You see Men fishing in boats, but no women in boats

You see a painted cow

You see different house styles

What you might see/ hear (the interaction)

Key question (s) Question which you would need to ask to further the process of ICM/ investigation?

Are there any rituals associated with fishing, which we can see?

Why are there different styles of housing?

Many social rules construct how coastal How are women involved in the resources are accessed and how space is fishery? utilised. Sometimes ‘rules’ may be observable, but they are also easily misinterpreted. As such, understanding social rules, norms and practices will nearly always demand a more in-depth investigation through asking and listening.

Religious festivals can be indicators of the meanings with which people attach to harvest, livelihoods and wealth during particular seasons of the year.

Style of buildings and houses could be a useful indication of wealth, ethnicity or historical regional influence.

4 CULTURE (1)

The significance of the observation (why it relates to the indicator)

Social structures

Social structures

Social actors lecture 1

Linkages [Key words linking to classroom lectures and other components)

Photos

Photo

Photo

Evidence collected (e.g. photo, notes, tape recording, retained document

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What evidence can you find of Changing lifestyles?

What can you learn from Local knowledge?

Indicator

You see young people wearing jeans

You hear fishermen talking about the best fishing grounds

What you might see/ hear (the interaction)

Key question (s) Question which you would need to ask to further the process of ICM/ investigation?

A changing lifestyle can imply a transition such as from traditional to modern, acquisition of modern technological goods (such as satellite T.V), and influences from the world external to the immediate locality (see also component 7).

The lives of coastal people are closely bound to the character of coastal resources and space, which means that local knowledge can be extremely informative to the coastal manager. Local knowledge often shapes the cultural rules and institutions (above).

How are changing lifestyles experienced by the young and old in the coastal zone?

How is access to the best fishing grounds organised within the local user society?

CULTURE (2)

The significance of the observation (why it relates to the indicator)

Globalisation

Knowledge legitimacy

Linkages [Key words linking to classroom lectures and other components)

Photos

Draw a map of the coast with local people – what do they tell you about the area which you didn’t know before

Evidence collected (e.g. photo, notes, tape recording, retained document

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Can you find other evidence of claims?

Can you identify Livelihood material assets (Gear)?

Can you see Boundary markers and signs that limit or prohibit access, use etc.?

Indicator

You hear fishermen claiming hereditary ownership of the sea

You see Fishing boats

You see a fence in the water

What you might see/ hear (the interaction)

Key question (s) Question which you would need to ask to further the process of ICM/ investigation?

People who depend on coastal resources often have strong traditional, cultural and livelihood associations to the resource. Coastal people may feel a strong sense of ownership, even though this is not formally documented in state law.

The material assets which people use to carryout their coastal livelihoods can often be clearly seen. These assets are owned by someone, which can give insights into resources use.

Boundary markers indicate that coastal space and resources may have already been claimed by an individual, group or organisation (NGOs).

How do people feel about their interaction with the sea and what are their fears about coastal development?

Where do these boats fish?

Who owns this fence…is it still in use?

5 PROPERTY RIGHTS AND ACCESS (1)

The significance of the observation (why it relates to the indicator)

Social structures

Livelihoods

Institutions and legal pluralism

Linkages [Key words linking to classroom lectures and other components)

Photos

Notes

Evidence collected (e.g. photo, notes, tape recording, retained document

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What do maps tell you about property and zoning?

Can you find evidence of other Legal titles?

Indicator

You read a map defining the boundaries of a restricted (no access) area from the national ministry of defence

You see a lease to a house

What you might see/ hear (the interaction)

Key question (s) Question which you would need to ask to further the process of ICM/ investigation?

Designated use zones on maps indicate claims of ownership by state, national and often international bodies. Official maps can provide a good overview of property rights which have been recognised by the state. Ownership by government ministries, such as defence, can be particularly powerful and inflexible in an ICM plan as defence is often a top national priority.

Legal titles are evidence of ownership which is recognised by state law. However, there are informal forms of law which are equally as powerful.

Does the map indicate key stakeholders who could influence the ICM plan?

How long has the person owned his/ her house?

5  PROPERTY RIGHTS AND ACCESS (2)

The significance of the observation (why it relates to the indicator)

Linkages [Key words linking to classroom lectures and other components)

Evidence collected (e.g. photo, notes, tape recording, retained document

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Can you learn about customary and kinship institutions?

Can you learn about Public bodies, meetings, mutual help and credit groups etc?

Can you see evidence of Political institutions?

What can you learn about Government and non-governmental institutions (administration, policies, legal regulation, projects and programs)?

Indicator

You see a wedding

You hear about a women’s’ credit group

You see political posters

You see the town council building

What you might see/ hear (the interaction)

Key question (s) Question which you would need to ask to further the process of ICM/ investigation?

How is the coastal area administrated at local, state and national levels?

A wedding represents a group of relatives and connected persons, which is a form of institutional structure.

Meetings and organisational activities can be key indicators of the institutions which are active in the area and the roles they play in society.

How are marriages shaped by social and cultural rules?

What purpose do women’s micro credit groups serve?

Local political groups and political alleIs there a dominant political giances with active parties may play a key allegiance in the area? role in the shape of your ICM goals and the viability of your plan implementation.

Buildings can indicate local administrative forces which are active in the area.

These can be of government and also nongovernmental organisations (NGOs).

6 INSTITUTIONS

The significance of the observation (why it relates to the indicator)

Social structures, institutions

Social structure

Linkages [Key words linking to classroom lectures and other components)

Photos

Notes

Photo

Evidence collected (e.g. photo, notes, tape recording, retained document

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Can you see the presence of foreign private enterprise (production, processing, supermarket chains, etc.)?

Can you see Trade and trade facilities (storage, transport)?

Can you see evidence of Communication technology?

Indicator

You read about an international aquaculture company

You see lorries coming and going from the fish market

You see people using mobile phones

What you might see/ hear (the interaction)

Key question (s) Question which you would need to ask to further the process of ICM/ investigation?

Where trade facilities are available, national and international market traders and enterprises are often established.

Such enterprises consolidate the linkage between the local and the global.

Market networks are often an indicator of linkage between the local and global.

Global demands for coastal goods influence life for coastal people and local economies.

Access to internet or satellite TV can transform the ways in which people make a living. Access to new information can provide new opportunities and also new expectations.

Does the company provide a source of local employment?

Where are fish products exported to?

Who owns mobile phones in the area and why are they useful?

7 LINKAGES AND NETWORKS (1)

The significance of the observation (why it relates to the indicator)

Linkages [Key words linking to classroom lectures and other components)

Evidence collected (e.g. photo, notes, tape recording, retained document

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Can you find evidence of International regulations pertaining to coastal resources and their uses?

Can you see elements of Tourism and tourist facilities (e.g. spatial zoning of the beach)?

Indicator

You read a sign stating the presence of a RAMSAR protected habitat

You see people sunbathing

What you might see/ hear (the interaction)

Key question (s) Question which you would need to ask to further the process of ICM/ investigation?

International conservation organisations can be extremely powerful actors in the coastal zone, using international law to protect coastal space from a range of activities and development.

Tourists generally use coastal space for recreational activities and can travel from other parts of the country or from other countries. They can form an important part of the local economy and provide job opportunities. Tourism can sometimes clash with cultural and social rules and provide a means for lifestyle changes.

How many types of conservation legislation are active in the coastal area of interest (and at what levels e.g. national, international)?

How do local people and ­tourists interact?

7 LINKAGES AND NETWORKS (2)

The significance of the observation (why it relates to the indicator)

Culture

Linkages [Key words linking to classroom lectures and other components)

Evidence collected (e.g. photo, notes, tape recording, retained document

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Protected nature areas?

Land use change and habitat loss?

Can you identify habitat loss or gains?

Indicator

Read sign stating RAMSAR protection

Houses

e.g. a coastal dyke

What you might see/ hear (the interaction)

Key question (s) Question which you would need to ask to further the process of ICM/ investigation?

Many coastal habitats and species are protected by national and international conservation law.

Buildings on the coast lead to questions of prior land use and loss of original habitat.

Coastal structures, such as dykes or groynes can indicate land reclamation and potential habitat gain.

What species are mentioned as being of particular conservation importance?

What habitat was destroyed to build these houses and who live in them?

Who maintains the dyke?

Why was the dyke built?

1 ECOSYSTEMS

The significance of the observation (why it relates to the indicator)

Planning and maps

History and coastal maps (GIS)

Coastal engineering

Linkages [Key words linking to classroom lectures and other components)

maps

Notes and maps

Photo

Evidence collected (e.g. photo, notes, tape recording, retained document

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Can you identify a wider infrastructure for biomass extraction?

Can you identify different types of biomass extraction?

Indicator

See an Ice Factory

Fishing boats

What you might see/ hear (the interaction)

Key question (s) Question which you would need to ask to further the process of ICM/ investigation?

The ice factory indicates that biomass is stored and transported away from the immediate locality.

Tools and gears for biomass extraction can indicate removal of biomass from the coast.

What is the ice used for?

How many fishing boats are there and what do they catch?

2  RESOURCE USE

The significance of the observation (why it relates to the indicator)

Linkages [Key words linking to classroom lectures and other components)

Notes and photo

Notes

Evidence collected (e.g. photo, notes, tape recording, retained document

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Can you identify aspects of coastal geology?

What evidence is there of altered river hydrology?

Are there any structural coastal defences or evidence of engineering work?

Can you see evidence of coastal erosion and/ or accretion?

Indicator

Cliffs

See dams on a map

See a piece of sea wall

Overhanging house

What you might see/ hear (the interaction)

Key question (s) Question which you would need to ask to further the process of ICM/ investigation?

Roc type and structure shapes many coastal processes.

River hydrology impacts the coastal environment, sometimes from far inland.

Dams, barrages and water extraction can be indicators of alterations.

Coastal engineering/structures can indicate a range of factors such as value of land protected, the nature of the threat and the upkeep of defences.

The beach profile can give indication of erosion and accretion patterns which affect human settlements.

What type of rock is dominant?

How many dams are there and what are their effects at the coast?

How are decisions made as to where defences should be built?

How extensive is the rate of erosion?

3  COASTAL STABILITY

The significance of the observation (why it relates to the indicator)

Linkages [Key words linking to classroom lectures and other components)

Photo

Evidence collected (e.g. photo, notes, tape recording, retained document

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You can see green algae

What does near by water look and smell like?

Can you see evidence of salinisation?

You hear about salty drinking wells

Paint factory

You see a sewage treatment plant.

Can you identify man-made facilities/ infrastructure which might influence water quality?

Can you see evidence of industry?

You see farm land

What you might see/ hear (the interaction)

Can you identify agricultural practices which might impact water quality?

Indicator

Key question (s) Question which you would need to ask to further the process of ICM/ investigation?

Salinisation and changing water tables can often be the result of coastal development, and can be investigated. through a variety of means.

Many industries are built in coastal zones and can be sources of pollution.

Green algae can sometimes indicate an overloading of nutrients in the water Eutrophication.

Human settlements require infrastructure and facilities to mitigate impacts on the environment, These may vary between urban and rural sites.

Fertiliser use at the coast and inland can affect water quality and be potential sources of pollution.

How and why have sweet water extraction rates changed?

Are pollutants released? Who monitors this?

What are the sources of inputs that may affect water quality?

What are the other impacts of urbanisation on water quality?

What is farmed and are fertilizers used?

4  WATER QUALITY AND POLLUTION

The significance of the observation (why it relates to the indicator)

Linkages [Key words linking to classroom lectures and other components)

Evidence collected (e.g. photo, notes, tape recording, retained document

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[e.g. dying trees, dead corals, cyclones]

What can you learn about extreme environmental events?

What can you learn about local climate and seasons?

Indicator

You ask local fishermen about past cyclones

You hear about seasonal changes in vegetation

What you might see/ hear (the interaction)

Key question (s) Question which you would need to ask to further the process of ICM/ investigation?

Extreme environmental events can reveal a great deal about change in the coast and how people and the environment adapts to it.

Seasonality has a profound impact on the environment and the way in which people interact with it. Longer term changes in patterns of vegetation, species composition, and ecosystems require more intensive study over several years.

How do cyclones impact the coastal environment?

Can longer term patterns of change in climate be identified?

5  CLIMATE AND NATURAL HAZARDS

The significance of the observation (why it relates to the indicator)

Linkages [Key words linking to classroom lectures and other components)

Evidence collected (e.g. photo, notes, tape recording, retained document

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Scribe (who will take notes):

7

6

5

4

3

2

1

Question

Key (pre-prepared) questions to be posed by the group:

Purpose of interview: (e.g. to elicit the position of a key stakeholder, to learn about local law, to discuss management options)

Interview details (location, date, time):

Occupation

Name

Interviewee details:

Interview Leader (who will chair the session):

Interviewing Group (present members only:

Field Exercise B2: Stakeholder Interviews Data Collection Sheet

Exercise B2 – Template for students to use in their preparation and recording of stakeholder meetings

Table B2

To be asked by:

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Key (pre-prepared) questions:

Respons:

Key points, thoughts, new questions raised, conclusions: (discuss as a group immediately following the interview……continue on a separate sheet if necessary)

6

5

4

3

2

1

Question

Key (pre-prepared) questions:

Responses:

Field Exercise B2: Stakeholder Interviews Data Collection Sheet

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Contributors Martin D.A. Le Tissier, Envision Management Ltd, 9 Stephenson House, Horsley Business Centre, Horsley, UK, NE15 0NY Dik Roth, Law and Governance Group, Wageningen University, Leeuwenborch building, Hollandseweg 1, 6706 KN Wageningen, the Netherlands Maarten Bavinck, Department of Human Geography, Planning and International Development Studies, University of Amsterdam, Nieuwe Prinsengracht 130, 1018 VZ Amsterdam, The Netherlands Leontine E. Visser, Rural Development Sociology Group, Wageningen University, Leeuwenborch building, Hollandseweg 1, 6706 KN Wageningen, the Netherlands Ajit Menon, Madras Institute of Development Studies, 79, Second Main Road, Gandhinagar, Adyar, Chennai - 600 020, Tamil Nadu, India Sarah Coulthard, School of Environmental Sciences, University of Ulster, Coleraine campus, Cromore Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry, BT52 1SA P. Ramachandran, Institute for Ocean Management, Koodal Building, Anna University, Chennai - 600 025, India Tomasz Boski, Centre for Marine and Environmental Research, Universidade do Algarve, Campus de Gambelas, 8000 Faro, Portugal Alice Newton, Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Department of Center for Ecological Economics, Postboks 100, 2027 Kjeller, Norway V.B. Nguyen, Can Tho University, Can Tho, Viet Nam I. Divien, Institute for Ocean Management, Koodal Building, Anna University, Chennai - 600 025, India

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