Safe food production tied to coastal environment protection

The protection of coastal and marine environments ensures safe and sustainable food production as well as generation of income and employment leading to economic development. These view were expressed by Irfan Nadeem, Federal Secretary for Science and Technology while speaking at the opening session of three day "International Workshop on Integrated Coastal Area Management Planning for Pakistan" organised by National Institute of Oceanography here on Friday.
This workshop is in fact a follow-up of the International Workshop on Integrated Coastal Zone Management that was organized by the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of Pakistan during 10-14 October 1994 in Karachi, with the co-operation and financial support of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of Unesco. The objective of this workshop was to deliberate on the subject of sustainable development in the context of integrated coastal zone management.
Irfan Nadeem said that the coastal zone is a complex environment and it is a zone of intense and dynamic relationships amongst the natural environment and its ecosystems. "It is subject to societal demands for space and natural resources and to external natural and human influences," he said.
"Very often, societal demands outpace the capacity of the coastal zone to provide the desired goods and services," he said and added "If unchecked, they lead to an excessive and unsustainable use of fisheries and other living resources; degradation of environmental quality and health of coastal ecosystem; and potentially hazardous consequences to human health and property."
He said integrated Coastal Zone Management has been identified as the most appropriate process for addressing what combination of outputs and services should be produced to ensure sustainable use of the resources. He said the world has been addressing the different dimensions of human security pertaining to seas and oceans and the related and delicate trade-off between development and conservation. "From a broader perspective, it means protection of coastal and marine environments ensuring safe and sustainable food production as well as generation of income and employment leading to economic development," he added.
He was of the view that the coastal zone management is one of the most complex exercises of all government endeavours and the complexity derives not merely from the multiple uses of the area involved, but from the multi-sectoral involvement in the whole question of management.
"There are questions of ownership and governing authority that are applied to inland areas, coastal land, coastal waters and offshore waters falling within the jurisdiction of the federal, provincial and local governments", he said adding that each sector is involved in promoting its own interest in its own area of jurisdiction. There is always keen competition amongst the sectors, which often conflict with each other.
He said that the key word in the whole process of coastal zone management is "integration" which calls for unification of all processes operating amongst these sectors, between those operating on the land and the adjacent near shore water, vertically at various levels of government and horizontally across all agencies.
"We should examine the possibility of implementing plan for environmentally sound and sustainable development for the coastal marine environment in Pakistan. We should have relevant economic and sustainable development assessment for the coastal region and in this context make an effort to focus on major coastal system by addressing resource allocation and management. We should also look into various socio-economic issues relating to rehabilitation of coastal communities affected by changing environmental conditions, the solution of conflicts generated by land access and the degree and way in which local populations take part in the decision-making process concerning matters relating to their livelihood and way of life. We should also consider of rehabilitation of degraded ecosystems, such as mangroves", he said.
"We should also look into the question of peoples' participation in the management process since no government alone can do this job by itself adequately," he added. Many sectors are governed by their own legislative measures. The purpose of any management strategy should be to harmonise the legislation and not to detract from their respective mandatory functions and responsibilities, he said.
He said "we should also focus our attention on aspects such as capacity building of marine scientific institutions to study on a continuing basis the changes in the ecosystems, bio-diversity and the state of health of the environment that may occur under the influence of socio-economic development, so as to serve as a feed back to, and to allow appropriate adjustment in, management processes. We also need the capacity to involve members of the community into the planning process so that all points of view can be considered properly before major decisions are taken."
He was of the view that all these actions will require appropriate institutional arrangements to deal with the management issues. He said there is a challenging task in front of this august body, but he was optimistic that the interactions between national and foreign expertise will help and come up with recommendations for an integrated coastal zone management planning process best suited to our conditions in Pakistan.
Secretary General, Pakistan National Commission for Unesco, Muhammad Dawood, in his massage said that the Unesco and Isesco attach very high priority to the development of science and technology in all the member countries. "Until and unless we attain a minimum level of progress in this field, out country cannot look forward to play a pro-active role in the world of 21st century," he said in his massage, which was read out by Dr Samina Kidwai.
He said Unesco and Isesco both have initiated many programmes in Pakistan in related disciplines, which includes today's workshop on integrated coastal area management planning for Pakistan. He said PNCU is confident that this event would be highly thought provoking and beneficial for Pakistan.
Director General, NIO, Dr M M Rabbani, in his speech welcomed foreign guests and local experts. Dr Bilal ul Haq, Convenor of the workshop gave an overview of the 1994 ICZM workshop. He also gave the introduction of the 2011 workshop. A number of local and foreign experts would read their papers in the three-day international workshop.