Challenges in Tropical Coastal Zone Management: Experiences and Lessons Learned

This book focuses on tropical coasts, which are highly vulnerable due to a multitude of stressors. Population growth is substantial, habitats are lost and biodiversity is reduced at an alarming rate, severely affecting many ecosystem services. This situation calls for sound coastal management and the effective engagement of all relevant stakeholders.

About two decades ago the M.Sc. program ISATEC (International Studies in Aquatic Tropical Ecology) was created at Bremen University (Germany) to train young scientists for a professional engagement in the complex field of tropical coastal and resource management. This book provides a platform for those Alumni to report on their work experiences and findings in their home countries and covers all regions of the tropical belt. Part I of the book provides a short review of the state of the tropical ocean and its resources and of international attempts towards sustainable ocean management starting with the Rio Declaration onEnvironment and Development in 1992. Part II deals with country case studies, and part III focuses on an evaluation & synopsis of those contributions. Emerging key issues for management and conservation of the tropical coastal environments are presented and critical challenges on the path towards reaching the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are discussed, as are the needs for enhancing research and capacity development.

Prof. Dr. Matthias Wolff Fisheries Scientist, 35 years of research history (5 years as professor at the Catholic University of Northern Chile; 3 years as Marine Science Director at the Charles Darwin Foundation, Galapagos, Ecuador; since 1997 Professor (C3) at Bremen University); leader of working group resource management at the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT), Bremen; director of M.Sc. study program ISATEC (International Studies in Tropical Marine Ecology) at Bremen University.

Dr. Sebastian Ferse Interdisciplinary coral reef scientist working on the function, use and management of coral reefs and tropical coastal systems, with 15 years of professional experience in Southeast Asia, the South Pacific and East Africa. Lecturer in the ISATEC (International Studies in Tropical Marine Ecology) MSc program at Bremen University since over 10 years. Currently senior scientist at the Leibniz Centre for Tropical Marine Research (ZMT) in Bremen.

Dr. Hugh Govan Adjunct Senior Fellow at the University of the South Pacific and adviser to the Locally Managed Marine Area Network (LMMA).  His research, teaching, policy-writing and activism in Asia, the Pacific, Latin America and Europe has spanned coastal fisheries, ocean governance, community-based resource management, human rights, traditional medicine, cultural survival, sustainable forest livelihoods, renewable energy, and aquaculture.