Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
mineral resources, concentrated pressure on fishing stocks,
and urbanization of coastal areas presents challenges that
call for effective strategies and coordinated action. Fur-
thermore, in implementing solutions to one set of problems,
conflicts often arise as regional stakeholders strive to pre-
serve their ecosystems while effectively developing other
sectors (agriculture, extractive industries, trade, finance, and
fishing) (PRCM
2010
).
Such conflicts render the management of West African
natural resources complex. The complexity increases when
the elements of individual ecosystems are interconnected
and interdependent, and more so in regional environmental
systems. One excellent example is the mangrove estuaries
that play a critical ecological and economic role in coastal
countries throughout West Africa. Eight true mangrove
species are found in West Africa and the mangroves of
West and Central Africa represent 13.2 % of global man-
grove coverage (Spalding et al.
2010
). Characterized by a
high level of biodiversity and biological productivity, these
ecosystems offer abundant fish and wood resources, which
support agriculture and fishing and other economic activi-
ties. Mangroves play an important role in sustaining coastal
fisheries and in acting as breeding and nursery grounds for
many commercial species (Ong and Gong
2013
). They also
provide refuge for numerous endangered species, filter
sediment runoff from human and natural activities, and
serve as natural buffers against the erosive power of waves
and rising seas (Wolf
2012
).
Over the years, mangrove ecosystems in the West Afri-
can region spanning Mauritania to Sierra Leone have
experienced an accelerated rate of degradation. In spite of
their significance, a poor understanding of the value of the
services they provide has led to intensified human efforts to
convert them for agricultural use, to clear them for resi-
dential and infrastructure developments, and to extract
wood for salt production, fish smoking, and unsustainable
timber harvesting (Rönnbäck
1999
; Dayton et al.
2005
;
Mangrove Charter
2009
; PRCM
2007
). Sea-level rise and
drought caused by climatic variation are also accelerating
the degradation. The subsequent decline in revenue coming
from resources extracted from this ecosystem has a detri-
mental effect on the people who depend on mangrove
ecosystem services. Resulting increases in the poverty of
indigenous coastal populations can further destabilize the
ecosystem as they exert even more pressure on the natural
resources to alleviate income losses (Dayton et al.
2005
).
Understanding the nature of the interactions between
human activities and ecological systems is the main focus of
those who study 'coupled human and natural systems or
systems in which human and natural components interact'
(Lui et al.
2007
). These systems can be characterized as
entities that have layered hierarchies where people and
nature
organizational levels, and spatial and temporal scales.
Positive or negative feedback from both human and natural
actions, direct and indirect effects, and the emergence of
new behaviors and properties serve to accelerate change and
complicate our ability to understand these processes in order
to reduce the vulnerability and degradation of mangrove
ecosystems. The globalization of modern world social and
economic systems has increased the need to take into
account the spatial coupling of natural ecosystems since
'local couplings are influenced by broad-scale processes that
in turn act in the context of still larger-scale processes and
ultimately global-scale processes' (Lui et al.
2007
, p. 642).
When an endangered natural resource or ecosystem such
as mangroves physically extend beyond the artificial lines
of national borders, and the impacts of local actions and
localized natural events are felt at broader scales, the
development of national and regional policies to better
manage and protect them requires a high level of coordi-
nation at the regional scale (Van Lavieren et al.
2012
).
Because many of the activities that threaten the survival of
mangroves occur in local communities in close proximity to
these ecosystems, local conservation efforts must also
accompany sub-regional approaches. The challenge is that
policy making to establish legal protection mechanisms
most often occurs at the national level and favors local and
national priorities. Therefore, solutions demand a sub-
stantial and meaningful engagement of a myriad of actors at
multiple scales. 'Tackling complex policy problems
requires multi-level governance systems that work at mul-
tiple, interlinked levels, promoting learning and coopera-
tion' (Jones
2011
, p. 22).
Applying an understanding of the network of interactions
arising between human social systems and the environment
is a first and necessary step to developing a regional
approach to mangrove conservation. Just as the systems in
each human body work side by side to make it function,
human networks, if they work together, can increase the
resiliency of mangrove ecosystems (Quill
2012
). By har-
nessing the knowledge that human-driven networks deeply
influence and are affected by natural cycles, these
arrangements can surmount the challenges of insufficient
technical and financial resources that hinder the effective
implementation of public policies governing coastal plan-
ning and management. Furthermore, networks and a greater
understanding of their role in human-natural interactions
can mitigate conflicts of interest occurring across scale, and
among institutions and sector-based policies, thus increas-
ing the coherence mangrove conservation efforts.
This chapter demonstrates how the system of interre-
gional governance implemented in the West African coastal
region, harnesses networks, and applies complex resolution
processes that implicate a variety of actors. Two networks
are presented in this chapter as illustrations of governance
form
complex
webs
of
interactions
across
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