Stakeholders in Coastal

Management

Ferdousi Sultana, Dept. of Environmental Science and Disaster

Management
Stakeholders in Coastal Management
• The elected official, certainly at the local level, and at the state and
federal levels as well representatives of the people must champion
the cause of coastal management for both the economic health of
local communities and the preservation of the ecosystem. Through
their representatives in government, residents, workers, visitors, and
others with an interest in the coastal regions of our nation should
have their voices heard as coastal policy is formed

Ferdousi Sultana, Dept. of Environmental Science and Disaster

Management
Stakeholders in Coastal Management
The stakeholders in coastal management policy include major interest
groups that seek to influence or are influenced by the allocation of
coastal resources.
It includes all people who, regardless of their place of residence, spend
time at the coast renting, camping, boating, fishing, swimming, or just
relaxing. It includes all those who eat seafood, expecting it to be
healthful and free from toxins or other harmful pollutants. It includes
all the people who have some relationship with the coast.
The first group of stakeholders is made up of the coastal states, the
majority of which are officially part of the national coastal management
program through the CZMA.
Ferdousi Sultana, Dept. of Environmental Science and Disaster
Management
A second important group of stakeholders in the coastal policy formation
process includes coastal environmentalists. Private organizations such as the
Natural Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, the Nature Conservancy,
the Center for Marine Conservation, and other environmental and public
interest groups are influential in setting national priorities for coastal policy.
These national organizations, as well as state and local organizations, are a
powerful force and often are quite visible and vocal in presenting their
agendas.
Coastal development interests make up another stakeholder group whose
influence cannot be overstated. This group is composed of powerful energy
organizations such as the Bangladesh petroleum exploration company ,
which calls for greater latitude in areas such as offshore oil exploration and
drilling.
Ferdousi Sultana, Dept. of Environmental Science and Disaster
Management
Some government agencies are also important stakeholders, most
notably the Bangladesh Army/navy. Although the corps is given
regulatory responsibility over certain coastal wetlands, it also plays a
major role in maintaining the navigability of coastal waters by dredging
harbors, deepening channels, constructing bulkheads, and renourishing
beaches.
Congress, congressional committees, and staff are important
stakeholders because they are the authors of national coastal
legislation, and they play a vital role in formulating coastal policy. This
group includes program-oriented career civil servants, their politically
appointed chiefs (whose agendas may be at odds), and the elected
members of Congress.
Ferdousi Sultana, Dept. of Environmental Science and Disaster
Management
Major livelihood groups at coastal areas
Land is considered a major determining factor of the socio-economic status of a
rural household, though there are other factors that also contribute to defining a
social class. Occupation and relations of production often characterize a social
class.
For example: a jailla (fisher) or a kamla badailla/ kishen (day laborer/farm laborer
as they are called in different parts of the coastal zone) is perceived as member of a
distinct class with low status; a small farmer is called a chasha (owner cultivator) by
the bhadrolok (gentry/absentee landlord); and a big landowner gives the image of
a malik (proprietor/patron). Historically, small farmer is a transient class between
the propertied (landowner) and the landless. Along with the process of land
concentration and pauperization, the bulk of the rural landless crowds in city slums
and turns to wage labor or to self-employment in a wide range of occupations, such
as, garbage collection, peddling and rickshaw pulling, who are no better off than
the wage laborers.
Ferdousi Sultana, Dept. of Environmental Science and Disaster
Management
The four broad livelihood groups-
Agricultural laborer
Small farmer
Fisher
Urban poor

Ferdousi Sultana, Dept. of Environmental Science and Disaster

Management
Coastal zone activities
Livelihood activities may be clustered into some broad categories:
These are:
• natural resources based activities, such as: agriculture (field crops),
salt making, fishing, aquaculture, shrimp fry collection, fuel collection,
crab collection, and extraction of forest products; and
• human resource based activities, such as: livestock and poultry
keeping, boat building (carpentry), net making, kantha making,
embroidery, spice grinding, and trading.
Both categories of activities may be based on self-employment and
wage employment. It is also true that one engaged in self-employment
is also available for wage employment.
Ferdousi Sultana, Dept. of Environmental Science and Disaster
Management
Coastal zone activities
Certain activities are common everywhere and some are typical of the coastal zone. Some
occupations can be exclusively attributed to the coastal zone and some are prevalent in the coastal
districts to a greater extant than other areas. These are the following:
• salt production;
• fishing (marine);
• fish processing (drying);
• shrimp fry collection;
• shrimp farming;
• crab/shell collection;
• extraction of forest products (wood, honey, golpata and wax collection from Sundarban);
• boat building (boat carpentry)

Ferdousi Sultana, Dept. of Environmental Science and Disaster

Management
Toward Sustainable Coastal Communities
By sustainable coastal communities we mean communities (including a
variety of local government units—counties, cities, towns, villages) that
seek to minimize their destructive impact on natural systems and the
natural environment, create highly livable enduring places, and build
communities that are socially just and in which the needs of all groups
in the community are addressed.

Ferdousi Sultana, Dept. of Environmental Science and Disaster

Management
Features of Sustainable Coastal Communities
• Sustainable coastal communities minimize disruption of natural
systems and avoid consumption and destruction of ecologically
sensitive lands (e.g., coastal wetlands, maritime forests, species
habitat, and areas rich in biodiversity).
• They minimize their ecological footprints and reduce the wasteful
consumption of land; they promote compact, contiguous development
patterns and the separation of urban or urbanizable lands from rural
and natural lands.
• They avoid environmental hazards and reduce the exposure of
people and property to coastal hazards by keeping people and property
out of coastal floodplains, high-erosion zones, and inlet hazard areas
Ferdousi Sultana, Dept. of Environmental Science and Disaster
Management
Features of Sustainable Coastal Communities
• They reduce the generation of waste (e.g., air pollution, water
pollution) and the consumption of nonrenewable resources and
promote the recycling and reuse of waste products; they respect the
earth’s ecological capital, using only the ecological interest; and they
understand and live within the natural ecological carrying capacities
of the area.
• They reduce dependence on the automobile and promote a more
balanced and integrated transportation system; encourage and
facilitate the use of a variety of alternative and more sustainable modes
of transportation, including mass transit, bicycles, and walking; and
integrate transportation and land use decisions

Ferdousi Sultana, Dept. of Environmental Science and Disaster

Management
Features of Sustainable Coastal Communities
• They promote and develop a sense of place and an understanding
and appreciation of the bioregional context in which they are
situated.
• • They have a high degree of livability; they are aesthetically pleasing
and visually stimulating communities whose architecture,
streetscapes, and urban spaces inspire and uplift the human spirit.
• • They incorporate a strong public and civic dimension, which is
reflected in the community’s spatial and physical form; they place
importance on public spaces and buildings (e.g., squares, pedestrian
plazas, and courthouses) as locations for social and public interaction
that help to shape a sense of shared identity.
Ferdousi Sultana, Dept. of Environmental Science and Disaster
Management
Features of Sustainable Coastal Communities
They achieve a human scale and encourage integration of uses and activities
(e.g., commercial and residential) and enhance livability in numerous ways,
including reducing auto dependence, reducing crime, and providing more
active and vibrant urban spaces.
• They seek to eradicate poverty and ensure a dignified life for all residents;
provide affordable housing, health care, meaningful employment, and other
basic conditions of a dignified life; reduce the physical and social separation
between income and racial groups; and achieve a fair and equitable
distribution of environmental and other risks.
• They value the participation of all citizens and provide opportunities for
citizens to be actively involved in their governance
Ferdousi Sultana, Dept. of Environmental Science and Disaster
Management