e-learning centre on sustainable development
CASE STUDIES IN SUSTAINABILITY
Coastal Environmental Award Scheme
Tanzania
from Dr. Irma Allen
The Coastal Environmental Award Scheme in Tanzania, patterned on the Award Scheme in the Gambia, aimed to elicit support and social mobilization. Its objectives were to increase awareness, to promote public participation, to promote the use of environmentally friendly technologies, to demonstrate the Government’s commitment to coastal resource management, to give recognition to individual / community endeavors in appropriate resource management practices, and to halt dynamite fishing and coral mining (to sell as lime). There was a period of amnesty for dynamite fishermen who would turn in their equipment, not be prosecuted, and receive training for other work (some 290 over a month and a half). One dynamite fisherman has become an environmental advocate. Competitions were organized for schools, groups, individuals, and commerce and industry. People wanted to be paid, but this was their job with the government! They were reticent, but some smaller committees went ahead. They said they would try to find funding for about half the project. By the third year, the shift from resistance to support was complete, and it has continued. Prizes included beehives, wheelbarrows - again, all useful for their conservation activities.
Reported by Dr. Irma Allen at the 4th Conference of the International Environment Forum
