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MAKING
WAVES IN SOUTHERN AFRICA:
A
reflection on the role played by the
International Ocean Institute, Southern Africa
in promoting good ocean governance
The
International Ocean Institute in Southern Africa
(IOI-SA) is proud to be celebrating its 10th
Anniversary in 2006. At this time, it is useful
to reflect on just how far we have come since
our humble beginnings. Reflecting on the first
ten years of IOI-SA requires some consideration
of the wider context in which our NGO operates.
With its roots at the southern-most tip of the
African continent, IOI-SA finds itself in a
dynamic and exciting environment. The recent
past has seen profound changes in this part of
the world, including the independence of Namibia
from South Africa in 1990, the end of Apartheid
in South Africa in 1994, and the end of the
debilitating civil wars in Moçambique in 1992
and Angola in 2002. On a continental scale there
has been substantial strengthening of the
African Union, and the ushering in of the
visionary NEPAD, creating a ‘new’ Africa
more united than ever before.
The recent past
has also seen some important environmental
happenings on the continent, such as the African
Process for Oceans and Coasts and its
incorporation into the Environmental Initiative
of NEPAD, and the hosting of the World Summit on
Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in 2002
which created heightened awareness of the
crucial relationship between societies and the
natural environment, and the interdependence of
these on one another.
While Africa
has much to be proud of in its recent
achievements and in its advancement of
environmental issues on the development agenda,
there nevertheless remain some areas of deep
concern. Paramount within these is a lack of
appreciation of the importance of the oceans in
‘setting the scene’ for life on land,
despite the very harsh wake-up call provided by
the tragedy of the Asian Tsunami in December
2004.
This lack of
appreciation has resulted in the oceans being
put on the back-burner, with harmful
consequences for human life and sustainable
development. Our consequent limited
understanding of ocean dynamics and processes
and their links with local climate and weather
has filtered down to an inability to generate
accurate forecasting and prediction, in turn
resulting in continued unnecessary human
disasters caused by un-anticipated droughts,
crop failures and floods. Furthermore, our poor
understanding of biological dynamics and
processes in the oceans severely hampers our
ability to maximize the societal benefits
offered by the ocean and its resources, and to
do this in a way that ensures long-term
sustainability for the future.
Since its
establishment in 1996, IOI-SA has been
supporting the emergent southern African region
to address these needs through raising awareness
of the importance of the oceans, researching
ocean dynamics and processes, facilitating
sustainable livelihoods of coastal peoples, and
providing training and capacity building in
support of good ocean and coastal governance.
IOI-SA has
contributed towards a greater understanding of
physical and biological ocean processes by
supporting research in these fields and by
facilitating access to information and enhancing
information-sharing in the region through the
establishment of state-of-the-art online
information systems covering a diversity of
subjects from the taxonomy and uses of African
seaweeds to the real and potential threats of
invasive alien species and aquatic pollution
issues, and the development of user-friendly
decision-support systems for coastal management.
IOI-SA has made
a substantial contribution to training and
capacity building towards good ocean and coastal
governance in the southern African region by
developing and delivering high-quality training
courses on Seaweed Mariculture for Community
Development, Integrated Coastal Area Management,
Managing Marine Pollution, and Improving
Municipal Wastewater Management. These training
courses have been made possible through valuable
partnerships, including the UNESCO-IHE Institute
for Water Education and the UNEP/GPA Programme,
and the United Nations Division for Ocean
Affairs and Law of the Sea’s Train-Sea Coast
Programme, within which IOI-SA has filled the
role of the Benguela Current Course Development
Unit.
Since its
inception IOI-SA has also supported the work of
post-graduate students researching a variety of
ocean and coastal topics within southern and
eastern Africa. Over the past ten years numerous
Honours students, 17 Masters-level students,
five PhD students, and two post-doctoral
researchers have been supported through
partnerships over the years, with the
International Ocean Institute’s Women and the
Sea Programme having made a substantial
contribution to this effort.
Over the past
ten years IOI-SA has also assisted coastal
communities in the development of
community-driven projects. This assistance has
ranged from the provision of specialized
training in mariculture and business skills to
fundraising for community-driven projects, and
provision of logistical and administrative
support for project implementation. IOI-SA has
also supported the basic research necessary for
the implementation of these projects, from
research into the biology and culture of
seaweeds and marine worms to research into
sustainable coastal livelihoods, providing a
solid scientific foundation on which
community-driven projects may build. Success
stories include the establishment of a
community-based company which is now able to
farm seaweed in St Helena Bay, and collaboration
with the Bergrivier Visservroue Vereeniging
which resulted in the publication of the
international award-winning West Coast Cookbook,
the proceeds of which have contributed to the
communities’ Tertiary Education Trust.
As southern
African progresses on its path of reform and
development in an ever-changing global
environment, IOI-SA pledges to continue to
support and serve the region through the
promotion of the peaceful and sustainable use of
our oceans and their resources.
Contribution by:
Dr Kim Prochazka,
Director IOI-SA
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