 |
Tourism and Conservation |
|
Coral Gardens |
Coral reefs are among the earth's most important and imperiled ecosystems, which affect both the coastal and marine environment well beyond its immediate environs.
Counterpart International's (Counterpart) Coral Garden Program™ is a novel initiative to conserve and restore threatened coral reef ecosystems and fisheries while also promoting sustainable tourism. The program brings together fishing communities, government agencies, resorts, dive operators, local NGOs, and tourists to establish Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) to prevent over-fishing and reduce land-based pollution threats to coral reef ecosystems.
Through the pioneering work of Dr. Austin Bowden-Kerby, the Coral Garden Program is developing low-tech, cost effective systems for growing and transplanting corals to restore degraded reef ecosystems and community-based fisheries. The program integrates state-of-the-art science and marine biology with the traditional knowledge developed over millennia by Pacific Island nations whose cultures and economies depend on the sustainable management of their coral reefs and coastal fisheries. The Coral Garden Program's Fiji site was designated by the United Nations International Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN) as a model project and recommended for global replication.
Linking Coral Reef Restoration with Tourism
- Counterpart provides communities with low-cost, easily learned methods of coral reef restoration and conservation.
- The restoration of reef health improves fisheries, food security and local management of MPAs.
- The Coral Garden Program involves the tourist in the coral restoration and propagation process by utilizing their skills, time and resources
- Ultimately, the program improves market access and income generation for local fishing communities.
Our method creates a public-private partnership model within the tourism sector to support reef conservation and local communities. - The program enables communities to participate in coastal resource planning and management.
- Counterpart creates positive interaction and cultural exchange between local communities and tourists.
South-South Technical Assistance and Development
- The techniques involved in the Coral Garden Program were first developed in Pacific Island Nations. They have since been transferred to the Caribbean, where local people have quickly realized their potential for preserving the environment and improving livelihoods within their communities.
- Counterpart's training model is responsive to the urgent needs of the urban and rural poor as well as the tourism sector so to ensure that tourism development help the poor rather than exacerbate income disparities.
- The Coral Garden Program model can be replicated on other coastal regions worldwide and is directly relevant to the increased protection of degraded reef and coastal environments to ensure long-term protection from natural disasters.
Photos: © Counterpart International.