Policy progress in coastal and marine resource management in Ghana
Boateng, Isaac
This paper analyses policy process in the management of coastal and marine resources in Ghana and assesses whether the process involves local resource users and is geared towards sustainable development and integrated management. Degradation and depletion of the world environmental resources, especially coastal and marine resources were identified as key issues in the later half of the 20th century. This identification resulted in the demand for new policy direction for the management of coastal and marine resources. Based on this, an international policy for environmental resource management emerged from the 1992 United Nations (UN) Conference on Environment and Development (Agenda 21). Chapter 17 of the Agenda 21 was devoted to the coastal and marine environment and stresses the need to reach integration, to apply preventive and precautionary approaches and aim at full participation of the public in the coastal zone management (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, 1993). Ghana had rectified (Agenda 21) which requires the country to develop and implement national policies and laws that address issues related to sustainable development. The policy process in coastal and marine resource management is very crucial because coastal resources are vital for many local communities and indigenous people of Ghana. The success of coastal and marine resource management policy is likely to have positive multiplier effects on the entire Ghanaian economy. However, the success of any policy may depend on the policy process.
Event: XXIII International FIG Congress : Shaping the change
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