Coastal Resources Center
University of Rhode Island
Narragansett, RI 02882
USA
The Integrated Coastal and Fisheries Governance (ICFG) Project for the Western Region of Ghana is a four year initiative contributing to the goal of ensuring that the coastal and marine ecosystems of Ghana are being developed and conserved in a sustainable manner, and that the goods and services produced by coastal ecosystems and fisheries are generating a diversity of long-term socio-economic benefits for coastal communities while sustaining biodiversity.
The "Building Actors and Leaders in Advancing Community Excellence in Development" or BALANCED Project is expanding the number of organizations and practitioners being trained in and using the integrated population-health-environment (PHE) approach, tools, and methodologies in developing countries around the world—especially in those areas with significant biodiversity in Asia and Africa. It is also documenting the evidence that this integrated approach delivers better results and provides greater benefits than does a one or two-sector only approach. It is then widely disseminating these findings.
The Sustainable Coastal Communities and Ecosystems (SUCCESS) Program is a five year initiative of the Coastal Resources Center supported through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Development. The Program’s overarching goal is to help coastal communities improve both their quality of life and their physical environment through good governance. This global program is implemented in selected regions and countries with an emphasis in East Africa and Latin America.
The Rhode Island Ocean SAMP, or Ocean Special Area Management Plan, will define use zones for Rhode Island’s ocean waters through a research and planning process that integrates the best available science with open public input and involvement.
The Sustainable Coastal Communities and Ecosystems (SUCCESS) Tanzania Program entails building Integrated Coastal Management governance capacity while securing on-the-ground tangible results focused on conservation and sustainable use of natural resource-based livelihoods. The five-year Program is a partnership between the Coastal Resources Center at the University of Rhode Island, the US Agency for International Development, and the Tanzania National Environment Management Council.
The Gambia-Senegal Sustainable Fisheries Project is a five-year regional initiative supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development and implemented by the University of Rhode Island in partnership with The World Wide Fund West Africa Marine EcoRegional Program, The Gambia Department of Fisheries, and other fisheries stakeholders in The Gambia and Senegal. The goal is to promote sustainable fisheries management including the shared marine and coastal resources between The Gambia and Senegal with an emphasis on sole, sardinella, shrimp and oyster fisheries.
The Coca-Cola Company (TCCC)- U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Water and Development Alliance (WADA) in Tanzania will delineate the drainage basins and characterize the surface catchments in the Wami River, increase the capacity of communities in water supply and sanitation through training and education, appropriate technologies, and strengthened community organizations, improve community access to safe water and sanitation services, promote environmental management systems to reduce wastewater discharges from the agro-industrial sector, conduct an environmental flow assessment of the Wami River Basin; and strengthen database management systems.
This is a research project, funded by the National Science Foundation, to identify the biological, social and political factors that lead to the success of Marine Protected Areas in the Wider-Caribbean Region. Results from this interdisciplinary research will provide managers, planners and resource users with scientific guidance on factors that lead to effective MPA governance and management.
The Pearl Project aims to assist in the devlopment of an ecologically and economically sustainable small enterprise system for half-pearls in Tanzania. The project will do this through professional exchange between Tanzania and the USA. The project includes three phases 1) project planning and participant selection, 2) six-week US fellowship visit for Tanzanian half-pearl farmers and jewelry makers, and 3) ten-day follow-up visit by American professionals.
Putting a coastal climate "lens" onto coastal management activities is a key aspect of mainstreaming climate change adaptation. Capacity building activities incorporate technical assitance, training, and outreach, which are supported through partnerships with both USAID Sustainable Coastal Communities and Ecosystems (SUCCESS) program and the RI Sea Grant Coastal Community Development Program, The foundation of this work is Adapting to Coastal Climate Change: A Guidebook for Development Planners, developed under the leadership of the Global Climate Change Team and the Water and Coastal Team of the USAID Bureau for Economic Growth, Agriculture and Trade .
The Coastal Resources Center\'s Institute in Coastal Management is a three week-long, intensive training course for a diverse range of individuals who share the common goal of trying to improve the management of the world\'s coasts. Past participants have included coastal management practitioners, policymakers, government officials, scientists, community organizers, members of nongovernmental organizations, and university faculty or students.
The Coastal Resources Center (CRC) promotes volunteerism. Our Rhode Island-based program for volunteer citizen water quality monitoring served as a national model. Volunteers have also served in many of our international field programs. International volunteer assignments are geared toward working professionals with at least five years of experience and who are willing to spend several weeks on an overseas assignment in a developing country. In 2005, The Coastal Resources Center's International Volunteer Program was highlighted in the annual Volunteers for Prosperity report to the White House.