Scandinavia supports resilient coastal communities:
Mangroves for the future By Joakim Persson
F
ollowing the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami disaster, the unique par tnerled programme ‘Mangroves for the Future’ (MFF), was initiated to promote investment in coastal ecosystems for sustainable development. Breaking new ground and generating new or improved coastal ecosystem management models, MFF has continuously received support from Scandinavian countries for its operations. In keeping with its unique partnership-based principle, MFF has established the highest-level decision-making body, the Regional Steering Committee (RSC), to provide strategic leadership for policy change and advocacy. The RSC is cochaired by IUCN (Asia Regional Office) and UNDP (Regional Centre in Bangkok) and has representatives from each of the MFF member countries, and the institutional par tners FAO, UNEP and Wetlands International. Within each MFF member country, a National Coordinating Body (NCB) has oversight of MFF activities at the national level. Here again, reflecting the partnership approach of MFF, NCBs include relevant government departments, civil society organizations including NGOs, academia, and individual experts and, in most countries, private sector representatives Though mangroves is the flagship of the initiative, MFF helps countries, sectors and agencies tackle growing challenges in all types of coastal ecosystems such as, coral reefs, estuaries, lagoons, wetlands, beaches and sea grass beds. Its management strategy is based on specific 12 ScandAsia.Thailand • May 2016
national and regional needs for the long-term sustainable management of these sensitive ecosystems - where coastal communities, civil society organisations as well as the private sector are stakeholders. Based on lessons learned, MFF – now in its third phase – has come a long way, with its own designed “tools” that are being implemented in all the 11 member countries. Danish MFF coordinator Dr Steen Christensen, who oversees the programme, explains MFF’s achievements to date and what lies ahead for the initiative’s future beyond its current funding.
Nordic phase 3 funding MFF has received core donor funding from Norad (Norway) and Sida (Sweden) since 2007, and from Danida (Denmark) since 2012. The ongoing third phase of the regional initiative was announced in June 2014, with new funding from Sida (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) for the period 2014-2018. SIDA’s decision to fund phase 3 was based on significant achievements made by MFF in its first two phases. Up until then, around 200 projects had been implemented through the MFF grants mechanism, and its unique partnershipbased model had brought together government, civil society and private sector to play more effective roles in the governance of coastal areas in numerous cases. But SIDA has also placed demands on MFF for the future. “SIDA said that MFF must clearly demonstrate
the added value of a regional programme, otherwise they could as well support a number of national projects. So rather than being just a grant mechanism we aim for the project to have a regional impact on sustainable coastal management. MFF follows the principle that healthy coastal ecosystems can contribute significantly to human well-being and resilience to climate change,” explains Steen. MFF’s main focus is on developing the resilience of ecosystem-dependent coastal communities, and to develop “shared understanding and capacity for building community resilience to natural disasters and climate change related impacts”. Efforts to influence coastal management policy with an increased emphasis on “soft governance”, as well as to expand its knowledge management and capacity development activities (offering hands-on training and learning opportunities for coastal management practitioners around the region) will also continue. In 2012, Danida stepped in as a donor to MFF with particular support to a 3-year project (2012 – 2015) aiming at developing an ecosystembased approach to climate change adaptation in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Vietnam. “With Danida’s suppor t, we took the opportunity to develop our ecosystem based resilience approach which basically is a set of tools and guidelines to be followed to ensure a consistent approach to climate change adaptation and resilience building. These tools and guidelines are now the guiding principles for the entire MFF