Integrated Coastal Management National Engagement and policy proposals

16 Development as a summary document on experiences and views of the ICFG Initiative.

4.2 Integrated Coastal Management

Lessons and experiences generated through piloting coastal and fisheries governance models at the focal areas were highlighted through various communication channels to national level stakeholders. These channels included: • Issues Briefs. – A number of briefs were produced and published in the national press in the first half of 2013, including A nested coastal and marine governance system [37] , Managing our coastal wetlands [39], Freshwater supply and distribution [25], Coastal Hazards and Flooding Risk [22], Improving adaptive capacity for climate change [23] were published and widely circulated. • Consultations and Seminars. One-on-One consultations with policy makers, traditional authorities, civil society, private sector and persons with relevant expertise in coastal resources management. Ideasinputs were consolidated at seminars organised in Accra and Takoradi. These provided the bases for a national roundtable discussion on new approaches for coastal governance in Ghana. • National Roundtable. The national roundtable dialogue held in mid-2013 created greater attention at the policy level for ICM especially the issues that have engaged the ICFG and its relevance to reforms in national coastal zone management policy. • National Development Planning Commission and Coastal Management. ICFG oriented NDPC’s guidance for the preparation of district mid-term development plans by advocating the inclusion of coastal issues in all coastal district Mid-Term Development Plans. The ICFG provided written contributions to ICM policy statements and strategies to inform the drafting of two thematic areas – sustainable natural resources management and human settlements - of the national mid-term development plan. These contributions covered coastal hazards, vulnerability and resilience, joint planning for coastal areas, fisheries co-management, siting of coastal infrastructure and large facilities. These have been mainstreamed into the 2014 -2017 national medium term development policy by the NDPC. • Integrated Coastal Management Toolkits. A compendium of information products known as Integrated Coastal Management toolkits [16, 17, 48, 49, 50] were packaged for coastal districts served as the main tool for district planners to incorporate ICM issues into district medium-term development plans and spatial plans. • Joint Development Planning Area. A key lesson from the ICFG Initiative was the constraints and limited mandate and capacity of district assemblies to address certain critical coastal issues as well as the decision making authority over, for instance, coastal infrastructure siting and shoreline abatement. The ICFG catalyzed discussions that advocated a joint approach to coastal management [13] through which authority and mandate for planning, decision making and management are clarified among district, regional and national level institutions. Government, in principle, committed to the pilot JPDA concept for the coastal districts of the Western Region. The process to effect a fully-fledged mandate for the JDPA required negotiations at various levels, the first step of which was the signing of a Memorandum of Understand by stakeholders. The MoU was yet to be signed at the close of the ICFG Initiative. It was recommended that this MoU be followed through by emerging initiatives to strengthen coastal governance in the Western Region. 17

4.3 National vision for strengthened local and regional governance