University of Cape Coast

Centre for Coastal Management

Twenty coastal area management practitioners from districts within Ghana’s coastal zone participated in the just ended five-day short course on Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) at Anomabo.

The workshop which was organized by the Centre for Coastal Management (CCM) at the School of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Coast (UCC) was partly funded by the USAID/UCC Fisheries and Coastal Management Capacity Building Support Project.

The course detailed the differences between regulatory and economic instruments in ICZM and introduced participants to conflict resolution and identifies potential conflict situations in the coastal zone of Ghana. Participants also learned the mechanisms and requirement for conflict resolution as well as the strategies for managing coastal resources at the local level and how government can partner local level institutions to manage the coastal resources. The highlight of the five days was a field work that challenged participants to profile a nearby coastal community.

Participants came from various government institutions including the Ministry of Works and Housing, Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection, Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, Ministry of Tourisms, Creative Arts and Culture, Ministry of Local Government, National Development Planning Commission (NDPC), and the Fisheries Commission. Other participants were representatives of Local and International NGOs within the country.

All the participants represented institutions engaged in coastal area management and development activities at different levels. Hence they shared a lot of insight into coastal issues on the ground. Their experiences at the course are therefore expected to directly benefit their respective districts.