Applying Knowledge

3. Reef to Ridge
Providing decision support for ‘reef-to-ridge’ approaches to land and resource management

Negative impacts on coastal ecosystems and associated impacts on human well-being results not only from activities carried out in the coastal zone, but also from those carried out further inland.

Pollution from municipal, industrial and domestic sources, as well as waste and runoff from agriculture results in nutrient enrichment of the ocean and toxic impacts on coastal and marine organisms. Upstream deforestation and other forms of vegetation clearance are responsible for escalating sediment loads in rivers, estuaries and coastal waters, and choke coastal and marine ecosystems. Many coastal ecosystems, particularly mangroves, are also increasingly affected by changes in upstream hydrology caused by water abstraction and storage from irrigation, hydropower and urban water supply schemes, and a reduction in the timing or volume of freshwater flows.

A “reef to ridge” approach is required to address these problems and threats to coastal ecosystems and livelihoods. Although there are many initiatives underway in the region which address land-based sources of pollution, catchment management, and other issues in inland environmental management, relatively few consider downstream coastal ecosystems as a consideration or target for their actions. In turn, most coastal conservation activities do not focus on activities or actions further inland. MFF applies a “reef to ridge" approach that encapsulates the ecosystem based approach to coastal rehabilitation and management using a bottom up process.

This programme of work seeks to reduce the disconnect by increasing awareness among coastal managers, practitioners and planners both upstream and down stream and the linkages between these and how to address the issues in an integrated way. MFF undertakes activities to establish these links, and and promote measures which can tackle shared impacts and concerns as they interface between inland and coastal areas.

MFF further urges other regional and global agencies that are already engaged in similar work or are interested in becoming engaged in coastal zone management activities to enforce a reef to ridge approach. This programme of work aims to demonstrate how degraded and threatened coastal ecosystems can be rehabilitated and conserved using ecologically and socio-economically sound methods.

This programme of work carries out actions to generate the following outputs:

1. Enhance awareness of the need for “reef to ridge” approaches among inland land and resource managers, river-basin planners and policy-makers.
   
   
2. Analysis of existing land-based activities which impact on coastal ecosystems and livelihoods, in order to identify appropriate plans for reversal and mitigation.
   
   
3. Promote inclusion of coastal stakeholders in existing and planned integrated land and water resource management strategies and mechanisms for dialogue.
   
   
4. Design and distribute a decision support tool that incorporates ‘reef to ridge’ considerations.

The actions carried out under this programme of work contribute towards the following MFF results:

• More effective policy, legal and institutional mechanisms for inter-sectoral coordination in environmental aspects of coastal management.

• More inclusive development planning, appraisal, approval and monitoring processes, which reflect ecosystem needs.

• Increased prioritisation of coastal ecosystem management across national development agendas, policies and budgets.