Sustainable Coastal Communities and Ecosystems – Tanzania (SUCCESS-Tanzania)
The goal of this 10-year initiative was to provide global leadership in integrated coastal management (ICM) in biologically significant areas through a participatory, issue-driven and results-oriented process that:
- Promoted the sustainable use of marine resources
- Conserved marine biodiversity
- Improved food and income security
- Enhanced adaptive capacity and resiliency through improved governance In the Program’s first five years, it worked with partner—the Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA) based in Zanzibar, Tanzania –largely through field applications to make progress in four major areas:
- Achieving Tangible On-the-Ground Results
- Increasing Capacity through Certification Initiatives and On-the-Ground Training
- Establishing Regional Learning Networks Supported by Knowledge Management
- Applying Science to Management and Good Governance
Activity Description
In Tanzania, SUCCESS and its partners are working in the Menai Bay Conservation Area assisting local bivalve collectors (mostly women)—to address the accelerating threat of a depleted bivalve population due to over-harvesting so that future generations will not lose a valuable source of food, income, and biodiversity. SUCCESS is introducing community-managed “no-take” zones to preserve biodiversity and increase stocks of this economically important resource.
SUCCESS is teaching women the art of half-pearl farming—a low-intensity, lowenvironmental impact activity and unlike many other marine-related activities, one that does not threaten biodiversity. The Program is also providing training in seaweed and milkfish farming— livelihoods that help reduce resource pressures from overfishing and that have economic potential within not only local but international markets.
SUCCESS is working with local women to add value to the raw pearls they harvest by turning them into jewelry items—from a simple, polished pearl to one crafted in a fine sterling setting. Already this jewelry is finding an international market.
Expected Outcomes
- The Tanzania Integrated Coastal Environment Management Strategy is mainstreamed into National Environmental Management Council and into related sectoral policies, laws and strategies and decentralized governance.
- Landscape-seascape scale conservation is practiced in targeted areas through local level governance.
- Increased and equitable benefits are being realized from expanded opportunities in sustainable, natural resource-based micro-enterprises specifically targeting HIV/AIDS vulnerable groups.
- Gender equity and HIV/AIDS preventive behaviors promoted through communicating HIV/AIDS, environment, and equity messages.
