Decision-making Processes in the Management of Coastal Commons: Case Studies from the Caribbean

Abstract

"The paper focuses on Coastal Zone Management issues in the small Caribbean islands of Martinique and Saint-Lucia, and underlines the importance of understanding decision-making processes in the implementation of collective measures to regulate the access to and use of coastal resources. The two islands appear to face similar problems linked to the increase and diversification of the demand for these resources. Multiple activities, particularly tourism and leisure activities, have developed in recent years, both on land and at sea, together with growing urbanization and the concentration of communication infrastructures in the sea shore. Despite new and strengthened public regulations, there appears to be an increase in the number of conflictual situations, and a growing need for more efficient collective management of the coastal areas.

"Reference is made to a study led in Martinique in 1993 under an IFREMER (Institut Francais de Recherche pour l'Exploitation de la Mer) research programme concerning coastal conflicts analysis, and to the work done by CANARI (Caribbean Natural Resources Institute) in both the analysis of conflicts and the provision of assistance in the definition of a regional management program for the district of Soufriere in Saint-Lucia. In the case of Martinique, the study showed that effective management of coastal areas as public property on the island did not result of integrated decision making, more or less efficiently implemented through a single decision-maker's actions, but rather of simultaneous interactions between different actors involved in coastal use. This has led to situations of free access and conflicts, which are managed through locally devised, collective regulation systems, following general public land management principles. The case of Soufriere, where a specific institutions integrating local activities into a collective regulation system was created, gives an illustration of the negotiation process and problems encountered in the tackling the establishment of practical rules of access to and use of coastal resources."