Viability of community participation in coastal conservation: A critical analysis

Abstract

Coastal regions have served as sites of social and economic development for many nations, especially the Third World. This cultural interface has been employed by the less developed states to attract commercial tourism, spiritual recreation, and large-scale fishing in the region. The dire social, economic, and political conditions triumphed over worrying environmental consequences. The Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda are born against the backdrop of this despicable overexploitation. Sustainable Goal 14 envisions sustainably managing and conserving marine and coastal ecosystems against detrimental impacts of pollution. This endeavour is to be pursued in the consistency of national and international law based on the best available scientific information. The overzealous emphasis on scientific edification systemically devalues local knowledge and participation in the conservation drives.The prospect of the restoration of coastal regions sans community representation is at best futile and unimaginable. The paper attempts to explore an alliance of these international sustainable goals with the developmental objectives of the local communities dependent on these regions. The fruitfulness of this coalition can be advocated through the examples of Bangladesh and Indonesia, which are both costal dominated economies. The adoption of community-oriented development in these regions has to be adjudged in relation to the environmental assessments of coastal areas, the political will of the governments on these issues, and institutional capacities to resolve the environmental concerns. A critical evaluation of the consequential effect of these themes would facilitate arriving at an equitable proposition. The solution would encompass the spirit of emancipation and bestow the agency on people to be responsible for these regions. In the end, the recommendations put forth in the paper can be endorsed as a paradigm for other sovereign states (emphasis added on less developed states) for conservation of ecological zones, along with alternative livelihood models of sustainable development.