MPA-017-Marine Protected Areas-Tanzania
How do we save coral reefs?
Vic Ferguson
The World Federation for Coral Reef Conservation
281.971.7703
P.O. Box 311117
Houston Texas
77231
Marine Protected Areas in South Africa - ocean grabbing by
another name
Mads Barbesgaard, Carsten Pedersen, Timothé Feodoroff
21st November 2014
Today on World Fisheries Day, fisher peoples and their allies are taking to the
streets and beaches to fight against ocean grabbing in all its forms - including
Marine Protected Areas imposed without consultation that rob and criminalise
local communities and benefit only privileged outsiders.
Ocean grabbing projects us as criminals in our own ocean and along our own
coastline. We need to be informed about the policies that govern our seas. We
need to be equipped to deal with ocean grabbing.
"This marine area is protected for your benefit", reads a signpost on the beach of a
once thriving small-scale fishing community in Langebaan, Western Cape in South
Africa.
It is now known as Langebaan Lagoon Marine Protected Area (MPA). Whose benefit,
one might ask? Where there used to be a bustling market filled with the pungent smells
of fresh daily catches reeled in by local fisher folk, the beaches are now lined with
unoccupied holiday homes and exclusive restaurants.
The closest you can get to buying a fish is a cellophane-wrapped one in the aisles of the
chain supermarket in town.
As part of the World Forum of Fisher Peoples' General Assembly in September 2014,
fisher folk from around the world visited the Langebaan Lagoon MPA.
Enraged and yet with some sad familiarity, they listened to the disheartening tale of
one former fisherman who explained how the MPA and the following ban on fishing had
dispossessed his community.
It had not only destroyed his livelihood, but the very cultural DNA of his community
that had fished for generations on this coast.
Prior informed consent? In your dreams ...
The MPA in Langebaan is just one of the many controversial MPAs in South Africa that
have been enforced by the government in cooperation with international environmental
NGOs without any prior consultation with local communities.
Or rather as the chair of the South African fisher peoples' movement calls
it, "consultation at gun point" - referring to the several fishers that have been shot, one
fatally, by MPA guards mandated to keep local people out of the marine sanctuaries.
Marine parks, along coastal sanctuaries and reserves that establish 'no-take' zones commonly referred to as Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) have become the dominant
approach, not just in South Africa but worldwide, for dealing with overfishing, pollution
and habitat destruction.
One of the main advocates of MPAs is the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of
Nature), who held their World Parks Congress in Sydney in mid-November 2014. They
MPA-017-Marine Protected Areas-Tanzania
How do we save coral reefs?
Vic Ferguson
The World Federation for Coral Reef Conservation
281.971.7703
P.O. Box 311117
Houston Texas
77231
advocate the target of conserving 30% of the world's coastal and marine areas by
2020, going further than the 10% set by the UN Convention on Biological Diversity.
Naseegh Jaffer, the Secretary General of the World Forum of Fisher People was one of
the few delegates at the IUCN congress who represents small-scale fishers. Jaffer
warned:
"The term 'conservation' carries a negative connotation for millions of local fisher folks
across the world, as it means that we have to give up on most of our livelihoods and
income from fishing while we draw no benefit from conservation efforts."
The Congress officially pronounced "a decade of conservation success". But as Jaffer
asks:"a success for whom?"
Depriving small-scale fishers of their livelihoods
While the idea of protecting marine resources at a time of chronic environmental
destruction may seem commendable, documented experiences from South Africa,
Tanzania, India, Thailand, the Philippines, India, Mexico and elsewhere, have shown
that MPAs end up excluding small-scale fishers and depriving them of their livelihoods.
In fact MPAs, along with the spread of market-based policies that favour industrial-scale
fisheries, is one of the major contributors to a wave of ocean grabbing that may even
surpass the scale of the more oft-reported global land grab.
Moreover, even judged by narrow conservation objectives, there are questions about
the success of MPAs. In the preface to their recent anthology on MPAs, marine
biologists Johnson and Sandell argue that there is a
" ... lack of science underpinning the development of MPAs, a lack of clear objectives or
indicators monitoring performance", and a "lack of ongoing study or biological
monitoring in the areas after they have been established on paper."
This should not be a cause for surprise, because biodiversity conservation is rarely an
end in itself. Rather, Marine Parks are usually established as part of wider schemes and
strategies by powerful state and corporate actors keen to obscure more damaging
activities with a little bluewash gloss.
Political cover for intensive resource exploitation
Langebaan is an all-too typical example of a fishing community dispossessed of its
coastline, which is subsequently developed for foreign-owned tourism.
In some cases, MPAs provide governments the political cover for extracting more
natural resources elsewhere.
Kiribati Islands' Phoenix Islands Protected Area in Central Pacific waters, showcased at
the IUCN Congress, for example, was created after the government secured US$5
million from a foundation and, more importantly, a large concession for deep-sea
mining in the Pacific Ocean's Clarion-Clipperton seabed zone.
The MPAs of Kiribati and Langebaan sadly show the increasingly muddied waters of
conservation today - one in which governments, big business and a few large
environmental NGOs, including WWF and Conservation International, point the finger at
the beautiful signs portraying a new marine reserve - hoping we won't notice either the
fisherfolk that previously lived there or the destruction of our oceans by industrial
fisheries and deep-sea mining elsewhere.
MPA-017-Marine Protected Areas-Tanzania
How do we save coral reefs?
Vic Ferguson
The World Federation for Coral Reef Conservation
281.971.7703
P.O. Box 311117
Houston Texas
77231
That is why today, on World Fisheries Day, fisher peoples and their allies are taking to
the streets and beaches to fight for their human rights and against ocean grabbing,
calling on our support for a truly sustainable environment, one which supports people
and marine life.
Among them are the women of Kwa-Zulu Natal who released this powerful statement
today - declaring not their opposition to MPAs as such, but their rights to be consulted,
to regulate their own resources, to benefit from tourism, and not to be treated as
criminals by those who stole their lands and waters.
South African fisher women's statement on ocean grabbing
"We, the women of Kwa-Zulu Natal need access to mussels to feed our families and
make some money. We need business skills and access to markets. If there is a Marine
Protected Area on our coastline, we want to benefit.
"We women want to regulate our own resources. We the women of Kwa-Zulu Natal face
a double oppression: oppression from ocean grabbing and oppression from
patriarchy.We need this to change. We need platforms to be heard.
"We the women of Eastern Cape want control over our resources. Our traditional
healers need access and control over resources. We want co-management with
authorities. Profits from tourism should be made by us.
"We the women of the Western Cape and Northern say NO to Marine Protected Areas
without consultation processes. Ocean grabbing breaks down our families. Our men
have to travel far to the coast keeping them apart from their children and their wives.
We women reject mining on our coastal lands.
"We do not want weapon testing in our waters. Ocean grabbing projects us as criminals
in our own ocean and along our own coastline. We need to be informed about the
policies that govern our seas. We need to be equipped to deal with ocean grabbing.
"WE THE WOMEN OF SOUTH AFRICA SAY NO TO OCEAN GRABBING. PROTECT OUR
LIVELIHOODS. RESTORE OUR DIGNITY."
Mads Christian Barbesgaard is chairman of political affairs at Africa Contact in
Denmark (www.afrika.dk) a solidarity organisation that supports social movements in
their
struggle
for
social,
economic
and
political
rights.
Carsten Pedersen is a policy officer at Masifundise, based in South Africa, which
works closely with small-scale fishers in South Africa and worldwide. He also works with
the World Forum of Fisher Peoples, which has its international secretarial base at
Masifundise.
Timothé Feodoroff is a researcher in Transnational Institute's Agrarian Justice
programme and a graduate in Agricultural and Rural Development Studies from the
Institute of Social Studies (The Hague).
The book: 'The Global Ocean Grab: A Primer' is published by the Transnational
Institute - free PDF.
MPA-017-Marine Protected Areas-Tanzania
How do we save coral reefs?
Vic Ferguson
The World Federation for Coral Reef Conservation
281.971.7703
P.O. Box 311117
Houston Texas
77231
Also on The Ecologist
 'Ocean grabbing: a new wave of 21st century enclosures' by Nick Buxton, Carsten
Pedersen & Mads Christian Barbesgaard.
 'Uvinje, Tanzania - an indigenous community erased in the name of conservation' by
Alejandra Orozco-Quintero.
 'Ocean-grabbing threatens the food security of entire communities' by Olivier De
Schutter.
 'Now is our chance to deliver on the 30% ocean protection target' by Jessica
Meeuwig.