Gef-iw5 etps mangroves


D.Relevant Policies, Laws, Regulations, Rules, and Standards



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D.Relevant Policies, Laws, Regulations, Rules, and Standards


Continued mangrove loss and degradation across the ETPS, has provoked considerable concern from the international and national environmental sector and affected local communities. As a result, all four ETPS countries have enacted regulations in an attempt to slow the rates of loss.

In 1996, Costa Rica enacted Forest Law 7575 that outlawed all mangrove extraction and suspended all licensing for additional shrimp ponds. Encouragingly, Costa Rica now has the lowest rate of direct impacts that cause mangrove loss in the ETPS. However, there are still measurable direct losses within mangrove areas and inappropriate upstream land use continues to be serious concern, especially in the highly productive Gulf of Nicoya. Costa Rica's Payment for Environmental Services Program (PES) which compensates landowners to protect dry forests has had mixed results (IIED, 2013) and to date does not include wetland and mangroves.

In Ecuador, Resolution 56 establishes a fine of $89,273 per hectare for mangrove destruction and the country is currently drafting a National Mangrove Action Plan. Importantly, Ecuador’s Ministerial Agreements 129 and 144 create the possibility for designating exclusive non-destructive use to particular users of mangroves, thereby creating groups that become directly tied to specific mangroves and vested in their protection. At present, about 50,000 ha of mangroves have been assigned under concession agreements to local communities. Unfortunately, as recently as 2013, 559 unregistered aquaculture sites, many in deforested mangrove areas, were discovered by authorities during a year-long census operation.

Panama has lost an estimated 30% of mangroves on its Pacific Coast and an estimated 50% of the national mangrove cover since 1969. In 1998, an effort to reduce this rapid loss, Panama’s No. 41 General Environmental Law gave mangroves special conservation priority as ecosystems of particularly high biodiversity and productivity. More recently, a series of resolutions (AG-235, JD-020, Resuelto ARAP-1 de 2008) mandated the requirement for special permits for any use that could affect mangroves and gave Panama’s Aquatic Resources Authority the powers to charge fines for any activity that damages mangroves with a penal code determining incremental fines corresponding to wetland ecosystems and protected areas. Unfortunately, in 2011 Panama’s regulatory framework protecting mangroves took a step backwards as multiple urban developments were given approval that resulted in the destruction of extensive mangrove areas, including in Ramsar listed wetlands. A recent presidential decree (9th February 2015) has reestablished protective measures for 85,664 ha of mangrove areas in Bahia de Panama. During 2015 a new ministry of the environment is being formed from ANAM with ARAP being responsible for fisheries. This will clarify institutional competencies that influence mangrove policy and management in the region.

Colombia is the ETPS country with the highest total mangrove cover (Spalding et al. 2010) with high absolute loss in cover over the past three decades (comparing literature estimates from 1980’s to 2010). In 1995 Colombia’s Ministry of Environment passed the first national legislation - Resolution 1602, specifically focused on mangrove conservation. This legislation was amended in 1996 (Resolution 186) to outlaw mangrove destruction in all national provinces and require licenses for any activities that could negatively affect mangroves. Unfortunately, across areas of rural poverty in Colombia’s Afro-Colombian communities on the Pacific coast, Colombia continues to have high rates of mangrove deforestation. In 1995 and 1997 there were examples of temporary closures (2 and 3 years) of commercialization of products from mangrove ecosystems specifically from the Valle de Cauca through CVC agreements. A landmark Law 70 (1993) is also relevant to the project, which established ancestral territorial rights for Afro-Colombian communities. In 2014 the Colombian MADS developed a national plan of action for mangrove conservation that includes a restoration protocol (unpublished as of 04/2015). Two pilot reforestation projects were implemented in the Caribbean region but none yet in the Pacific.

Regionally, there are two related mangrove initiatives underway through the Permanent Commission for the South Pacific (Comisión Permanente del Pacífico Sur or CPPS) and Ramsar.

The Permanent Commission for the South Pacific (CPPS member countries Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Panama and Peru, with Costa Rica as a cooperating non-party) is committed to creating and implementing a region-wide mangrove strategy (Plan de Acción). Since Peru and Chile have only minimal mangrove areas, this strategy will be most applicable to the ETPS countries. An international workshop hosted by Colombia in Santa Marta (2013), first formulated ideas and drew together national priorities. This led to the Plan being developed by CPPS with support by CI-Ecuador and UNESCO-Quito. It is currently in draft format (April 2015) and will be technically validated during the late-PPG phase of this project (August 2015). The project will support CPPS in submitting the plan for formal approval by the CPPS member countries in the CPPS General Assembly of November 2015. The CPPS parties have committed to adopt the strategy and there is significant political will within the countries. However, its effective implementation will require financial and technical support both directly to the CPPS and to member countries.

Ramsar under its Regional Initiatives Program recently produced a strategic framework for the Conservation and Rational Use of Mangroves and Coral Reefs (2014). Although with a different thematic and geographic focus from the CPPS Plan being developed (including Mexico, Caribbean and Atlantic systems) it includes guidance for the four ETPS member countries and will be integrated into the design of the project and agenda for regional and national technical working groups.



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