Addressing Multi-Stakeholder Conflicts in the Coastal Zone through a Special Area Management (SAM) Process: the case of Rekawa of Southern Sri-Lanka

Abstract

It is accepted globally that management of the coastal zone should be done through an integrated process. Special Area Management (SAM) is a particular form of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM), which addresses multi-stakeholder conflicts in environmentally sensitive areas. The most important characteristic of the SAM process is that it is community based and collaborative. Yet, a proper mechanism to deal with such conflicts had to be instituted for SAM to be successful. A study was carried out to examine the relevance of SAM in Rekawa, an environmentally very sensitive coastal area in Southern Sri Lanka. A number of stakeholders, such as marine fishers, lagoon fishers, hoteliers, farmers, turtle conservationists, coral miners, etc. were identified, who generated negative externalities on each other giving rise to conflicts. By using Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) techniques, the issues confronted by each stakeholder group were studied along with their perceptions and suggestions for resolving such conflicts. The study attempted at finding how far SAM was able to cope with the conflicts and effectively manage the coastal zone at Rekawa. Stakeholders had placed a high reliance on SAM, but proposed the establishment of a Coordinating Committee consisting of all stakeholders, as the most appropriate tool to create a common flat form to bring all stake holders together to form a common coastal zone plan. Yet, the study found a number of pre-requisites, for successful operation of SAM, including the provision of appropriate legal and official status to the proposed Coordinating Committee.