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Description:
Project Manager:
Rob Ferguson
Project Years:
2015
2016
2017
Project Summary:
Over the past several years, CRCP has funded LBSP trainings, development of watershed plans, development of technical design manuals, etc. throughout the Pacific region. Through these efforts, a number of technical capacity building recommendations have emerged. One of them relates to finding ways to work with jurisdictional agency staff on improving plan review and inspection procedures to protect environmental resources during the land use development process. Feedback from jurisdictional agency staff is that they are often unsure how to apply the lessons learned in trainings or manuals to real-world situations they encounter in their day-to-day work.This project will provide on-call, technical support services to jurisdictional agency staff reviewing development plans, environmental impact statements, or other types of permit applications. These services would be to supplement existing staff efforts and to reinforce lessons on best management practices. The goal is to help build local capacity (and confidence) to perform technical reviews and to provide consistency over the long-term for environmental permitting. As a long-term initiative, the aim is to provide this continuing capacity building and technical support over a period of three years. The pilot year will have limited participation of one agency per jurisdiction in order to allow time to work through the new process, make any adjustments to operations, evaluate the initial success of the program, and determine the feasible scale of expansion to other agencies in the Pacific jurisdictions. Year two would expand the program to other agency partners in the Pacific. Plans for year three would be to expand the program to any remaining Pacific jurisdictional agencies interested in participating, start expanding the services to Caribbean agency partners, and conduct a more comprehensive evaluation of the program by Pacific partners, the technical resource provider, and NOAA PI.Confirmed partners for the year one pilot of this project include: County of Hawaii Planning Department, American Samoa Coastal Management Program, CNMI Division of Coastal Resources Management, Yap State Environmental Protection Agency, and Guam Division of Aquatic and Wildlife Resources. Year two additional confirmed partners include County of Maui Division of Public Works, and Guam Bureau of Statistics and Plans.
Expected Outcome:
This project will be able to contribute to coral reef management by increasing the knowledge and capacity of resource managers to more effectively reduce the volume of land-based sources of pollution in the Pacific region through the effective implementation of best management practices in the permit review process. The project will ensure the natural resource agencies will have access to certified professionals engineers with expertise in land-based sources of pollution to consult with them on best management practices appropriate to specific sites and in context of specific permit applications. This will provide hands-on case studies for the resource managers to practice applying the lessons they have learned through trainings, workshops, and other resource material. In this way, the project will be able to support the individual localities with their efforts to achieve their land-based source of pollution goals. This process will improve the agencies’ range of available options for addressing different land altering scenarios that may contribute to land-based sources of pollution. This range of options will improve the knowledge base of the agencies' staff, and also improve the confidence of the staff in being able to accurately assess an opportunity for applying appropriate best management practices. It is also possible that this could serve as a model for the resource agencies on how professional skills sharing can operate for other facets of their programs, which will lead to improved management of resources beyond coral reefs. Ultimately, as land-based sources of pollution are reduced throughout the region, coral ecosystems will be stronger and more resilient into the future.
Project Locations:
- Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands
- American Samoa
- Guam
- Hawaii
- International Micronesia
Project Category:
Land-based Sources of Pollution (LBSP)
Project Type:
Closed
Project Status:
Funding Ended
Associated Products:
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