Collaborative Actions for Sustainable Tourism Achievements, Best Practices and Challenges Hugh Gibbon Regional Coordination Unit, Nairobi, Kenya

9 participating countries: Cameroon, Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, Senegal, Seychelles, Tanzania Each country has at least one Demonstration site with a focus on at least one of the following themes: - Eco-tourism - Environmental Management Systems - Reef & Marine Recreation Management Project being 25% GEF funded with the remaining coming from co-financing Brief Background on the COAST Project

Project is half way through implementation with the expected completion date of June 2014 Mid-term evaluation completed in Extraordinary steering committee organized in April 2012 to adopt recommendations Major restructuring to simplify the project design, with 2 outcomes and 7 outputs

To support and enhance the conservation of globally significant coastal and marine ecosystems and associated biodiversity in sub-Saharan Africa, through the reduction of the negative environmental impacts which they receive as a result of coastal tourism To demonstrate and support adoption of best practice approaches for sustainable tourism that reduce the degradation of marine and coastal environments of trans-boundary significance Outcome 1. Sustainable tourism approaches for reducing pollution, contamination and environmental degradation from coastal tourism demonstrated in the sub- Sahara African context Outcome 2. National and local mechanisms supporting sustainable tourism governance and management identified and enhanced to facilitate uptake of BAPs/BATs Impact GEF Objective New project structure

Achievements, Best Practices and Challenges Regional level capacity building on Eco-tourism, EMS, Reef & Marine Recreation Management National level capacity building on Eco-tourism, EMS and Reef & Marine Recreation Management Localised capacity building on Eco-tourism, EMS and Reef & Marine Recreation Management initiated Over 35 separate training events have been organised as of January 2012

Achievements, Best Practices and Challenges Establishment of Demonstration Site Management Committees (DSMC) has been a good opportunity for networking and building relationships among local groups Additional finances have been leveraged: National Army in Senegal and Lagos State in Nigeria Hotels have expressed interest to adopt elements of EMS (ISO framework) in Senegal, Kenya, Tanzania and Seychelles Awareness raised, at the local level, to minimise the impacts of tourism on coastal environments

Achievements, Best Practices and Challenges Active participation of a wide range of stakeholders at the local level leads to long term sustainability of the project results Tailoring the implementation of each theme to the particular conditions and interests of the local stakeholders at each demonstration site is essential to ensure full participation and local ownership The additional co-financing leveraged from the countries ensures continuous engagement of the regional and national Governments

Achievements, Best Practices and Challenges Poor original design has hampered implementation during the first 2 ½ years of the project The delays between project design and implementation have induced a loss of ownership and delivery of activities from the Governments as well as the local stakeholders Scope and ambition of the project was not realistic with the time and budget available

Achievements, Best Practices and Challenges Lack of knowledge management and communication strategy to mainstream project results Low capacity across the project has negatively impacted delivery

Potential for replication and networking with IW:Learn The COAST project offers solid linkages to private sector and civil society whose sustainability depend on the preservation of coastal ecosystems IW: Learn offers potential to mainstream results coming from the demonstration site best practices and technologies The IW:Learn platform ensures a wide dissemination of the COAST project results and promotes replication

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