DEVELOPMENT ALTERNATIVES, INC.
WATER IQC

Integrated Water and
Coastal Resources Management

 
 
Talise, Sulawesi Sea, Indonesia

Coastal Resources Center (CRC), University of Rhode Island

CORPORATE CAPABILITIES

The Coastal Resources Center, established in 1971 at the University of Rhode Island (URI) Graduate School of Oceanography, is dedicated to developing strategies for the effective management of coastal environments. The management strategies formulated by CRC over the past 28 years are based on an approach that:

Provides for both development and conservation
Includes the active involvement of all major stakeholders in the definition of problems and in negotiations over objectives and the means to attain them
Interprets the available knowledge on how the ecosystems in question function and respond to human activities
Presents new management strategies in persuasive, readable documents intended to attract the political support required for their implementation
CRC actively works both in the United States and in developing nations.

 

 

 

  
Seaweed farming on Tanzania's coast
CRC has been USAID's primary partner since 1985 in pioneering coastal management assistance programs in developing countries, and continues to be a cooperating partner within USAID in its Coastal Resources Management II Project. Its geographic focus regions are Tropical Asia, Eastern and Southern Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean. In all three regions CRC is actively involved in long-term country programs (Indonesia, Mexico, Nicaragua [Moskitia], Ecuador, Kenya and Tanzania) whose central focus is the formulation and implementation of sustainable coastal development and resource management strategies. In addition, CRC promotes regional activities to enhance capacity building, professional networks and cross-project learning.
   
Xcalak, Mexico

CRC is also widely recognized for its international training programs in coastal management. Training programs have been designed and implemented in partnership with USAID, the UN Environmental Programme Regional Seas Program and The World Bank; and delivered both in the United States (through CRC's biannual Summer Institute in Coastal Management) and regionally (Thailand, Philippines, Ecuador, Central America and East Africa). Central to the training strategy is building the capacity of partner country individuals and institutions (especially universities) to sustain integrated coastal management (ICM) training and educational programs in their country and region. In recent years, CRC has initiated a research and learning program to both document ICM experience worldwide, and develop globally applicable concepts and tools essential for rapid progress in ICM.

CRC has also designed and evaluated ICM programs for USAID (Philippines, Indonesia, Tanzania and Kenya), the UN Development Program's Latin American Global Environmental Facility program (Patagonia – Argentina, Dominican Republic, Belize and Cuba), the Inter-American Development Bank (Ecuador, Marine Sector Strategy) and The World Bank (Mexico).

Coastal Resources Center
University of Rhode Island
Narragansett, RI 02882
http://www.crc.uri.edu


  The Water IQC is funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development
Contract No. LAG-I-00-99-00017-00