Appendix A

Guiding principles for rehabilitation and development

Putting people first in rehabilitation

A livelihood approach is recommended which ensures that natural systems have an enhanced ability to provide a broad and sustainable range of livelihood strategies, accessible to all members of these communities (including women, children and marginalized groups). This approach should also take into account the diversity of additional and existing livelihood strategies available to people in coastal communities, such as farming, fish processing, gardening, marketing etc. Key features are:

• reduction of vulnerability and potential risk for coastal communities from future natural disasters (through for example, efficient and consistent design and placing of infrastructure and protection of the coastal zone environment);
• partnership and national ownership through extensive stakeholder consultation and public participation regarding fishers and fish farmers' objectives, which ensures respect for traditional uses, access and rights;
• action based on a practice of co-management that involves all stakeholders in policy formulation and decision-making, based on adequate representation of the stakeholders and the best scientific information available;
• an emphasis on flexible and adaptive methods that respond to the complexity and differences in rehabilitation work in different areas; and
• respect to the human rights of all participants, especially with respect to labour standards, equity of distribution of benefits, access to land. Provision of assistance and rehabilitation based on humanitarian needs rather than legal status.

Rehabilitation that is consistent with international and regional agreements and guidelines

Any rehabilitation activity should positively contribute to the following agreements and guidelines:

• the goals on poverty alleviation and food security contained in the Millennium Declaration;
• the ASEAN Resolution and Plan of Action adopted by the Millennium Conference and BIMSTEC declaration;
• the principles of sustainable development of fisheries and aquaculture that are set out in the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CCRF), NACA Principles for Sustainable Aquaculture, SEAFDEC Regional Guidelines for Responsible Fisheries in Southeast Asia; and
• the recently agreed UNEP principles for tsunami reconstruction.

In particular, action will follow a multi-sectoral approach which ensures that the natural resource base of the coastal zone is sustained. This includes:

• integrated coastal zone management and an ecosystems approach that recognizes the multiple use nature of the limited natural resources base and involved planing for the fair allocates of resource across users; and
• provision of support for institutional and policy reforms that address fishing over capacity, unsustainable fishing practices and unsustainable aquaculture.

Key principles for the subsectors

The goal of rehabilitation is to achieve the following key features for the fisheries and aquaculture sectors.

For fishery a sector that:

• is based on a fishing capacity that is commensurate with the productivity of the fishery resource, controlled through the allocation of user/access rights to fish;
• is based on balance of small-scale artisanal fisher folk fishing inshore water with larger-scale “industrial” vessels restricted to off-shore areas supported by a “pro-poor” policy that gives preference to beach-based labour intensive fishing;
• is based on non-destructive fishing gear and practices;
• provides adequate safety at sea provisions and practices;
• is based on healthy ecosystems that have been rehabilitated through participatory practices that involves the people that depend on them;
• is based on good governance with strong institutional support from both government and NGOs; and
• is supported by high quality on-shore infrastructure that ensures food safety and value-adding potential in post-harvest processing and sale of fish products.

For aquaculture a sector that:

• is based on environmentally sound management practices that does not pollute, damage habitats or cause long-term irreversible harm, including use of feed that is taken from sustainable sources and seeds that are raised in environmentally sound hatcheries or taken from sustainable fisheries;
• adopts technologies and farm management practices that are appropriate to rural people with limited resources that minimize the impacts of aquaculture on other users of the coastal environment; and
• adopts an array of appropriate technologies and farm management practices, including those suitable to people with limited resources, which minimize impacts and which support: democratic self-determined farmer organizations; marketing, processing manufacturing of inputs and outputs; fair trade and markets; international and regional partnerships; and wide-scale communication, facilitation of dialogue and sharing of experiences.

In addition, both fisheries and aquaculture sectors should be supported by markets that:

• minimize losses and wastage, including during transportation;
• are based on fish handling at sea to ensure high quality of landed fish, and supported by high quality on-shore infrastructure to ensure maximization of fish quality and value-added potential in the post-harvest processing and sale of fish products; and
• are based on the provision of high quality and safe food for human consumption.

The rehabilitation processes

The implementation activities will follow a process approach and shall include the following elements:

• detailed impact/damage assessments and needs analyses to be the basis of all rehabilitation activities;
• assessments of the institutional capacity of different organizations at all levels (and economic sectors) to deliver effectively, and the organizational ability of recipients to receive and utilize any inputs;
• action will be taken with a clear indication of measurable outcomes;
• emphasis on accountability and transparency;
• effective communication with actions supporting coordinated partnership between government, NGOs, international agencies and bilateral donors; and
• findings and outcomes communicated clearly to development partners throughout the process.