The papers

Representatives from the participating agencies were invited to submit written papers for these proceedings. The papers contribute to the objectives of the workshop and comprise an important output.

The papers provide an overall review of the progress and achievements of the project and its impact on national efforts to manage information and coordinate rehabilitation activities. In particular, the papers offer considerable insight into the information management and coordination efforts in each participating country, including those implemented by the governments and other stakeholders in tsunami emergency and rehabilitation activities. They also offer valuable recommendations on how information management, exchange and coordination mechanisms can be maintained, sustained and improved as government and other agencies move from rehabilitation to longer-term development initiatives.

Some common threads

Whilst there are factors and considerations unique to each country and regions within a country, a number of recommendations emerged that have wide applicability.

• Information and coordination mechanisms, whatever form they may take, are a significant determining factor in how quickly and how effectively governments can respond to an emergency. The tsunami demonstrated the extent to which these mechanisms have been neglected, undervalued and under budgeted. Whereas much of the information needed in a disaster situation is also useful for other aspects of national development planning, putting more funds into information and coordination mechanisms is a wise long-term investment.
• Given the reduction in cost and increase in ease of use, it is now practical to use spatial information tools such as Remote Sensing and GIS at provincial, district and local levels. These tools are critical to the successful implementation of any of the “integrated” approaches to coastal management and provide invaluable information to the actors involved in these processes, including public officials, planners, scientists, and the people living in coastal communities.

Mangrove forests have been grossly undervalued in terms of the environmental service they provide for coastal protection. Mangrove forests must be preserved and rehabilitated.

The papers comprise Annex 4 of these proceedings.