The release of 'Sunken billions:
The economic justification for fisheries reform' has
drawn renewed attention to the enormous loss of wealth
suffered in fisheries each year due to weak fisheries
governance and the need for fundamental fisheries reform.
Such reform calls for addressing the issues plaguing the
world's fisheries, such as persistent overfishing and
fleet overcapitalization, and addressing the political

This report provides a disaggregated
profile of the world's small and large-scale fisheries
and an estimate of its direct and indirect contributions to
gross domestic product, food security, and rural livelihoods
to uncover the hidden importance of the fisheries sector
with a view to increasing its economic and environmental
contributions in a sustainable manner. The study reveals
serious information deficiencies that undermine decision

The African coastal countries are facing
several environmental and socio-economic challenges, such as
unplanned urban and economic development, fueled by a
growing rural exodus; non-functional or non-existent public
infrastructures to handle the demographic growth along the
coastline; air, water and soil pollution; and alteration of
coastal ecosystems. West Africa, in particular, is facing
severe land losses and major damage due to coastal erosion

The effects of climate change, from
changing precipitation patterns to rising seas, will
exacerbate the coastal erosion already affecting West
Africa, increasing the exposure and vulnerability of the
people and assets located there. Given the importance of the
coastal zone to the region as a whole, it is critical that
policy makers consider the effects of future climate change
in the decisions they make today. Regional cooperation is

Fisheries constitute an important source
of livelihoods for tens of thousands of poor people in the
southwest coastal region of Bangladesh living near the
UNESCO Heritage Sundarbans mangrove forest, and they supply
a significant portion of protein for millions. Among the
various threats fisheries in the southwest coastal region
and Sundarbans mangrove forest will face because of climate
change, adverse impacts from increased aquatic salinity

West Africa’s coastal area is critical
to the region, home to a third of its people and the source
of about half of its gross domestic product (GDP). Because
most of it is composed of mangroves and sand formations, the
area’s coastline is also highly vulnerable to erosion caused
by coastal currents and storm surges. Erosion is evident
from Mauritania to Gabon - and the rates of erosion are
increasing. Around the port of Lome, for example, Togo’s

This study aimed to link land cover/use change to water quality in an important water supply coastal catchment. The approach followed a spatial and temporal analysis of historical catchment land use change to assess how changes influenced water quality and river flow in the Touws and Duiwe Rivers, southwestern Cape, South Africa. Each sub-catchment has unique characteristics which influence land use and water quality and the purpose was to analyse each one separately.

The ‘WISE-UP to climate’ project aims to demonstrate the value of natural infrastructure as a ‘nature-based solution’ for climate change adaptation and sustainable development. Within the Tana River Basin, both natural and built infrastructure provide livelihood benefits for people. Understanding the interrelationships between the two types of infrastructure is a prerequisite for sustainable water resources development and management. This is particularly true as pressures on water resources intensify and the impacts of climate change increase.

The report outlines 58 research programmes based on group and panel discussions at the national consultation cum stakeholders workshop held in May 2012 in Kakinada, Andhra Pradesh. These research programmes are expected to enable conservation of coastal and marine biodiversity in the East Godavari River Estuarine Ecosystem region in Andhra Pradesh through developing an integrated management plan for the region, restoring threatened species and their habitats, and improving livelihoods of local communities.

This toolkit provides a step-by-step guide to integrating disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation into the coastal and marine ecosystem management in the coastal sub-region of South Asia including Bangladesh, India, Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.