"In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will
understand only what we are taught."
Baba, Dioum, Senegalese Conservationist
As quoted by Dr. Jerry Schubel, Director, New England Aquarium
Coastal America Principals Meeting
October 1996
III. LOOKING TO THE FUTURE
Coastal America has proven to be an effective model for collaborative problem-solving. The partnership's organizational structure encourages the development of a "shared vision" and enables national policy issues to be identified and resolved, regional strategies to be implemented and local environmental improvements to be realized. The partnership process minimizes the bureaucracy, reduces costs and expedites planning and implementation of projects by promoting:
- a collaborative approach that encourages innovative and cost-effective solutions;
- a partnership network that enables the development of a broad consensus for action and ensures implementation; and,
- a management structure that facilitates communication across government agency boundaries, and directly channels information from the field level to the policy level.
Recognizing the value of Coastal America, the federal partners are committed to strengthening the partnership, increasing programmatic efforts to improve our understanding of the coastal environment and ensuring that national policy goals and objectives are addressed.
Strengthening the Partnership
The effective management of our coastal environment over the long term will require the cooperative efforts of federal, state, and local agencies, non-governmental organizations and an informed public. In recognition of the need to build a broader coalition to solve critical problems facing our nation's coasts, the partnership will increase its efforts to involve all "stakeholders" in a consensus building process at appropriate levels. To improve government effectiveness, the federal partners will encourage greater agency program integration to take advantage of new authorities and to ensure more comprehensive and cost-effective solutions. To provide coordinated federal leadership, the partnership will establish Regional Principals Groups or use existing forums to facilitate greater agency collaboration and enable aggressive regional action.
Increasing Our Understanding
An improved understanding of the coastal environment and the impact of man's activities is the key to effective management of our coastal resources. The partnership is committed to increasing the general public's understanding of coastal and marine issues and improving the transfer of information and technology among the partners. Toward this end, Coastal America will expand its education/outreach and technology transfer efforts. Coastal Ecosystem Learning Centers will be designated in each region and a national network of Learning Centers will be established to create a comprehensive educational/outreach program that utilizes the combined assets of the regional aquaria and the federal, state, tribal and local partners. This will provide the partnership with the capability to focus public attention upon regional coastal issues of significance in a manner that could not be achieved by any of the agencies alone. In addition, the partnership will accelerate the transfer of new technologies, project information and issue analyses through the "information superhighway" and other forums. Specifically, we will expand the Coastal America Homepage and bulletin board, establish electronic links to all our partners through the Internet and convene issue oriented workshops to further encourage the exchange of information.
Addressing National Goals and Objectives
The partnership is committed to ensuring the sustainable development of our coastal environment. We recognize that our national goals of economic growth, environmental protection and social equity are linked and that to ensure a sustainable America, we must more effectively integrate these goals. Working through our partnership structure that includes the resource, infrastructure and military agencies, we will provide a forum to discuss and implement the recommendations of the President's Council on Sustainable Development. We will facilitate the development of a "shared vision" for our coastal ecosystems and encourage collaborative action through our national, regional and local teams and our Learning Center network. Opportunities to restore and protect the coastal environment while enabling economic development will be identified and policies that inhibit or prevent effective collaborative action will be evaluated and resolved. A long-term strategy to ensure implementation of consensus goals and objectives will be developed.
In summary, the environmental degradation of our coastal ecological systems can be attributed to a wide range of factors associated with continuing population growth throughout their watersheds. Effective protection and restoration of coastal areas must consider the entire watershed affecting the ecological system. The ecological system approach requires a collaborative problem-solving forum that draws upon the collective resources and expertise of government agencies and incorporates the interest of the local "stakeholder" in project planning and implementation. We will continue to ensure that the Coastal America Partnership provides such a forum.
