News

IMM have been commissioned by the FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture department to finalise a series of guidelines for post-emergency damage and needs assessment. The guidelines provide advice on process and a structure for assessing the requirements of relief and rehabilitation relating directly to fisheries and aquaculture.

In a recent study to identify areas to strengthen the response of UK marine NGOs for marine conservation it was recognised that a wide array of data on socio-economic issues in the fisheries sector existed but that this it was not being used very effectively by the NGOs. In part this problem reflects the accessibility of socio-economic knowledge. However, it also reflects the attitudes and skills of NGO staff to the uptake and use of such knowledge. Where there is a lack of socio-economic understanding it can adversely affect the quality of the strategies which NGOs adopt to promote sustainable fishing practices.

The better application of existing and new socio-economic knowledge has the potential to inform the debate around fisheries and marine biodiversity and help to achieve a better balance between social, economic and environmental concerns. To achieve this potential the right amount of socio-economic information about the right issues, needs to be available to NGOs in the right form so that they are willing and able to use that knowledge to increase their effectiveness in delivering sustainable impacts.  

The Review

IMM Ltd. have been asked by the Tubney Charitable Trust (UK) to support their efforts to help UK NGOs to become more effective in delivering their services in support more sustainable fishing practice. To this end, IMM Ltd. are currently undertaking a review of how UK NGOs utilise socio-economic information to inform their strategies and actions. The review is focused around three tasks:

1.  A basic review of current knowledge of the socio-economic impacts of fisheries management and policy designed to achieve biodiversity conservation. 

2.  An assessment of the applicability and usefulness of the current knowledge to NGOs seeking to achieve biodiversity benefit in UK waters. 

3.  Identification and prioritisation further research needs and opportunities to develop models of sustainable fisheries delivering biodiversity benefits appropriate within the context of UK Waters.

The work will be undertaken between September 2009 and March 2010.

IMM is working with the Fisheries Administration in Cambodia to develop its own Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CamCode).  A draft of this has now been produced and has gone out to wider consultation before it goes for final approval at the ministry.

The development process in Cambodian fisheries is a difficult challenge. Physical, financial and human resources are scarce, and FiA is in the early stages of developing the institutional structures and processes needed to achieve the potential of the sector. A Policy and Institutional Reform process has begun within the sector. 

IMM has been working with the government and civil society in Cambodia since 2002 on a range of development issues. A recent development has been helping the Fisheries Administration develop a ten year Strategic Planning Framework (SPF), a three year rolling plan and an annual planning process.  The 10 year SPF has now been launched for wider consultation with development partners befors going to the ministry for approval.  The SPF is a major step forwards in sector planning in Cambodia and aims to maximise the contribution of fisheries to national development.

IMM have been involved in the development of a Socio-economic Monitoring (SocMon) manual for South Asia. The manual was launched at the World Conservation Congress 2008 and will be available in hard copy in early 2009. 

The SocMon South Asia monitoring guidelines have been developed to provide direction in carrying out socioeconomic monitoring for managers of coastal and marine habitats, environment wardens and volunteer teams. SocMon South Asia provides a framework for practitioners to design a monitoring programme, which is suited to local needs and objectives. It is designed to be used alongside the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) Socio Economic Manual (published in 2000).  SocMon South Asia sets the framework and the GCRMN Manual the tools for implementing it.  

In early 2007, IMM was asked to lead a two-phase Evaluation Process of the Livelihoods  Development Project, an EU-funded, UNDP-implemented project in the North and East of Sri Lanka. The LDP project was formulated as part of the European Commission’s response to the Indian Ocean tsunami which struck Sri Lanka on 26^th December, 2004. It aimed to support the process of recovery from the disaster in the Northern and Eastern Provinces of Sri Lanka by helping people to re-activate their traditional livelihood activities, identify and initiate new activities and reconstruct community infrastructure. The UNDP Transition Recovery Programme, which was already working in the area supporting the process of rehabilitation and recovery from the on-going civil conflict, was selected to implement the project. During the initial phases of project design, the coverage of the project was expanded to cover both tsunami and conflict-affected communities. Given the level of aid response that the tsunami generated in Sri Lanka, the project ended up paying special attention to non-coastal communities that were not targeted by tsunami relief programmes but were struggling to re-establish their productive sectors in the wake of years of conflict and displacement. The project was working with people from both Tamil and Sinhala, as well as Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and Christian communities and was active in promoting peace and reconciliation between these groups.

The Evaluation Mission was divided into two phases. During the 1° Phase, in early 2007, the team was asked to review progress, paying special attention to the project’s exit strategy, given that it was due to be completed in early 2008, and make recommendations regarding any eventual extension of the project period. Given the mission’s recommendation that the project be extended in order to complete the work that it had initiated, the 2° Phase mission was postponed until late 2008 when a proper evaluation of the impacts and performance of the project was carried out.

In 2006 IMM, IUCN, ICRAN and CORDIO joined forces under the collaborative Coral Reefs and Livelihoods Initiative (CORALI) to better support livelihood development in coral reef conservation efforts, and to further develop and validate a participatory approach to Sustainable
Livelihood Enhancement and Diversification (SLED approach) in reef dependent communities in South Asia. The SLED approach was field tested in 6 sites located across the Maldives, Sri Lanka, India and Indonesdia. Following successful field trials of the approach two of the main project outputs were launched at the World Conservation Congress in Barcelona 2008. These were:

• Sustainable Livelihood Enhancement and Diversification: A Manual for Practitioners.
• Systematic Approaches to Livelihood Enhancement and Diversification: A Global Review of Experiences.

IMM have been commissioned to carry out a review of current and impending threats to the marine environment in UK Territorial Waters and what actions are required to safeguard and conserve it. 

The marine environment is a complex ecosystem with a range of threats. Therefore a range of mechanisms are needed, including changes to legislation, improved regulation, targeted research, education, working with bodies with conflicting interests, raising public awareness, improved collaborative working, etc. The review will be utilised to inform a needs analysis of what NGOs should be doing, individually and collectively.

IMM Ltd has been contracted by DFID to implement a Scoping Study to provide the basis (knowledge and analysis) for the design of a research programme to increase DFID’s understanding of the Links between Growth and Renewable Natural Resources (RNRs).

IMM has been working with development partners in South Asis to develop a systematic approach to livelihood enhancement and diversification.  This is designed to help natural resource (NR) users to either improve their existing NR-use of to dentify and adopt livelihood alternatives.