Degradation of the coastal environment and resources has been of concern on the east coast of Zanzibar for a long time. Traditional approaches to this problem have yet to achieve the intended goal of securing livelihoods on a degrading coastline. Involvement of the communities in deciding on actions and interventions is an important aspect for coastal management; the management plan is one of the outcomes of the project Empowering Non State Actors in Tanzania to plan for sustainable coastal livelihoods using decision support tools, through participatory decision-making supported by science-based erosion scenarios.
The east coast of Zanzibar has been declining in terms of environmental quality and resources for people that live there, such as fishermen and sea-weed farmers. Many things have been done to try and holt this decline over many years, but they have not stopped this problem. However, the people who live and work in the area have many views on what needs to be done. In this project, we talk to these people and see what they suggest should be done to improve the situation.