Sharing Benefits from the Coast : Rights, Resources and Livelihoods

In developing countries, coastal resources hold significant value for a number of different sectors of the economy, such as mining, fisheries, forestry and tourism. However, global patterns indicate growing levels of economic inequality between custodians of these resources and those exploiting them, as well as an increasing incidence in absolute levels of poverty. 'Benefit-sharing' has emerged as a popular term to describe interventions to redress inequalities, and thus alleviate poverty. Drawing from empirical research in coastal communities across South Africa and Mozambique, this book provides cutting-edge analyses of and new conceptual approaches to these issues. The findings have relevance and application for coastal livelihoods, rural governance and resource sustainability, not only in these countries but across the world in a context where community rights are increasingly undermined by land-grabbing, unequal power relations and externally driven development interventions.