One of the key lessons to date is the importance of facilitation,
rather than implementation, for the role of the project team.
The establishment of sustainable and meaningful community
involvement in coastal resource rehabilitation and
management cannot be achieved through a single project,
which is – inevitably – restricted in scope and area, and which
has a limited timeframe and deadlines (Claridge and
O’Callaghan, 1997). Rather, effective community participation
in environmental and socio-economic rehabilitation and
management is a long-term process that can only be achieved
through large-scale programmes with an incremental
approach. A project, such as the one described in this paper,
should be seen as part of a step-by-step process leading in
the direction of improvement. Follow-up and continuation
of some form of external support is therefore crucial to avoid
the gradual collapse of the positive impacts achieved by the
project within such a short time