Integrating local planning in education curricula in small islands

Since populations of small island developing states cannot maintain all necessary specializations, training for integrated coastal management and development should aim to produce cadres of managers or scientists, engineers and coastal planners able to integrate the many factors that need to be considered in integrated coastal management.

This strategy features in the framework of Agenda 21 as formulated at UNCED (Rio de Janeiro, 1992), now coordinated by the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development and implemented through national and local authorities. Agenda 21 recommends that educational systems should be modified to meet specific needs and special training programmes developed in integrated island management and development. Local planning should be integrated in educational curricula at all levels. Design Paradise is an award-winning Internet tool, developed by students for the Island of Kauai, Hawaii, at http://tqd.advanced.org/2111.