COMMUNITY-BASED PLANNING - CANADA TLANTIC COASTAL ACTION PROGRAM (ACAP)

The Atlantic Coastal Action Program (ACAP) was established in 1991 by Environment Canada in Canada's four Atlantic provinces. Focusing on 13 designated areas, ACAP depends largely upon strong participation of l ocal residents to manage coastal resources, as it attempts to build 'b ottom-up' initiatives through the formation of stakeholder committees comprising a cross-section of community residents, local government of ficials and representatives from local businesses and academia. This p aper reports the preliminary findings of research on ACAP, examining t he growth of community participation in the Program and analysing the general development of the scheme. It concentrates primarily on three rural localities designated under ACAP, reporting interviews with loca l residents and analysing impacts upon local communities. It is sugges ted that, although participation in and awareness of the scheme by loc al residents is relatively limited, the groundwork has been laid for b oth more extensive community involvement and for further development o f significant practical attempts to improve the quality of the environ ment. Much will depend on availability of funds once the 13 ACAP group s have prepared environmental management plans during 1996.