"Eritrea will be the first country in the world to declare its entire coastline a protected area," said Dr Michael Pearson, an environment management specialist working with a group that has pushed the proposal.

He and the Eritrea Coastal Marine and Island Biodiversity Conservation Project (ECMIB) said the move would be a legacy "to future generations and the global community".

The draft, released late Monday, must still be formally ratified but has government support and would regulate industry, housing, ports, tourism and fishing along the coast to protect natural resources, officials said.

It calls for a coast-wide 100-meter (330-foot) buffer zone from the sea for future development, with stringent measures further inland covering the entire watershed draining to the sea.

It will also give the most ecologically important coastal and marine areas permanent protection as national parks and reserves.

"We will do everything possible to realise this," ECMIB project manager Kaleab Negussie told an environmental conference here on Monday.

Apart from the ports of Massawa and Assab, Eritrea's coastline is a largely underdeveloped desert wilderness interspersed with a few small fishing villages.

It also includes coral reefs, 380-kilometers (257-miles) of mangrove forests, as well as nesting sites for turtles and 73 species of sea birds.

"It has not been industrialized and is still relatively pristine and pollution-free, but, with development, problems will come," said Girmai Abraham, a senior economic advisor at the Ministry of National Development.

"If this is not taken care of, we will ruin our environment," he said.

The policy, backed by the UN Development Programme (UNDP), says that while investment, development and poverty alleviation are obvious national priorities for the impoverished nation, their environmental impacts cannot be ignored.

The document, expected to be endorsed by the government, says the benefits of development will be reduced by "degradation and depletion of natural assets and environmental impacts".

It also provides for a new coastal authority to enforce the proposed legislation. "You can write all kinds of booklets and legislation, but if you don't implement it then it doesn't mean much," said Girmai. "The creation of a body is therefore crucial."

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