ICZM and coastal defence perception by beach users: Lessons from the Mediterranean coastal area

Member States of the European Union and the Mediterranean Regional Sea need to elaborate national strategies for coastal management according to ICZM principles and to undertake national stock-taking, which must consider major actors, laws and institutions influencing the management of their national coastal zone. However, different approaches to coastal management and defence and various degrees of development and implementation of national ICZM strategies can be found. The research presented in this article aims to analyze the different situations and to contribute to the further development of a common approach in terms of methodology to establish stakeholder and users participation in ICZM. An extensive survey was conducted in five pilot sites along the European Mediterranean coastal zone (Greece, Italy and France) show beach visitors’ perception of ICZM, coastal erosion and coastal defence systems, and beach visitors’ Willingness To Pay (WTP) for beach defence. The survey yielded important information for coastal and beach managers. Surprisingly, the level of awareness about generic Coastal Zone Management was found to be rather low in all regions except Riccione Southern beach, Emilia-Romagna Region. In the Languedoc-Roussillon Region, this is justified by the fact that most of the respondents were not local people or beach visitors (other than recreational day-visitors). As regards coastal erosion it appears significant that, despite the lack of awareness demonstrated overall by stakeholders in the Region of East Macedonia and Thrace, visitors respond very positively to definitions and show awareness of the erosion process in their coastal system. In conclusion, in order to raise public awareness about ICZM, erosion and coastal defence systems, it is suggested that education, training and public awareness should be promoted as well as identification of local needs for the implementation of specific demand-driven studies.     

ICZM Protocols to Regional Seas Conventions: What? Why? How?

The regionalisation of international environmental law has emerged as one of the most important legal trends of the last decades. However, the regulation of coastal management stood apart from this trend for a long time; indeed, while integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) projects have developed at all scales, legal regulation of ICZM has long been confined to the national and sub-national levels. This is not the case any longer: recent developments in ICZM implementation demonstrate an increasing interest in regional regulation through the adoption of specific protocols within regional seas frameworks. The article aims at taking stock of these recent initiatives, specially focusing on the Mediterranean and Western Indian Ocean (WIO) regions. It demonstrates that an ICZM Protocol can be a strategic lever to address coastal issues only if certain conditions for its elaboration and implementation are effectively met.     

Towards climate adaptation and coastal governance in Ireland: Integrated architecture for effective management?

Coastal environments are susceptible to a range of impacts arising from medium and long-term climate change. However, as Ireland's population and industrial centres are concentrated in coastal locations, Ireland's coastal communities will be particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Therefore, making the best use of existing knowledge to inform the establishment of governance structures capable of facilitating the measures and actions which may soon be required is a national imperative. Coastal communities worldwide have turned to integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) as a process to deliver sustainable development. This paper explores how experience gained from ICZM implementation can be harnessed to inform the development and implementation of climate adaptation policies, with a particular focus on the coastal zone. Using the principles and conceptual basis of Earth System Governance – an emerging approach to analyse complexity of governance under global environmental change – the paper maps the architecture of ICZM and climate governance in Ireland. The research identifies the main barriers to, and opportunities for, integrated application of the two policy domains. Barriers include the fragmentation of governance structures and responsibilities of key stakeholders, a lack of coordinated support for ICZM implementation at the national level, and a relatively weak awareness of the specifics of adaptation at the local level. Opportunities include the availability of expertise gathered from phases of ICZM implementation in Ireland, which encompasses mechanisms for science-policy integration, and invaluable experience of stakeholder participation and interaction. Current political and scientific support at national and EU levels give an additional impetus to climate research and actions which may bring additional opportunities and resources to coastal governance in Ireland.     

Lessons learned from Eastern Africa: the development of policy on ICZM at national and regional levels

Coastal zones of Eastern Africa are endowed with a diversity of life forms and resources which support large populations of coastal communities. The economies of the countries in the region are dependent on these resources in the form of fisheries and coastal forest products, tourism, shipways and coastal facilities such as ports, industries and urban centers.Population growth, especially in coastal urban centers is increasing the demand for coastal and marine resources. In addition, poverty, lack of awareness and inadequate management have resulted in over exploitation of coastal and marine resources, habitat destruction including shoreline erosion as well as marine pollution. The rate of resource depletion and environmental degradation is on the increase. There is an urgent need for instituting management measure that will reverse the current trend.The governments in the region have accepted and are committed to the implementation of Integrated coastal management (ICZM) as an effective mechanism for addressing and resolving the multiplicity of issues experienced in coastal areas through sectoral coordination and collaborative approaches. However, the process has just begun and there are a number of ICZM initiatives in progress at local, national and regional levels. This paper presents the issues of the coastal zone and reviews some of the progress made to date in the implementation of ICZM.     

Integrated coastal zone management towards Indonesia global ocean observing system (INA-GOOS): Review and recommendation

Indonesia as an archipelagos country consisting of more than 17,508 islands has a challenging problem in terms of island management and the provisional ocean services to the coastal community. The population growth (especially in coastal areas) followed by declining natural resources caused by overfishing and overexploitation is one of the biggest concerns both for the central and the local governments in Indonesia. Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) is one of the attempted solutions to overcome these difficulties, however, it is known to be unsatisfactory even after several programs under ICZM have been developed and implemented. Therefore, further facilitation of ICZM programs is necessary in order to benefit to Indonesian governmental management of their islands, coastal areas and oceans. In doing so, ICZM will also make a significant contribution towards the implementation of the Indonesia Global Ocean Observing System (INA-GOOS). This paper aims to review ICZM activities in Indonesia to obtain a better understanding of, and the need for ICZM implementations in support of their policy, sustainability and decision-making process in the direction of INA-GOOS. It is expected that the ICZM implementations will have a high impact on INA-GOOS programs.     

Progress in Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) in Northern Ireland

The history of development of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) in Northern Ireland is described here in the context of European and UK initiatives. The current structures for ICZM in Northern Ireland involve a formal strategy. This involves a number of specific actions in the environmental, social, and economic spheres with specific goals pertaining to integration. The strategy has been agreed by all responsible organisations (both governmental and NGOs), and each action is time-bound and has an identified responsible agency. The Northern Ireland Coastal and Marine Forum (NICMF) which consists of non-governmental members, has the task of monitoring the implementation of the strategy and acting as a catalyst for integration. The strengths of the current structure lie in the presence of an integrating ICZM strategy and the fact that the initiative is government-led in response to the EU Recommendation on ICZM. These provide better levels of sustainability and links to the statutory system of governance compared to the partnership model in Great Britain. Its main weaknesses are: (i) that the NICMF relies on voluntary participation; (ii) linkages between government departments have not been substantially improved; and (iii) weak mechanisms for ensuring goals are achieved.     

以生态系统管理为工具开展海岸带综合管理

本文从海岸带和海岸带综合管理的几大特征出发 (包括海岸带的中心地带———海 陆生态交错带、海岸带综合管理需要解决的主要问题———生态环境危机、海岸带综合管理的管理对象———社会 经济 自然复合生态系统等方面 ),提出生态学应成为海岸带综合管理的主要科学依据,海岸带综合管理应遵循并且充分运用生态学的理念和方法;文章通过对生态系统管理与海岸带综合管理的比较分析,指出生态系统管理正是生态学中有助于海岸带综合管理的最佳工具,海岸带综合管理应以生态系统管理为基础,并进一步阐述了生态系统管理在海岸带综合管理规划中的具体运用.     

The ICZM Balanced Scorecard: A tool for putting integrated coastal zone management into action

Coastal areas are characterised by the choice of performance measures and/or reference points which may be critical in the environmental management process, determining the success of an Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) plan. The tools for the strategic control of ICZM plans are particularly important, although they are still not widely used at the local level. The following paper proposes the use of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) method of Kaplan and Norton (1992), which is a holistic management performance tool that can be used by managers to put into action their business strategy. In particular the methodology has focused on the use of a BSC process, inspired by the Niven (2003) approach for public bodies. The BSC suggests the creation of a framework for the strategic assessment of plans and projects based on the Protocol on Integrated Coastal Zone Management in the Mediterranean (Protocol). An analysis of the Protocol has been carried out according to the BSC model, and it shows how it can be integrated with assessment and environmental management tools, such as the Driving forces, Pressures, States, Impacts and Responses (DPSIR) framework. The proposed process has suggested a novel framework for analysing the ICZM plans of coastal managers and stakeholders. The analytical framework facilitates the examination of Drivers and causes of the ICZM strategy, the possible impact on society and coastal communities, the most appropriate measures to achieve the objectives and the practicalities of implementing such measures given the institutional context of where these are developed.     

Shortcomings in the European principles of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM): Assessing the implications for locally orientated coastal management using Biome Portfolio Analysis (BPA)

EU policy geared towards the sustainable development of European coastal areas has incorporated Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) as one of its primary mechanisms to achieve its goal. However, critical shortcomings in the ICZM paradigm have emerged. In particular, incoherence in the European Commission's ICZM principles with respect to local and strategic objectives remains an issue. Additionally, a lack of scientific certainty about environmental processes when determining the environmental pros and cons of alternative coastal-management decisions undermines environmentally protective decisions that may otherwise hinder local regional development. With these issues in mind, a Biodiversity Portfolio Analysis (BPA) is applied to Iarras Aithneach, a peninsula on the west coast of Ireland, to test its suitability as tool for ICZM. In addition, the paper uses the BPA methodology to explore the contrast between scientific/strategic and local attitudes towards the management of a coastal area of environmental importance. Pronounced differences between the two are found and the implications for both BPA and ICZM are discussed. The spatial and participatory nature of the BPA process and the explicit treatment of risk the framework exhibits suggest there is scope for it to become a useful tool for ICZM. It also has the potential to act as a routine way of quantifying the “attitude gap” between the scientific community and the local community when managing a unique coastal area.     

Integrated coastal zone management in the People's Republic of China—An assessment of structural impacts on decision-making processes

Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) forms a generally accepted concept to ensure sustainable development in the coastal zone. The implementation of the ICZM framework as formulated, e.g. by the World Coast Conference, is often constrained by the political system within which it should be applied. This is the case in the People's Republic of China. This study takes a political science perspective based on approaches inherent in neo-institutional and administrative theories. This way the relevant political structures are explained and the impacts that the transformation of the socio-economic system had on institutions are located. This is extended by the reflection of related political power distribution. This part of the analysis mainly contains existing knowledge on (integrated) CZM in China but evaluates it from a so far neglected point of view. The second part of the paper is taking the successful local ICZM approach of Xiamen and a proposed approach for Shanghai as an example to show that the adaptation of a working approach to other parts of the country is impossible without modifications to the organizational structures of decision-making and implementation. So far the literature emphasizes mostly modifications in content. An important reason for structural elements being comparably important is the choice of ICZM issues and the local power distribution. It furthermore shows that these are also the determining factors obstructing the upscaling of a local approach to the national level, a fact, which constrains the formulation of national guidelines in China and leaves only the bottom-up alternative of introducing ICZM to China—a hard task that leaves a disproportional responsibility to the local governmental level.     

Interest of quality-based policies for Integrated Coastal Zone Management implementation: Lessons learnt from a French case study

This article shows how quality-based policies can support the effective implementation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management. It is based upon the analysis of the trial that is currently being conducted by the Marennes Oléron District on the Atlantic coast of France through the implementation of the Oléron Coastal Quality Action Plan. The author emphasizes three main aspects. At first, she exposes the general process that supported the emergence of the ICZM project of this district, highlighting the major role of early public participation, territorial planning and the design of operational action plans. She demonstrates that the implementation of coastal quality action plans can follow the integration building process of the ICZM iterative cycle, and thus support ICZM implementation. Then, she highlights the major role of science/management integration in the implementation of quality-based policies, showing in which way scientists can provide useful knowledge to practitioners at various stages of the decision-making process and contribute both to the development of public participation and success of these policies. At last, the author presents and discusses the lessons learnt from the follow up and analysis of the implementation of this action plan. She emphasizes its strengths and weaknesses by putting it into the perspective of other French ICZM projects, and shows in which way the resolution of the problems faced by stakeholders in it realization contributes to the strengthening of their management capacity. The main benefits of this process for a quality-based policy are outlined.     

A review of international,regional and national biosecurity risk assessment frameworks

Aquatic nonindigenous species (ANS) have dramatic impact on environmental, economic, social, cultural, and human health values in a variety of coastal, estuarine, and inland ecosystem. Despite efforts to develop biosecurity risk assessment frameworks for the improvement of ANS management, responsible agencies lack a standardized framework to identify and mitigate risk from ANS. This paper reviews the biosecurity risk assessment frameworks of seven international bodies, four regional bodies, and three countries and highlights the similarities, differences and deficiencies in their respective frameworks. Specific deficiencies found by the review include: (i) a lack of national implementation of the international and regional frameworks; (ii) gaps in ANS knowledge; (iii) insufficient guidance for various components of the risk assessment; (iv) limited number and scope of standards and measures related to ANS; and (v) inconsistent terminology between frameworks. To reduce the risk of ANS introductions, this paper concludes with a set of six recommendations to develop aquatic biosecurity risk frameworks that are both comprehensive and precautionary while also in accord with mandates established by other international bodies such as the World Trade Organization.     

Integrated coastal zone management using the ecosystems approach,some perspectives in Malaysia

An effective assessment of functions, goods and services of coastal ecosystems requires commitment from the various stakeholders and an integrated approach in the management of the ecosystem. Malaysia has made commitments through its policies, the latest being the Eighth Malaysia Plan, for 2001–2005 (“8th MP”), which is the first phase implementation of the Third Outline Perspective Plan (“OPP3”), charting the development of the nation for the first decade in the 21st Century. The pledge to develop an Integrated Coastal Zone Management Policy (“ICZM”) is being carried out to reconcile conflicting uses and ensure sustainability of coastal resources, plus identify and provide for uniformity and minimum standards to be adopted in Malaysia. These policy instruments (e.g. OPP3, 8th MP, Draft ICZM, National Policy on Biodiversity) will set the objectives and direction that will allow for formal instruments of implementation of strategies and plans envisaged to take place, besides setting the stage for the various stakeholders and outlining responsibilities and commitments. It will also allow for disciplines and findings be it in science, socio-economic and humanities to interface with policies and its instruments of implementation, especially when put into the context of the ecosystems approach.     

Implementing Integrated Coastal Zone Management in a national policy vacuum: Local case studies from Ireland

Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) is widely advocated at all levels of governance as a means of delivering sustainable development in coastal areas. This paper explores the status and characteristics of various forms of ICZM at the local level given that it is at this level that most ICZM activity currently takes place. In this context, local level ICZM includes agency-led initiatives, local pilot projects and bottom-up approaches. Providing empirical evidence about the relative strengths and weaknesses of these various models for local delivery, this paper presents an overview, critique of and lessons learned from approaches in Ireland, where there is no over-arching national coastal management policy to provide any steer for management. The potential for local government involvement in these approaches is emphasised, particularly in bottom-up and local projects which foster strengthened management capacity within local government with limited resource implications. Whilst the paper highlights difficult jurisdictional issues in the Irish context, the potential for improved coastal management, through continued local government involvement in ICZM networks and local projects, as well as through the implementation of the European Integrated Maritime Policy and Marine Strategy Framework Directive, is outlined.     

我国海岸带综合管理制度、实践及存在问题

海岸带综合管理作为沿海区域实现可持续发展目标的重要途径,对沿海地区科学有效地利用海岸带资源具有重要意义。本文从国家、省、市三个层面分析了我国当前海岸带综合管理制度现状和实践状况,提出了在海岸带综合管理立法缺失、权属不清、海陆统筹不能兼顾、海岸带规划与评价不足、管理技术亟待升级、海岸带基础数据尚不完备等制度方面存在的问题;基于国内外对海岸带综合管理的经验和实践,从加快海岸带立法、完善海岸带规划、协调综合管理、兼顾陆海统筹、提升管理技术、加强管理效果评价以及夯实基础信息等方面提出海岸带综合管理制度进一步完善的措施和建议,为进一步提升我国海岸带综合管理工作提供参考。     

Situation of integrated coastal zone management in Central America: Experiences of the IUCN wetlands and coastal zone conservation program

Central American coastal zones possess extensive scenic and geographical wealth as well as great biological diversity. These coasts maintain 21.6% of the region’s population and produce at least US$ 750 million alone in fishing activities that provide work and sustenance for more than 450 000 persons in the region. Eight percent of the world’s mangroves are located in Central America, as well as the second largest corral reef barrier on the planet. A good representation of the region’s natural heritage is conserved in approximately 110 protected areas. Due to these special conditions, at least 50% of Central America’s coastal zones is devoted to tourism, one of the three primary economic activities in four of the region’s countries. Integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) in this region has been limited by information gaps, restricted technical and financial capacity, and strong sectoralism. Some recent projects, both governmental and supported by NGOs, offer new experience and lessons on regional ICZM. These initiatives have been backed at the ministerial and presidential level by a large number of political agreements within the framework of the ‘alliance for sustainable development’ (ALIDES).     

The Pacific International Waters Project: Aims,approaches and challenges

This paper focuses on pilot activities being carried out under the Integrated Coastal Watershed Management component of the Pacific International Waters Project (IWP). The paper discusses a two-pronged approach being taken to address the root causes of identified threats to the international waters of 14 Pacific Island countries. National and local level activities are focusing on coastal fisheries, waste management and freshwater protection. The integrated strategic approach of participatory planning processes, social analysis, resource economics and communications in identification of environment problems, their causes and potential solutions for supporting behavioural change in relation to resource use and management is discussed. Some examples of country activities to date are provided. Although it is too early to assess a full range of lessons and project impacts, a number of key issues continue to provide challenges for the implementation of a large regional programme such as the IWP. They include: multi-sectoral stakeholder engagement; the establishment of partnerships needed to support integrated coastal management; and national capacity to implement community-based resource management projects.