Conservation and the right to fish: International conservation NGOs and the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines for securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries

The Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF-Guidelines) were agreed with extensive input from small-scale fishers themselves, and hold great promise for enhancing both small-scale fishers’ human rights and fisheries sustainability in a meaningful and context relevant manner. However, this promise will not be fulfilled without continued input from fishing communities as the SSF-Guidelines are implemented. This paper proposes that international conservation NGOs, with their extensive geographical and political networks, can act as a conduit for communication between small-scale fishing communities and other parties and thus catalyse implementation of the Guidelines. In order to do so, they will first need to demonstrate a genuine commitment to people-as-well-as-parks and the human rights based approach espoused in the SSF-Guidelines. This paper reviews current engagement of international conservation NGOs with human rights in fisheries; looks at their potential motivations for doing more; and identifies challenges in the way. It concludes with a proposal for how international conservation NGOs could play a critical part in catalysing the implementation of the SSF-Guidelines.     

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.     

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.     

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).     

Coastal research and policy integration in northwest Europe. The COREPOINT project

The COREPOINT (COastal REsearch and POlicy INTegration) project aimed to advance integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) in northwest Europe through a network of local authorities, research organisations and NGOs. It involved 12 partners from Ireland, the United Kingdom, France, Netherlands and Belgium. The project enabled a comparison of approaches to ICZM at the northwest Europe scale and a series of workshops was hosted to promote the principles contained in the European Union's recommendation on ICZM. At the local level, linkages were formed between research organisations and coastal management practitioners in local authorities in an attempt to bridge the science-management divide. This special edition contains several papers that deal with different facets of the project's results.     

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。     

Coastal sciences and management: the need for networking in higher education

Successful coastal management requires appropriate competencies. Higher education is under pressure to motivate and produce graduates with the relevant scientific background. In order to make these graduates more employable, employers’ participation to education is required. Because of the interdisciplinary nature of the subject area and the need for well-skilled professionals, networking is vital for building links between industry, managers, policy-makers and academia. New curricula need to be developed and adapted to a constantly evolving subject and learning environment. The virtual classroom is now a reality. The use of electronic communication should allow the involvement of all stakeholders, including Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs). NGOs will take a more and more important rôle in the dissemination of scientific information and its application to coastal management. Generalisations are based on a case study: University College Scarborough, England.     

Education and training for integrated coastal zone management in Europe

This paper provides an overview of the current situation of education and training for ICZM in Europe. This overview results from the analysis of the general characteristics, contents and orientation of a significant number of courses from a representative set of countries and international organizations in Europe. This type of comparatively systematic information provides a framework within which education and training efforts can be meaningfully evaluated from a regional perspective. Based on the survey conclusions, the paper reflects on the level of interconnection between the way in which ICZM is currently taught in Europe and the capacity needs arising from the scenario in which it takes place. In view of such scenario, and in order to advance ICZM practice in Europe, some broad recommendations to enhance education and training efforts are finally provided.     

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.     

Interviewing people about the coast on the coast: Appraising the wider adoption of ICZM in North East England

This paper tests the hypothesis that Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) is the best strategy for achieving good coastal governance on the North East coast of England using two geographically adjacent case studies: the East Riding coast, which has an ICZM framework in place and the Northumberland coast, which does not. Semi-structured questionnaires were used for face-to-face interviews with local representatives at each study site to underpin a common context and understanding between the interviewer and interviewee. Postal surveys were used to solicit responses from non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and governmental representatives.     

A contribution to the implementation of ICZM in the Mediterranean developing countries

The purpose of this paper is to assess the level of implementation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) principles in the Mediterranean developing countries at the moment of signing the protocol on ICZM for the Mediterranean, in the framework of the UNEP Mediterranean Action Plan of the Barcelona Convention. This assessment is based on the results of two advanced seminars on ICZM promoted by the Azahar programme of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation for the Development (Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation). The contribution of the participants of the seminar, who are representatives of national agencies related with ICZM in different Mediterranean countries, have been collected through a questionnaire including: (i) a ranking of the main coastal sectors and the main coastal issues of each country; (ii) significant initiatives for the sustainable development of the Mediterranean coastal zones; and (iii) the evaluation of the ICZM progress. The state of the coast, the level of implementation of ICZM and the main problems faced to apply it, have been detected for each country. None of the consulted countries have a full implemented integrated coastal zone management, the major problems being: (i) the lack of financial commitment for the implementation of ICZM; (ii) the lack of an assessment and monitoring system; (iii) the lack of knowledge regarding the coastal system; (iv) the lack of qualified human resources; and (v) the lack of public participation and administrative integration strategies based on information. From these conclusions, some recommendations to improve ICZM are also provided. The work presented in this paper is the starting point to assess the evolution and the reference from which ICZM will be improved through the protocol on ICZM for the Mediterranean.     

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.     

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.     

Iran's Integrated Coastal Management plan: Persian Gulf,Oman Sea,and southern Caspian Sea coastlines

Iran, having two separate coastlines at its north and south of about 3000 km length, with very different characteristics, suffers from various coastal problems. While its northern coastal area is over-populated and its sensitive and unique habitats must be protected from destruction, most of its southern coastal areas are undeveloped and deserted. Intense oil and gas exploitation activities in the Caspian Sea region and occurrence of two wars in the Persian Gulf during the last two decades have rendered hydrocarbon pollution a major issue for this country's marine and coastal environment. Biodiversity is under threat in some areas and natural resources are deteriorating. To overcome the problems, Integrated Coastal Management has been considered by Iran's government as a long-term solution. In Iran's ICZM study project, baseline studies along with social, economical, and spatial planning studies in the coastal provinces are carried out in order to achieve the desired outcomes as a number of strategic plans for the coastal areas that are to be implemented by a coastal management entity. Providing the required laws and regulations for establishing such a management body is also under way. In this paper after reviewing Iran's coastal zone characteristics and problems, the long-term goals, strategies, and policies for sustainable management of Iran's coastal areas are outlined. Then, the ICZM study procedure and its prospected outcomes are explained, and importance of some of the findings of Iran's ICM is emphasized. Finally, some challenges including having two separate and different coastlines at the north and south of the country and their effects on the Iran's ICZM plan are discussed.     

Visitors' awareness of ICZM and WTP for beach preservation in four European Mediterranean regions

This paper discusses the results of a multi-country survey about private stakeholders' contribution to coastal preservation. It was conducted in four coastal sites of Greece, Italy and France, in order to collect information about beach visitors' perception of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) and their willingness to pay (WTP) for beach preservation, intended here as defence from erosion. In order to find out whether ICZM perception is a determinant of WTP, regression analysis is applied. Results show that in these sites respondents have a low level of information about the nature of ICZM, despite local authorities having implemented some ICZM strategies for preserving the coast. Nevertheless, those who are informed about ICZM have a higher probability of paying for beach preservation. This suggests to policymakers that promoting public awareness about ICZM may increase the probability of paying. Finally, some categories of visitors, such as women and young and middle-aged people, have a higher probability of paying than men and older people, thus suggesting a more sensitive attitude to beach preservation. Therefore, policy-makers should also pay attention to the categories of visitors less likely to pay.     

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.     

Spatial information for coastal zone management: the example of the Banten Bay seagrass ecosystem,Indonesia

Geo-information technology can be useful in Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM). The benefits lie in the fact that geo-information technology can process large amounts of spatial data and can integrate different types and sources of data. The general aim of this paper is to demonstrate these benefits. First, we argue that spatial databases and GIS can be used and are present in most of the policy analysis phases of ICZM. Then, we illustrate this with a case study about seagrass beds in Banten Bay, Indonesia. The development of a spatial database, including seagrass maps is described. An overlay analysis shows that the largest and most dense fields of seagrass, which are also the most important as habitat for commercial fish species, are located near past and planned shoreline developments. This and similar type of spatial analyses are very important to support ICZM decision-making at the district level. A good spatial information infrastructure to collect data and make this data accessible is a pre-requisite.     

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.     

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.     

Landscape-scale analysis of ecosystem risk and returns: A new tool for ICZM

Management of the coastal zone often focuses on “islands” of high value ecosystems, in terms of economic value or conservation. However, integrated management requires landscape-level analysis of all ecosystem values. The biodiversity portfolio analysis (BPA) method is derived from the logic used in share (equity) portfolio management in terms of balancing within a portfolio the returns with the risks. Optimising the returns from a share portfolio, or a suite of ecosystems in a landscape, is dependent on the relationship between the units in terms of risk and return. Three case studies are then presented to test the applicability of the BPA method at the international (North West Europe), regional (Durham Heritage Coast, UK) and local (part of South Uist, Outer Hebrides, UK) spatial scale. The Biodiversity Portfolio Analysis for NW Europe showed that risk and return were highly correlated in the studied Member States. The ranking of risk and return, with the highest first, was Ireland > UK > France=Netherlands > Belgium. For these Member States the risks to ecosystem service provision were positively correlated with GNI (r=0.97, P<0.01); suggesting that the higher the economic importance of coastal and marine resources in a Member State the more at risk the resources are. The regional and local case studies were more focussed on providing information on which to base Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) decision making; both case studies used stakeholder participation to determine risks and returns. The conclusions from these two case studies show how the BPA method can be useful in terms of setting ICZM priorities and in addressing local coastal issues. The BPA involves making a number of assumptions, however, it does provide coastal managers with a potential tool to strategically plan due to increased awareness of the interaction between the ecosystems in the portfolio.There is a need for such techniques, which involve stakeholder participation and which create objective outcomes, to support the implementation of ICZM.