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Integrated Coastal Zone Management
What is Integrated Coastal Zone Management?
To explain what is involved in integrated coastal zone management, it is first necessary to
state clearly what is meant by the ‘coastal zone’?
What is the Coastal Zone?
The coastal zone is ‘a dynamic human and natural system which extends seawards and
landwards of the coastline. Its limits are determined by the geographical extent of the
natural processes and human activities which take place there. For Coastal Zone
Management (CZM), it extends as far inland and seawards as is required by management
objectives’ (The European Workshop on CZM, Dorset, 1991). So, for example, a coastal
zone may include coastal waters and the land area draining into them, but will also need
to coincide realistically with the human communities contained within it.
The coastal zone is a unique and limited part of the physical environment where there is a
complex interaction of physical processes involving both the land and the sea. It is
generally also an area of intense human activity which makes use of all environmental
resources including the area’s aesthetic quality, productive capacity and mineral wealth.
These activities and processes impact directly and indirectly on one another.
Why is there a need for specific management of the Coastal Zone?
The unique circumstances that exist within the coastal zone create a need for specific
management of this area.
Given the complex interaction of the physical environment and human activities within
the coastal zone, effective management is necessary in order to ensure the quality of the
resources, and to secure the long-term future of the economy and communities within this
area.
Historically, different parts of the coastal zone have been managed independently by
separate agencies. This has sometimes resulted in a lack of co-ordination, which has led
to difficulties for the people and environments of these areas.
How does Coastal Zone Management work?
Coastal zone management (CZM) works by bringing together all of the interested parties
(local interests and regulators) to address the specific management challenges of this
particular environment. It recognises the valid opinions and perspectives of all the
interests in the area. The agreed management has to be integrated in order to adequately
address the complex interactions that exist within the coastal zone. Coastal zone
management can function at a variety of levels from the national to the local, but is
intended to deliver appropriate responses to local circumstances. It is a dynamic process
that takes time and depends on a commitment to working together in order to generate
solutions and achieve implementation. It requires at least a broad-based consensus that
builds commitment to, and shared responsibility for, management.
What is special about Integrated Coastal Zone Management?
Involving all groups in developing an agreed management system ensures that all
interests are considered and maximum gain is delivered for all those participating.
Traditionally, planning tends to focus either on a particular area (for example, a town
plan) or a particular process (for example, housing or road construction). ICZM includes
both aspects in a comprehensive approach to planning; taking account of all processes
and interests occurring within the particular coastal zone.