Portal:SPICOSA/New Article
ALTERNATIVE STRATEGIES FOR INTEGRATED COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT
The term “Alternative Strategies” refers to an updatable suite of options concerning policies, practices, and data requirements that would facilitate an application of the Systems Approach Framework (SAF) methodology, developed during the SPICOSA EU FP6 Integrated Project. The SPICOSA IP had the goal of developing the SAF for Coastal Zone applications in support of Sustainable Development in Coastal Areas and in the context of ICZM. This objective was accomplished through SAF applications in 18 Study Sites throughout the European Region. In addition to the SAF, the Project provided support for its development (supplementary information), archiving (model library and documentation), and dissemination (training and public outreach).
The “Alternative Strategies” discussed herein represent an essential supplement to expedite and enrich SAF applications, which are designed to simulate an issue in a coastal zone system and provide quantitative and qualitative information on various scenarios concering the resolution of the Issue. The goal Alternative Strategies is to make readily accessable to potential SAF users, information regarding political strategies, technical options, and intelligent monitoring that can support the SAF simulation itself and enrich the quality of the simulation of the Policy Issue and enrich its associated scearions.
As an example, a user starts by indentifying a critical policy issue and/or identifying an Impact in a Coastal Zone. The Alternative-Strategy database will quickly locate the key processes that influence the properties of the system and then suggest the right "set" of tools (political, technical and moinitoring) for the issue. This set can be used for all the four stages of the SAF, i.e. from the initial design phase of Issue/scenario identification until the final evaluation to the ouput phanse for the delivery of results concerning the requested management scenarios. More
PRESSURES, IMPACTS AND POLICY RESPONSES IN EUROPEAN COASTAL ZONES
Summary
Pressures, impacts and policy responses have been identified for 18 coastal sites in Europe. These sites were selected as study sites for the SPICOSA project, as they constitute together a representative sample of the diversity of European coastal environments. A comparative analysis reveals striking similarities between coastal sites in spite of widely different physical, environmental, social and economic conditions. It therefore makes sense to share experience on policies and practices for defining the best policy responses in each particular case. A generic framework for analysis is under construction in the SPICOSA project, based on the systems approach. This framework of analysis enables the transfer of knowledge and experience among coastal sites, with full consideration of site-specific conditions. More
