The Integrated approach to Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)

General Background

The Coastal Zone

Coastal nature

Being the interface between the land and the ocean, coastal areas are affected by highly dynamic processes. They support unique ecosystems of special fragily, being areas of great environmental and aesthetic value.

For instance, eight of the forty priority habitats listed in the Conservation of Natural Habitats Directive and of Wild Fauna and Flora Directive are coastal. Approximately a third of the Union's wetlands are located on the coast, as well as more than thirty per cent of the Special Protection Areas designated under the Conservation of Wild Birds Directive.

Coastal ecosystems tend to have very high biological productivity. The reproduction and nursery grounds of most fish and shellfish species of economic value are in the coastal strip, and a significant proportion of the catch of these species comes from this area.

Coastal uses

Humanity has always had a close relationship with the coast. Traditional uses of coastal space include trade and conquest, migration and defence and in some cases, a focus for cultural and spiritual identity. Coastal zones are of crucial importance for coastal states also today. They are home to the bulk of the population and account for a considerable share of the country's economic activities, being highly valued by society for the non-market goods and services they provide.

A wide range of human activities takes place in the coastal zones (industry, tourism, fishing, aquaculture, etc). When these activities develop together on the narrow coastal strip, problems tend to arise, creating conflicts between activities. Due to its hihgly dynamic character, even development work with clear local objectives may have adverse effects elsewhere along the coast.

Coastal risks

Recent research shows that climate change could involve a rise in sea level of several millimetres per year, and an increase in the frequency and intensity of coastal storms. Depending on where they occur, the combined effects of these two phenomena will have serious repercussions, such as major floods. At the same time, the expected growth, in tourism in particular, will increase human pressure on natural, rural and urban environments.

Need for coastal management

Multiple use of coastal space, the need to protect against disaster, and protecting the inherent (though, for generations, greatly underestimated) fragility of the marine environment and its coastal fringe, are not immediately compatible goals. Actually, the huge concentration of human activities in this narrow strip has led to rapid degradation of these zones' rich and important ecosystems and habitats and, as a result, the entire coastal system faces an uncertain future.

These conflicts, coupled with an escalating demand for coastal resources, the restricted geographical extent of the coastal zone, and the fragile nature of many coastal environments means that the coast is an area that requires careful management.

Evolution of Coastal Zone Management practices

Despite its overwhelming importance to society, the coastal zone is a difficult area to manage due to temporal issues (current, tides and seasons) and the overlapping of physical geography and hydrography (inshore, shoreline, offshore), of jurisdictions, legal mandates and the remits of government agencies and the often competing needs of stakeholders.

Typically, many different local, national and regional government agencies are responsible for different aspects of the same physical areas and different uses of the coastal zone, e.g. fisheries, environment, agriculture, transport (inland and marine), urban planning and cadastre, etc. These ministries often find themselves undertaking the same or similar tasks and sometimes, even working against each other due to inharmonious and competing objectives of their legal mandates. The frequently-encountered government technique of merging some ministries, organisations or agencies and separating others, either physically or based on mandates, usually fails to yield the desired results of increased efficiency in government and reduced duplication of effort and resource expenditure.

Environmental costs of the traditional model of economic growth and the current challenge imposed by the paradigm of Sustainable Development (UNEP 1992), imply a move towards more rational approaches to coastal development. The largely sectoral ad-hoc management strategies of the past have proved inadequate to deal with the highly complex ‘hybrid’ human-environmental interactions characterizing the development of coastal areas. As a result, Coastal Zone Management (CZM) initiatives are turning to more integrated strategies worldwide, attempting to balance the benefits from the economic development and human uses of the coastal space while sustaining over the long-term, the ecological, socio-cultural, and historical values of a particular given area

Definition of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)

Principles of ICZM

ICZM is still a relatively new and evolving concept, and there is as yet no consensus even regarding such issues as the fundamental nature and structure of the coastal zone, the most appropriate timescales for the application of CZM policies, or even the key criteria for defining sustainability in coastal zone development.

Nevertheless, there are some agreed general principles for ICZM.

Current practices

Bad practices: faulire of past/present planning system

Good practices

Concerns and evidence of needs -weaknesses to be addressed: administrative, human resources, organizational, finances, political...

ICZM in Europe

Many of Europe's coastal zones face problems of deterioration of their environmental, socio-economic and cultural resources. Since 1996, the European Commission has been working to identify and promote measures to remedy this deterioration and to improve the overall situation in our coastal zones.

EU Demonstration Programme

From 1996 to 1999, the Commission operated a Demonstration Programme on Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) designed around a series of 35 demonstration projects and 6 thematic studies. This programme was aimed to:

Provide technical information about sustainable coastal zone management, and

Stimulate a broad debate among the various actors involved in the planning, management or use of European coastal zones.

The programme was intended to lead to a consensus regarding the measures necessary in order to stimulate ICZM in Europe

EU ICZM Strategy

In 2000, based on the experiences and outputs of the EU Demonstration Programme, the Commission adopted two documents:

A Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on "Integrated Coastal Zone Management: A Strategy for Europe" (COM/00/547 of 17 Sept. 2000)

A proposal for a European Parliament and Council Recommendation concerning the implementation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management in Europe (COM/00/545 of 8 Sept. 2000). This EU ICZM Recommendation was adopted by Council and Parliament on 30 May 2002.

The Communication explains how the Commission will be working to promote ICZM through the use of Community instruments and programmes. The Recommendation outlines steps which the Member States should take to develop national strategies for ICZM. The national strategies are due for Spring 2006 and should involve all the coastal stakeholders.

ICZM Evaluation Report of ICZM in Europe (18 August 2006)

The ICZM Evaluation Team of Rupprecht Consult and the International Ocean Institute (IOI) were appointed by the European Commision to carry out an independent evaluation of ICZM in Europe.

Main objectives

To evaluate the implementation of the EU ICZM Recommendation of May 2002
To evaluate the added-value of ICZM in the context of relevant existing and evolving Community policies/legislation
To identify where a need for further action exists as regards coastal zone policy and to provide recommendations for further relevant action at Community level

Observed benefits of the ICZM Recommendation in Europe

The analysis of implementation trends has shown that the ICZM Recommendation has been beneficial for the coastal management in Europe:

Creating a new awareness regarding long-term coastal challenges
Initiating a rethinking of traditional planning approaches towards more sustainable ones
Creating a strong pressure to increase participative elements in decision-making

According to this report, ICZM has shown that it could become the instrument to link 'terrestrial' to 'marine' legistation, especially on a regional sea level

ICZM EU policies

Since the 1970s the EU has been dealing with coastal zones through international conventions covering its regional seas. More recentrly, the EU has begun to specifically address problems related to the state of coasts and the coast as a regional entity.

ICZM Strategy -COM(2000)547 final

EU ICZM Recommendation (2002/413/EC)

Coastal related EU policies

Many coastal authorities are engaging in ICZM in order to coordinate the multiple uses of the coastal zones, their impacts and development policies. The coherence of EU policies affecting the coastal zones and the integration of the various levels of governance are a pre-requisite for successful ICZM.