Coastal cultural heritage: A resource to be included in integrated coastal zone management

Abstract

Maritime and coastal cultural landscape, encompassing land and sea, and underwater is an important part of our cultural resources in the coastal areas. Although, integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) has theoretically addressed the importance of cultural ecosystems, cultural resources have mostly been overlooked in holistic coastal management plans. Overlooking cultural resources results in loss of cultural identity associated with certain habitats; loss of tourism, recreational and educational opportunities; decline in local ecological knowledge, skills and technology pertaining to habitat management; and loss of opportunities for social and cultural capital. Literature and practice show that there is no proper definition and evaluation of coastal cultural heritage is available and coastal cultural heritage has not been considered as a resource with high level of benefit for development and people. Acknowledging the importance of coastal cultural heritage as a resource in ICZM, and the role that ICZM can play in linking land and sea management approaches highlights the necessity of new methods for defining and evaluation of coastal cultural heritage. This paper proposes models and guidelines for defining and evaluating coastal cultural heritage to be included in Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) and ICZM as a resource through application of the integrative complexity theory and learning from the experiences in management of other coastal resources. The results will be an integrative evaluation method and a guideline for delineating coastal cultural areas. The method and tool will be examined through the case of Ostend in Belgium.