Marine and river environments: A pattern of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) in Calabria (Southern Italy)

Abstract

The integrated coastal zone management is a working and continuous process to promote a dynamic balance between economic growth, human use of natural resources and environmental protection of coastal systems. The integration between terrestrial and marine environments is the main purpose of this course through a new kind of landscape planning extended from coastlines to continental areas, along the ideal lines of regional catchments. So, coastal environments require an integrated management to establish mutual interactions between human, political and scientific elements to achieve a sustainable development of the coastal zone. In this study, it has been developed a specific methodological framework, named Function Analysis, applied to a littoral region located in a wilderness area. The results highlight the good environmental condition of this seaboard system exposed, however, to a definite human pressure. In fact, the ecological and human values, plotted in a diagram, point out a transition state, for the studied area, on the border between development and conservation plans. To solve this problem, it is hoped to improve the environmental value of the ecological and fluvial corridor of Verri stream basin connecting two terrestrial and marine Sites of Community Interest, as conservation is the higher priority for this coastal region. In conclusion, it has been suggested to manage marine and terrestrial resources through a coordinated strategy in which coastal and river environments could be, really, inserted in the same landscape unit to promote the social and economic development of local communities toward a sustainable development of coastal areas.