Socioeconomic conditions in coastal areas: a comparative analysis

Abstract

Coastal areas, at the global level, hold a major proportion of population and economic activities, which depend mostly on the environment and its natural resources such as agriculture, fishing, tourism and industry. Such conditions reflect the importance of coastal areas and their natural resources to the welfare of the communities living in these areas. Human activities, meanwhile, usually involve a wide range of negative impacts on the environment. Such conditions, accordingly, require proper management that integrates human activities within a coherent setting of planning policies that address environmental carrying capacity. It is usually argued that great similarities do exist between different coastal areas of the Mediterranean region, not only in terms of environmental conditions, but also socioeconomic conditions. Such similarities, and despite possible differences, have promoted calls for developing common guidelines for coastal zone management in the region. This paper intends to conduct a comparative analysis of socioeconomic conditions in two southern Mediterranean sites; namely Rosetta area (Egypt) and Oued Laou area (Morocco). This analysis intends to pinpoint the main similarities as well as differences between both sites. The work conducted, which involved significant field work, showed that great socioeconomic similarities do exist in the two sites and that deteriorating environmental conditions have adversely affected those communities, especially the poor, and the vicious circle between environmental deterioration and poverty does exist.