Towards integrated coastal governance with Chinese characteristics – A preliminary analysis of China's coastal and ocean governance with special reference to the ICM practice in Quanzhou

Abstract

After the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED, Rio, 1992), theories and concepts of Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) have been further developed and thus have promoted the implementation of ICM worldwide. As a major maritime country, China attaches great importance to ocean governance and started its implementation of ICM in 1994 when China joined the GEF/UNDP/IMO Regional Programme for the Prevention and Management of Marine Pollution in the East Asian Seas for the first time. In the last two decades or so, while implementing and scaling up ICM in cooperation with the Partnerships in Environmental Management for the Seas of East Asia (PEMSEA), the authors found that the local government-based ICM with active participation of all stakeholders is a suitable integrated coastal management approach for China. This is actually an adaptive ICM with Chinese characteristics—integrated coastal governance (ICG).In this paper, the authors illustrate the characteristics of ICM implemented in China with a positive analysis of the practice of ICM in Quanzhou, Fujian Province. To break down the barriers among sectors in the implementation of ICM, the municipal government established a special leading group (ad-hoc committee) to exercise the centralized leadership of the Government for leading the implementation. Though there was not significant participation of NGOs in the implementation of ICM, the broad public participation under the leadership of the local government laid the groundwork for the success. Finally, this paper gives a discussion on possibilities for further improvement of China's ocean governance.