Coastal Management Initiatives Research Articles

Estimates of longshore sediment transport rates along Macumba and Recreio-Barra da Tijuca sandy beaches (Rio de Janeiro, southeastern Brazil)

Due to the complex nature of coastal dynamics, several models were developed to estimate longshore sediment transport (LST) rates. The Coastal Engineering Research Center (CERC), Kamphuis, and Bayram models are among the most used and were applied to three east–west oriented sandy urban beaches from Rio de Janeiro (southeastern Brazil): Macumba, Recreio, and Barra da Tijuca. The wave record from oceanographic buoys and the WaveWatch III (WW3) model were used to identify fairweather periods and increased storminess between 2016 and 2018. Eastwards, median sediment grain-size grades from coarse to medium sand, and is associated with decreasing beach slopes in the same direction. The magnitude of the estimated LST rates varied significantly between the models (Δ ≈ 1,000 m3/day, p < 0.001), although the time-averaged LST rates obtained from the four models indicate eastward transport. The four models identified areas of convergence and divergence of sediment transport with increasing rates to the east. The modeling results may support effective coastal management initiatives when integrated with topographic profiles, numerical modeling, satellite imagery, and historical information.

Dynamics of coastal land-based aquaculture pond in China and Southeast Asia from 1990 to 2020

The extensive expansion of coastal land-based aquaculture ponds (CLAP) has resulted in substantial wetland loss. To effectively monitor the dynamics of CLAP on a large scale, critical spatial information derived from continuous datasets is essential. Here, we generate the inaugural map depicting the changes in aquaculture pond coverage across the coastal regions both of China and Southeast Asia from 1990 to 2020 by utilizing the long time-series Landsat archive with an object-oriented hierarchical classification method. We extracted coastal water bodies using the Otsu algorithm and established a water inundation frequency index to eliminate interference from temporary water facilities. This process allowed us to identify potential distribution areas of aquaculture ponds. To precisely map the spatial distribution of CLAP within these identified areas, we employed an object-oriented K-nearest neighbor approach with spectral, geometric, and water index features as classification features. The cumulative coverage of CLAP in China and Southeast Asia reached 23,121 km2 by 2020, marking a net increase of 12,700 km2 since 1990. Notably, China, Indonesia, and Vietnam emerged as the primary contributors to these changes within our study area. Regions exhibiting dense aquaculture activities are predominantly concentrated in the northern region above 10 degrees latitude and along the eastern coastlines of various countries. This aquaculture pond map reserves fine spatial detail by effectively distinguishing drainage channels, rice seedling fields, and embankments surrounding aquaculture ponds. It serves as a valuable resource for guiding coastal resource management and environmental protection initiatives.

Fishers’ perceptions of global change to inform coastal planning in a data-poor socio-ecological system

Global change has a significant impact on coastal populations and their reliance on coastal ecosystems and resources. This is particularly true for small-scale fisheries (SSF) in Brazil, where limited data exacerbates their vulnerability. Acquiring local user knowledge is crucial to enhancing the sustainability of SSF. In Rio Formoso, Northeast Brazil, a fisher's association plays a vital role in conserving coastal ecosystems and raising awareness about anthropogenic activities. This study examines various social, governance, economic, and ecological aspects of Rio Formoso fisheries, focusing on fishers' perceptions of global change. We carried out individual and collective interviews, participatory mapping, and discourse analysis. Rio Formoso fisheries stood out by the diversity of their activities (gears, species, habitats), women's leading role, and the intense involvement of the association in coastal management initiatives. Fishers reported decreased abundance and biodiversity, and increased demand for their products. They perceived the threats to their fishing activities posed by the consequences of global change, including temperature and rainfall modifications, pollution generated by anthropogenic activities, and conflicts with tourism. Social challenges, such as gender discrimination against fisherwomen and the ongoing struggle for fishers to be included in policy-making decisions, further hinder fisheries' sustainability. This study demonstrates the valuable insights gained from fishers' perceptions in a data-poor system, enabling a preliminary global assessment to identify conflicts, social challenges, ecological concerns, and suitable actors to lead feasible and acceptable policies. As conflicts and community concerns can provide opportunities for co-management, it is imperative to operationalise community-based management tools, particularly in Brazil, to alleviate fishers' struggles in meaningful decision-making involvement.

Public perception and preferences for coastal risk management: Evidence from a convergent parallel mixed-methods study

Coastal ecosystems are exposed to unprecedented levels of human pressure and to the cumulative effects of climate change. Altogether, these threats have been exposing coastal areas to augmented hazardous processes, leaving communities highly vulnerable to coastal risks and challenging the coastal management paradigm. Disregarding public perceptions of coastal risk management may be myopic and, thus, an obstacle to the success of the efforts towards coastal risks' mitigation and adaptation. Therefore, this study aims at comprehensively ascertain public perception and preferences for coastal risk management, through a mixed-methods approach. The quantitative study accounted for 3028 participants that enrolled in the population-based survey. The qualitative study accounted for 320 participants that responded to the e-interview. Data were analysed independently and triangulated for further interpretation. Evidence from this study suggests that citizens prioritize the intrinsic value of coastal systems, when favouring a risk adaptation strategy. Therefore, ecosystem-based adaptation measures were highlighted, in detriment of grey infrastructure. Additionally, and due to the reported high levels of public authorities' distrust, the public seems to urge for a transition from a technocratic to a participatory coastal management, in which public's preferences are legitimized. Consequently, and in order to decentralize coastal governance, citizens demonstrated a proactive disposition to actively engage in coastal management. Findings from this study were discussed in order to provide guidance to the development of tailored coastal management initiatives and policy tools, which are expected to be effective at enhancing coastal communities' resilience to hazardous processes and augmenting citizens' engagement in coastal management.

Modeling recreational fishing intensity in a complex urbanised estuary

Urbanised estuaries, ports and harbours are often utilised for recreational purposes, notably recreational angling. Yet there has been little quantitative assessment of the footprint and intensity of these activities at scales suitable for spatial management. Urban and industrialised estuaries have previously been considered as having low conservation value, perhaps due to issues with contamination and disturbance. Studies in recent decades have demonstrated that many of these systems are still highly biodiverse and of high value to local residents. As a response, urbanised estuaries are now being considered by coastal spatial management initiatives, where assessments of recreational use in these areas can help avoid ‘user-environmental’ and ‘user-user’ conflict. The models of these activities need to be developed at a scale relevant to governments and regulatory authorities, but the few human-use models that do exist integrate fishing intensity to a regional or even continental scale; too large to capture the fine scale variation inherent in complex urban fisheries. Species Distribution Modeling (SDM) is a tool commonly used to assess drivers of species range, but can be applied to models of recreational fishing in complex environments, at a scale relevant to regulatory bodies. Using point-data from 573 visual surveys with recently developed Poisson point process models, we examine the recreational fishery in Australia's busiest estuarine port, Sydney Harbour. We demonstrate the utility of these models for understanding the distribution of boat and shore-based fishers, and the effects of a range of temporally static (geographical) and dynamic (weather) predictors on these distributions.

Optimization of the taxonomic resolution of an indicator taxon for cost-effective ecological monitoring: Perspectives from a heterogeneous tropical coastline

An important requirement towards formulating appropriate management and conservation measures for biological diversity is to devise efficient and cost-effective monitoring protocols that yield coherent data. Environmental monitoring investigations have been typically based on species level responses of biodiversity to environmental disturbances. Considering that this exercise is cost-intensive and the species identification keys are unavailable for some geographical areas, efforts are now afoot to test the efficacy of supra-specific taxa in resolving distribution patterns of biota, analogous to that of species. This study was aimed at testing the efficacy of Taxonomic Sufficiency (TS), a data reduction technique, in deciphering spatio-temporal variations of macrobenthos in the tropical coastal waters of northwest India. The macrobenthic indicator taxon, Polychaeta, was analyzed at five transects that included two marine protected areas, during the three major seasons. The consistency of spatio-temporal trends of polychaete assemblages, derived from four taxonomic levels and subjected to five types of data transformation was scrutinized. Univariate indices indicated that coarser taxonomic levels except order, maintained the indicative responses spatio-temporally, similar to the species level. Spatial variability was appropriately indicated by all data matrices. Temporal variation was evident only with family data subjected to fourth root or log data transformations. The TS approach succeeded in this tropical ecoregion owing to the consistent and sizable proportion of monotypic polychaete taxon and uniformity in responses of the constituents of higher polychaete taxon. CCA results revealed that a similar set of environmental variables influenced the polychaete distribution at all the taxonomic levels; however, spatial variations detected at species level diminished with reduced taxonomic breadth. Results indicated that meaningful robust data for deriving coastal management initiatives can be achieved cost-effectively by the adoption of TS approach for the ecologically and economically important 2360 km long northwest Indian coastline.

Comparison of Coastal Vulnerability Index applications for Barcelona Province

The Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) is one of the simplest and commonly used methods to assess coastal vulnerability to sea-level rise (SLR) driven erosion and/or inundation. In this way, it is a common tool contributing to the decision-making process in long-term coastal planning and management. However, there is not a unique approach to be adopted, and existing ones can supply different information and, thus, promote different decisions. Within this context, the main goal of this paper is to compare and evaluate different methodologies to determine CVI, and to suggest the most appropriate approach that can be generically applied for coastal vulnerability assessment. For doing this, the approaches proposed by Gornitz (1991), Shaw et al. (1998), Thieler and Hammar-Klose (2000), and Lopez et al. (2016) are applied along the 160 km long the Barcelona coastline in the Spanish Mediterranean.Shaw et al.‘s (1998) method appears to be the more realistic approach to assess vulnerability of the Barcelona coast while the overall vulnerability level calculated by the equation proposed by Gornitz (1991) indicate a wide variability, from highly vulnerable to a very low level of vulnerability. This study shows that the ranking tables generated from site-specific databases may not be applicable elsewhere, and indicates that it might be prudent to develop site or region-specific ranking categories to compute the overall CVI in order to provide reliable inputs to local coastal zone management initiatives. Despite the potential bias in the categorization of the overall CVI classes and their expert opinion/judgment approval requirements, CVI tools help decision makers to take the necessary actions to increase the resilience of coastal zones to SLR.

Enhancing and promoting national environmental goals through local integrated coastal management initiatives and legislation: Evidence from Xiamen

In 1994, Xiamen municipality, one of China's four special economic zones, was authorized to make its own necessary local legislations. Since then, Xiamen local legislators have formulated a number of local regulations and rules regarding coastal and marine resource management, most of which preceded national legislation on the same topic, including several local legislations and were able to facilitate financial leverage such as the development of a User Pay and Permit System and the Marine Ecological Protection Compensation Scheme. Equally significant is the legislation on the Use and Protection of Local Uninhabited Islands promulgated in 2003. These regulations together with others promoting the protection and conservation of Chinese White Dolphin in relation to the enforcement of marine functional zoning, proved crucial for good governance of the Xiamen National Nature Reserve for Rare Marine Species. Experiences from Xiamen local practices, including support from local government, planning in advance, and involvement of the public, influenced policy and law-making at the national level and helped Xiamen to become not only an environmentally sound city but also nationally acclaimed example of good environmental governance.

Deconstructing coastal sustainable development policies: towards a political ecology of coastalscapes in Vietnam

Sustainable development has become the mantra, or the global utopia, for multiscalar development worldwide, being promoted by governments and international organisations through the support to social and environmental policies. However, the concept of sustainability, as well as the Agenda 2030 and SDGs, remain controversial due to socio-political and environmental contradictions. This article analyses the promotion of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) and related initiatives oriented towards sustainable coastal governance in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. It emerges that these policies, rather than promoting sustainable coastal governance and preserving local communities practices and knowledge, support a controversial green growth vision and the unsustainable neoliberalisation of socio-environmental practices.

Resiliency via integrated coastal management in Kish Island

Small islands around the world face various hazards such as sea-water level rise, hurricanes, human activities over pressure, environmental degradation, and pollution. Resiliency is a critical feature that has to be maintained in these sensitive and vulnerable areas. This paper focuses on the importance of Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) in increasing the level of resiliency in small islands. Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) has been recommended for practice by United Nations 1992 Rio Conference resolution to conserve the valuable natural resources of the coastal areas around the globe and improve their deteriorating environmental conditions. Integrated coastal management plan in small islands should resolve their problems in such a way that sustainable development is guaranteed. Kish is a beautiful small island in the Persian Gulf region, which serves the country as a free trade zone. This article describes its characteristics and problems and also the e orts that have been made for integrated coastal management initiatives in the island to identify the basic problems and provide plans for strengthening the island to manage its current and future problems via acquiring an acceptable level of resiliency.

Ecosystem-Based Knowledge and Management as a tool for Integrated Coastal and Ocean Management: A Brazilian Initiative

ABSTRACT Scherer, M.E.G. and Asmus, M.L., 2016. Ecosystem-Based Knowledge and Management as a tool for Integrated Coastal and Ocean Management: A Brazilian Initiative. In: Vila-Concejo, A.; Bruce, E.; Kennedy, D.M., and McCarroll, R.J. (eds.), Proceedings of the 14th International Coastal Symposium (Sydney, Australia). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue, No. 75, pp. 690–694. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. The Ecosystem-Based Management (EBM) brings knowledge highlighting the importance of ecosystem services (ES) as the key factors supporting the environment, social and economic integrity, as well as human wellbeing. EBM could represent the change from public policies greatly focused on normative and bureaucratic components to new policies predominantly based on the understanding of ecosystem processes and the regulation of human activities. Nevertheless, most of the coastal zone management initiatives in Brazil lack the necessary ecosystem based information to fully support EBM. They als...

The Importance of Costing in Coastal Management: Experience of Selangor, Malaysia

This research investigates the importance of costing element in sustaining the coastal management initiative in Selangor, Malaysia. Thus, this research stems from the approach of financing coastal management to see the importance of budgeting in planning and managing coastal areas. The research attempts to examine and analyse the relationship between the implementation of coastal management and the costing impact. The study was undertaken in Klang District, Selangor based on data collection from interviews, consisting of government officials and coastal management practitioners, apart from obtaining secondary data from literature review and governments’ documents. The results demonstrate that the level of success of implementation of coastal management programme is based on its approved costing. In a local context, the results indicate that the relationship between costing and coastal management has a positive pattern but does not establish a strong relationship, whereby the costing index is only 0.195 (the third ranking place). This situation shows that Selangor state does not emphasise on the importance of costing element in managing its coastal areas. This is due to the lack of attention given to the importance of coastal management in relation to the holistic approach of development practised in Selangor.

SUSTAINABLE GOVERNANCE IN RELATION TO THE FINANCIAL ASPECT IN MANAGING COASTAL AREAS: MALAYSIAN EXPERIENCE

Managing natural resources sustainably is essential in this contemporary era of land use planning system. This includes managing and planning the invaluable of coastal areas. In this regards, coastal management programmes have been regarded as a key approach in delivering the coastal strategies and objectives towards achieving a sustainable coastal development worldwide. This is supported by the good governance to ensure that the implementation of coastal development is successful. As such, this paper suggests that the aspect of good governance as one essential element of coastal management that can and should make a substantial contribution to planning and managing coastal land uses in Malaysia. It has many positive implications to the environmental, social and economic sectors. The experience of Lembaga Urus Air Selangor (LUAS) in managing the coastal areas via the implementation of good governance indicates the requirement of good governance in ensuring a successful coastal management. In addition, financial element has become a significant attribute in implementing coastal management initiatives. This study offers input in planning literatures by addressing the integration of coastal management, good local governance, land use planning and financial elements which are very relevant with today‘s current global changes on environment as a whole.

SUSTAINABLE GOVERNANCE IN RELATION TO THE FINANCIAL ASPECT IN MANAGING COASTAL AREAS: MALAYSIAN EXPERIENCE

Managing natural resources sustainably is essential in this contemporary era of land use planning system. This includes managing and planning the invaluable of coastal areas. In this regards, coastal management programmes have been regarded as a key approach in delivering the coastal strategies and objectives towards achieving a sustainable coastal development worldwide. This is supported by the good governance to ensure that the implementation of coastal development is successful. As such, this paper suggests that the aspect of good governance as one essential element of coastal management that can and should make a substantial contribution to planning and managing coastal land uses in Malaysia. It has many positive implications to the environmental, social and economic sectors. The experience of Lembaga Urus Air Selangor (LUAS) in managing the coastal areas via the implementation of good governance indicates the requirement of good governance in ensuring a successful coastal management. In addition, financial element has become a significant attribute in implementing coastal management initiatives. This study offers input in planning literatures by addressing the integration of coastal management, good local governance, land use planning and financial elements which are very relevant with today‘s current global changes on environment as a whole.

Interactive flood hazard visualisation in Adobe Flash

AbstractAdvances in analytical flood modelling need to be accompanied by similar advances in the means by which model results can be disseminated across a wide range of stakeholder groups. In this paper, we exemplify the use of Adobe Flash as a means to design interactive flood mapping methods that can portray a wide range of potential flood levels, and place them into a context of flood frequency. We apply this methodology to a coastal flood‐prone locality in Australia, integrating a range of flood‐related information into a single intuitive interface. We demonstrate how a temporal dimension can be incorporated to represent future changes to inundation probability based on climate change projections of sea‐level rise. The resulting visualisation is accessible directly via the web, and is designed for ease of use and understanding for all stakeholders. Such flexible methods of representing flood hazard can foster education on flood issues, support community decision‐making and assist emergency response when floods eventuate. In this way, such mapping methods can play a vital role in integrated coastal zone management initiatives.

Land-based nutrient loading to LMEs: A global watershed perspective on magnitudes and sources

Coastal resource management initiatives in recent years have moved towards ecosystem approaches such as embodied by Large Marine Ecosystems (LMEs). In this study, land-based dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN) loading to LMEs was evaluated using a spatially-explicit river export model (Global NEWS 2) for the year 2000 conditions and for a current trends analysis for the year 2050. Watershed export was aggregated by LME to estimate total DIN load and attribution to diffuse and point sources including natural biological fixation, agricultural biological fixation, fertilizer, manure, atmospheric deposition and sewage. Biological fixation in natural landscapes was the primary source of DIN to many LMEs, but in most (73%) LMEs, over half of the total DIN load was related to anthropogenic sources. Most of the anthropogenic DIN load across LMEs was related to agricultural sources especially fertilizer and manure. Fertilizer was the primary source of DIN to LMEs in most of Europe and Asia, while manure was the primary source in most of Central and South America. Agricultural biological fixation, sewage and atmospheric deposition in general supported a minor fraction of the DIN exported to LMEs although each was a dominant source to a few LMEs. If current trends continue, DIN export to coastal systems by 2050 relative to 2000 is predicted to increase by approximately 40–45% from Africa, South America, South Asia and Oceania. Almost half of the total global increase in DIN is from South Asia. Relatively smaller increases are predicted for North America, with slight decreases in Australia and Europe.

Testing the water: Understanding stakeholder readiness for strategic coastal and marine management

We argue that stakeholder commitment and cooperation is essential for the success of strategic coastal and marine management initiatives and draw upon social identity theory to explain how inter-group relationships can either support or hinder cooperation across stakeholder groups. We analyse data from interviews carried out with 24 coastal and marine stakeholders from the Northern Territory, Australia, looking at how stakeholders describe their objectives for coastal and marine management and evidence of social identity effects either facilitating or impeding cooperation between stakeholders. While most participants sought improvements to coastal and marine management, only some were thinking in terms of a more regional-scale, forward-looking and integrated approach. Strong social identity effects inhibiting cooperation between stakeholders were evident in many of the interviews. However, the interviews also revealed shared objectives (e.g., the need for more data, to avoid duplication of effort, and more transparent and systematic decision-making) that could serve as a basis for developing a common social identity, and fostering the commitment and cooperation needed for strategic coastal and marine management initiatives.

Assessing climate change readiness in Seychelles: implications for ecosystem-based adaptation mainstreaming and marine spatial planning

The high financial costs and institutional constraints of adapting to climate change necessitate joint planning with other development and environmental priorities, especially in Small Island Developing States. In response, ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) is gaining recognition as a cost-effective and synergistic approach for enhancing livelihoods through nature’s services, building community resilience, and integrating marine spatial planning. Using Seychelles in the West Indian Ocean as a case study, we assess the readiness for climate change as a tool to implement and mainstream EbA across various spatial scales. Our assessment highlights certain governance mechanisms and policy processes that could contribute to joint adaptation and economic planning and in achieving multiple objectives. These include leadership, institutional mechanisms, science–policy nexus, decision-making structures, stakeholder involvement, and technological innovation. These readiness factors as well as knowledge gaps on future risks provide lessons for other SIDS in their climate change and integrated coastal management initiatives. As such, the needs to strengthen local governing capacity, secure sustainable funding, and promote adaptation research for long-term monitoring and cross-scale linkages are warranted.

SUSTAINABLE GOVERNANCE IN RELATION TO THE FINANCIAL ASPECT IN MANAGING COASTAL AREAS: MALAYSIAN EXPERIENCE

Managing natural resources sustainably is essential in this contemporary era of land use planning system. This includes managing and planning theinvaluable of coastal areas. In this regards, coastal management programmes have been regarded as a key approach in delivering the coastal strategies and objectives towards achieving a sustainable coastal development worldwide. This is supported by the good governance to ensure that the implementation of coastal development is successful. As such, this paper suggests that the aspect of good governance as one essential element of coastal management that can and should make a substantial contribution to planning and managing coastal land uses in Malaysia. It has many positive implications to the environmental, social and economic sectors. The experience of Lembaga Urus Air Selangor (LUAS) in managing the coastal areas via the implementation of good governance indicates the requirement of good governance in ensuring a successful coastal management. In addition, financial element has become a significant attribute in implementing coastal management initiatives. This study offers input in planning literatures by addressing the integration of coastal management, good local governance, land use planning and financial elements which are very relevant with today‘s current global changes on environment as a whole.

SUSTAINABLE GOVERNANCE IN RELATION TO THE FINANCIAL ASPECT IN MANAGING COASTAL AREAS: MALAYSIAN EXPERIENCE

Managing natural resources sustainably is essential in this contemporary era of land use planning system. This includes managing and planning theinvaluable of coastal areas. In this regards, coastal management programmes have been regarded as a key approach in delivering the coastal strategies and objectives towards achieving a sustainable coastal development worldwide. This is supported by the good governance to ensure that the implementation of coastal development is successful. As such, this paper suggests that the aspect of good governance as one essential element of coastal management that can and should make a substantial contribution to planning and managing coastal land uses in Malaysia. It has many positive implications to the environmental, social and economic sectors. The experience of Lembaga Urus Air Selangor (LUAS) in managing the coastal areas via the implementation of good governance indicates the requirement of good governance in ensuring a successful coastal management. In addition, financial element has become a significant attribute in implementing coastal management initiatives. This study offers input in planning literatures by addressing the integration of coastal management, good local governance, land use planning and financial elements which are very relevant with today‘s current global changes on environment as a whole.