Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan Research Articles

The Kandinsky building in Chile: A case study demonstrating extreme urbanization pressure on coastal ecosystems

This discussion addresses the urgent issue of coastal urbanization in Chile, particularly focusing on the degradation of dune systems due to accelerated urban development and inadequate management frameworks. Using the Kandinsky Building collapse as a case study, this paper elucidates the vulnerabilities associated with extreme coastal urbanization and the absence of robust legislation. The research calls for the immediate implementation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) and Territorial Planning as pivotal tools for effective coastal governance in Chile. Both these mechanisms, when grounded in science, can provide sustainable solutions that balance current land-use demands with future ecological needs. We emphasize the necessity of scientifically informed setback lines, Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), public education, and fiscal instruments to mitigate the challenges posed by extreme coastal urbanization. A Chile-specific ICZM plan, incorporating scientific research into policy formulation and execution, is imperative for evidence-based, adaptive, and sustainable decision-making.

Adopting the Local Knowledge of Coastal Communities for Climate Change Adaptation: A Case Study From Bangladesh

Bangladesh has a unique coastal system with both proximity of climatic vulnerability and opportunity, having rich coastal resources. The upkeep of people's livelihoods in the coastal zone largely depends on the degree to which key stakeholders at all levels of decision-making can participate in climate adaptation planning and implementation processes. These facts are well recognized in Bangladesh's Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan (ICZM), National Adaptation Program of Action (NAPA), and the Bangladesh Climate Change Strategy and Action Plan (BCCSAP), which emphasize the need for integrated multi-level decision-making at all stages of the adaptive management cycle. The aim of this article is to assess the value of coastal community engagement in Bhola and Satkhira districts of Bangladesh and highlight priority programs that may increase adaptive capacity in the face of climate change. To this end, interviews were conducted involving local farmers, fishers, women householders, businessmen, and other local leaders, thus yielding a total 240 participants who informed this empirical research. Case studies of villages of these districts highlight helpful examples of adaptation initiatives that may increase people's capacity to respond to the adverse effects of climate change, both autonomously as villagers, and as part of a coordinated program to reduce vulnerability. Issues flagged for urgent attention include water management, socioeconomic conditions, and migration away from coastal districts. The findings point to both potential interventions and a need to better prioritize adaptation options and strategies that are suitable for local contexts. In some cases, these options reflect existing Indigenous and local knowledge (ILK) and adaptation practices which may be both supported and leveraged through the coordinated implementation of different aspects of government policies.

The Role of Culture in the Self-Organisation of Coastal Fishers Sustaining Coastal Landscapes: A Case Study in Estonia

The cultural sustainability of coastal landscapes relies heavily on the community’s self-organisation in fish foodways. The theoretical framework concentrates on cultural sustainability, foodways, land–sea interactions, and community of practice. The data presented in this article were part of the SustainBaltic Integrated Coastal Zone Management plan, consisting mainly of semi-structured and focus group interviews with stakeholders, supported by background information from various available sources. The results are outlined by descriptions of self-organisation, community matters, and food forming cultural sustainability of coastal landscapes. The self-organisation in community of practice among coastal fishers is slowly progressing by negotiating common resources and voicing concerns about ecological, economic, and social sustainability. Foodways, which comprise the indispensable ingredient for sustaining a way of life that has produced traditional coastal landscapes, are always evolving.

Challenges Ahead of Integrated Coastal Zone Management in Environmentally Sensitive Islands: A Case Study

Small islands around the world encounter special challenges due to vulnerability to acute climates, human-induced activities and pollution. The challenges even become more intricate where the island is located in environmentally sensitive regions. In order to address the problems in coastal areas, Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) whose concept was born in 1992 during the Earth Summit of Rio de Janeiro, has been recommended by United Nations. This paper focuses on challenges ahead of ICZM in environmentally sensitive islands through Interaction-Stakeholder and Option Matrices. Kish Island is a beautiful small island located in Persian Gulf. With regard to environmental sensitivities and susceptibilities of the island, its ICZM plan requires special attention. The method utilized in this article combines the perception of stakeholders’ need and coastal issues with the effects of management interventions. The method developed for Kish’s ICZM plan can provide comprehensible tools for decision makers in order to find the sources of conflicts and problems. According to the results, most of the interactions belong to “coastal environment” and “tourism” and also many groups of primary stakeholders are involved by many changes. The results of Option Matrix imply that “environmental legislation and mandatory EIA for any project and any discharge” and also “allocation of some regions to national park” interact with various components of the matrix and many primary stakeholders engage. Finally, some of the obstacles are scrutinized in this study such as: environmental legislation, lack of local environmental standards, lack of enough incentive among primary and secondary stakeholders, etc.

Evaluation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan Practices in the Turkish Case

In terms of both international and national contexts, mostly coastal zones are the place of complexity, vulnerability and competition, so that they have to be well-planned and managed. Diversity in users, land uses, investments, sectoral plans and policies make coastal areas highly complex and problematic zones where competition also takes place. Unless these dimensions of pressure aren’t balanced with precautionary actions, coastal zones transform into more vulnerable geographies. Within this context “Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Plan” appears as a major tool where “integration” becomes a vital keyword for such diversifying environments. This integration challenge covers sectoral, administrative, spatial, interdisciplinary (in terms of scientific research fields) and internationality dimensions. A set of basic principles could also be obtained from the literature in order to reach a better ICZM Plan practice. These could be summarized as; “a broader perspective”, “a long-term perspective”, “adaptive management and monitoring”, “local specificities, specific solutions and flexible measures”, “carrying capacity of ecosystems”, “a participatory process”, “well coordination of policies and partners” and “coherence between sectoral policy objectives, planning and management”.A similar problematic conceptualization is also viable for Turkey, where approximately 76% of the total border length and 27 of 81 provinces are coastal. Naturally, both ICZM and coastal zone planning are within the emerging planning issues of national agenda. The purpose of this paper is to examine the Turkish practices depending on the above-mentioned principles by comparing various official ICZM plans of selected provinces. As a general conclusion it is seen that ICZM -to be an integrative and multi-dimensional tool- is contextually misunderstood. From this perspective “the determination of the plan borders”, “unsuitability of the plan contents with the ideal ICZM plans” and “absence of legal basis” could be defined as the major discussion topics which reflect the dilemmas of ICZM practice in the Turkish case.

Capacity Development for Integrated Coastal Zone Management in Egypt

Since 1990 there has been a considerable increase in the number of developing countries undertaking Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) schemes at both the local and national levels. Unfortunately many of these ICZM schemes have failed to be implementated due to difficulties such as information and communication gaps and restricted technical and financial capacity. Common problems experienced across all developing countries. As a case in point, it is argued that developing countries suffer from capabilities at the local institutional level. Similarly, it is advocated that Mediterranean developing countries have not fully implemented ICZM as a result of lack of stakeholder capacity. Egypt provides a case study of this argument. Since the mid-1990s several attempts have been made to promote ICZM in Egypt, however none have achieved their goal of having an ICZM plan become operational. This paper reviews ICZM processes in Egypt focussing on the capacity of all instituions and key stakeholders to plan and implement ICZM based on interviews with key ICZM key stakeholders as well as documentary analysis and participant observation in ICZM meetings. It seeks through a critical evaluation to provide practical recommendations that serve to enhance the implementation of ICZM in Egypt and other developing countries.

Salinity Intrusion in Interior Coast of Bangladesh: Challenges to Agriculture in South-Central Coastal Zone

This paper investigates the impacts of salinity on crop agriculture in south-central coastal zone of Bangladesh, more particularly interior coast. The coastal areas of Bangladesh, with near flat topography and location at the tip of “funnel shaped” Bay of Bengal, are susceptible to a number of natural hazards such as cyclones, tidal surges, salinity intrusion, riverbank erosion, and shoreline recession. The coastal zone of Bangladesh, especially exposed coast has come into focus in a number of policy and academic studies for salinity intrusion, but with the accelerated impacts of climate change salinity extends from the exposed to the interior coast hampering crop production. To investigate extent of salinity level in interior coast and its impact on crop agriculture, this study tested irrigation water collected in between October and December 2011 from the lower Meghna at Gosairhat upazila in Shariatpur district and interviewed experts and local farmers. This study estimated that salinity concentration of surface water was 1.3 dS/m which was 0.8 dS/m higher than the earlier estimation by ICZMP (Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan) in 2003. The test further revealed that Chloride ion concentration in irrigation water was 500 ppm, pH level was 7.99 and concentration of Carbonate ion was 221 ppm, which were much higher than the desired level. Estimated salinity concentration has already put a threat to the crop production and a significant yield loss has already been noticed in dry season. In the changing scenario of sea level rise, it has been predicted that the increasing concentration of salinity would create more pressure to the farmer by reducing yield on one hand and threatening livelihood, income generation and food security on the other hand. Therefore, to reduce the future loss and prevent the present loss, the study recommends leaching and selecting salinity tolerant crop varieties as adaptation techniques.

Assessing habitat risk from human activities to inform coastal and marine spatial planning: a demonstration in Belize

Integrated coastal and ocean management requires transparent and accessible approaches for understanding the influence of human activities on marine environments. Here we introduce a model for assessing the combined risk to habitats from multiple ocean uses. We apply the model to coral reefs, mangrove forests and seagrass beds in Belize to inform the design of the country’s first Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Plan. Based on extensive stakeholder engagement, review of existing legislation and data collected from diverse sources, we map the current distribution of coastal and ocean activities and develop three scenarios for zoning these activities in the future. We then estimate ecosystem risk under the current and three future scenarios. Current levels of risk vary spatially among the nine coastal planning regions in Belize. Empirical tests of the model are strong—three-quarters of the measured data for coral reef health lie within the 95% confidence interval of interpolated model data and 79% of the predicted mangrove occurrences are associated with observed responses. The future scenario that harmonizes conservation and development goals results in a 20% reduction in the area of high-risk habitat compared to the current scenario, while increasing the extent of several ocean uses. Our results are a component of the ICZM Plan for Belize that will undergo review by the national legislature in 2015. This application of our model to marine spatial planning in Belize illustrates an approach that can be used broadly by coastal and ocean planners to assess risk to habitats under current and future management scenarios.

Procesos de manejo costero integrado en Ecuador y Sri Lanka: Una perspectiva de comparación

Ecuador (en 1989) y Sri Lanka (en 1990) empezaron sus procesos de Manejo Costero Integrado - MCI utilizando fondos de la misma Cooperación Internacional y asesoramiento y evaluación de la misma universidad extranjera. Tomando en cuenta estas similitudes y que ambos son países tropicales en vía de desarrollo se efectuó un análisis comparativo entre ambos. A través del modelo conceptual de ciclos de MCI sugerido por GESAMP y una amplia revisión bibliográfica y documental sobre la temática, fueron analizados ambos procesos de MCI, a fin de entender sus fortalezas y debilidades para fomentar nuevos procesos de MCI, así como también evaluar el uso del modelo conceptual de GESAMP como herramienta de análisis. Lo que en principio parecían procesos similares, en la práctica fueron muy distintos. Ecuador presentó un proceso más orientado a la participación desde el comienzo, mientras Sri Lanka solamente en la tercera generación logró integrar aproximaciones participativas. De otro lado, Sri Lanka tuvo un proceso más ordenado y centrado en desarrollo institucional, estableciendo primero un marco institucional que sirviera de base al comienzo del proceso de MCI. Ambos países han alcanzado resultados de primer orden (cambios institucionales), de segundo orden (cambios en el comportamiento) y posiblemente de tercer orden (cambios socioeconómicos y ambientales). Se concluye con este estudio de caso que los procesos participativos, la voluntad política, los procesos de evaluación y la financiación fueron fundamentales para el éxito de ambos proceso de MCI. También se encontró que el modelo conceptual propuesto por GESAMP representa una herramienta teórica fundamental para la planificación y análisis de los procesos de MCI, pero podría ser revisado y contrapuesto empíricamente a través de una investigación más profunda, con un mayor número de casos internacionales concretos de implementación de planes de MCI.

Integration as a Significance Factor in Effective Coastal Management: Egypt as a Case Study

In the last two decades, integration and collaboration have become common themes in coastal management. They are advocated for their holistic approach that considers management outcomes rather than narrow jurisdictions of individual issues. Being more specific; Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) is a complex process with various issues to be covered and requiring a network of agencies and policies to be integrated. Furthermore, ICZM as a tool of effective planning and management encompasses different dimensions. Simultaneously, the integration should be territorial (comprising a delimited space), and temporal (long-term oriented), as well as being horizontal (cross-sectoral) and vertical (involving various administrative bodies) Hence, Multi-dimensional integration is essential for ICZM to succeed. However, achieving effective integration in coastal management is always difficult, especially in developing countries. Egypt provides an excellent case study of this experience. Since the mid-1990s several attempts have been made to promote ICZM in Egypt, although none have, as yet, achieved their goal of having an ICZM plan in operation. This paper reviews ICZM process in Egypt focussing on discussing the integration between all actors to plan and implement ICZM based on interviews with key ICZM actors as well as documentary analysis and participant observation in ICZM meetings. It seeks through a critical evaluation to provide recommendations that could help to enhance the implementation of ICZM in Egypt and other developing countries.

Methodology of Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan Preparation – Case Study of Andaman Islands, India

Generally, approaches of coastal issues are sectoral basis and solutions have been formed in adhoc fashions which are not long lasting. Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) is conceived as a holistic management tool working across sectoral, disciplinary, and institutional boundaries. ICZM planning is a continuous process to achieve the goals and objectives by using alternative decisions. ICZM plan is providing boundary conditions for limitation, negotiation and implementation. Planning for coastal management is essentially requires integration of resources, uses, issues, and tools for achieving the management objectives. The ultimate goal of ICZM is to improve the quality of life of human communities. Coastal area management needs integrated, interdisciplinary and multi-sectoral approaches for sustainable utilization of resources, which is the fundamental objective of the resource planners and managers. Methodology for ICZM planning is differing in relation to the regional culture, society, economics, politics, nature, technology, scientific, human behavior, etc. Planning for coastal management is very easy by following the methodology or framework developed for the planning process. A case study of ICZM Plan for Andaman has been prepared by using the participatory methodology, which is the source of consensus for all stakeholders of the Andaman Islands. The tasks of ICZM Plan preparation for Andaman Islands includes, knowledgebase development, selection of ICZM plan preparation methodologies, conflict identification, risk analysis, cost benefit analysis, strategic and action plans, recommendations and institutional changes. This ICZM methodology could be used for comparing and understanding the boundary conditions of union or federal developing nations towards comparative planning.

Integrated coastal zone management plan for Udupi coast using remote sensing, geographical information system and global position system

Coastal areas are under great pressure due to increase in human population and industrialization/commercialization and hence these areas are vulnerable to environmental degradation, resource reduction and user conflicts. In the present study an Integrated Coastal Zone Management Plan (ICZMP) has been developed for Udupi Coast in Karnataka, along West Coast of India. The various data products used in the present study includes IRS-1C LISS-III + PAN and IRS-P6 LISS III remotely sensed data, Naval Hydrographic Charts and Survey of India (SOI) toposheets, in addition to ground truth data. Thematic maps such as land use/ land cover map, bathymetry map, shoreline configuration map, transportation and drainage network maps, GPS survey map, CRZ map, contour map, DEM, inundation map, critical erosion area map were prepared. A Coastal Vulnerability Index has also been calculated for the study area to know the resistance of study area to sea level rise and is demarcated into four categories; Very high, High, Moderate and Low vulnerability, and a vulnerability map has been prepared. The results of the present study are encouraging. Some of the specific conclusions of the study are; about 50% study area is prone to erosion, river mouths along study area show shifting tendency towards south, and the beaches along the Udupi Coast are maintaining dynamic equilibrium. Coastal Zone Information System (CZIS) has been developed through V.B.6.0 using results of various data analysis.