Evaluation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) in ...

Evaluation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) in Europe – Final Report
The Spanish Shores Act’s (Ley de Costa) definition of the coast is
much narrower and only covers the shore of the sea and its inlets,
including the foreshore between high and law water marks, the banks
of tidal rivers and low-lying land that is at least occasionally flooded
by the action of the sea. The Spanish report reflects on three groups
of coastal issues, the environmental group (urban sprawling and
“cementation” of the coast, the change of coastal dynamics, the
reduction of the quality of water bodies, the degradation of ecosystems
and habitats, environmental risks along the coast, and the loss
and degradation of landscape along the coast), the socio-economic
group (urban and touristic trends and perspectives, fisheries and
aquaculture, water sports activities, maritime transport, regional
development, new opportunities (energy from wind and wave plants,
desalination plants), and the governance group (preservation of
marine-terrestrial public domain along the coast, laws and institutions,
distribution of competencies and responsibilities, administrative
coordination, and transboundary coordination).
The coast of UK is of considerable contrast and makes a general
definition of the coastal zone difficult. The coast is described therefore
in the UK stocktake foremost in general geographical terms as “an
area of dynamic transition where land and sea interact and which
includes both the landward margin and inshore waters”. Hence, each
of the devolved administrations of the UK, namely Wales, Scotland,
Northern Ireland and England, have set different definitions for the
coastal zone. One major problem throughout the UK pertains to the
climate change and its related issues, such as sea-level rise and,
accordingly, the increase of coastal erosion.
Another major issue has been recognised and addressed specifically
in the Irish Sea pilot project that had been launched in 2004 up to
2006. As the Irish Sea falls within the area of the North Western
Waters Regional Advisory Council and a specific Irish Sea working
group, mainly involving stakeholders groups from the UK and
Republic of Ireland, has been established. They are specifically
expected to advise the Commission on fisheries management issues
within the area.
It is evident from the reports that the main problems along the Atlantic
coast are connected with tourism and maritime activities (ports,
transport, ship building), to a lesser extent fisheries and aquaculture
as well as agriculture and urbanisation. Tourism and port industry are,
up to a certain degree, conflicting because both are space demanding,
but in addition tourism seeks for pristine, environmentally healthy
areas while ports are striving for expansion and need maintenance of
infrastructure (dredging, bank protection etc.).
Main problems
along Atlantic
coast connected
with tourism and
maritime activities
(ports, transport,
ship building)
Tourism and port industry are also mainly responsible for pollution
and land devastation problems. Tourism causes tremendous problems
of water pollution and shortage, especially in the southern
countries (see EEA, 2006). The problem areas tourism and urbanisation
(house and road building) are closely linked and especially in
Portugal and Spain have reached a critical threshold. No functioning
spatial planning is in place to guarantee a balanced planning
mechanism taking into account different sectors as requested by
Urban Thematic Strategy.
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