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

Evaluation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) in Europe – Final Report
Over the whole area there is no sector with a similar leverage in
terms of penetrating the overall economy and creation of employment.
Other opportunities such as aquaculture (with its own set of
problems), energy generation (from tidal waves or wind) and others
are clearly limited paths of development.
Apart from tourism, maritime transport, ports and harbours feature
high amongst Mediterranean countries. Fisheries are still important
though as mentioned above a dwindling industry. The Mediterranean
Sea is also important for providing water to cool energy plants in the
process of energy generation. Finally along many Mediterranean
countries agriculture plays an important role, often working nowadays
in intensive modes of production consuming a lot of irrigation water
leading to less water available for human consumption and increasing
the alteration of river basins.
ICZM is facing quite some challenges also in the attitude of coastal
developers. Despite the general concern for the environment in the
Mediterranean countries and the exposure to EU approaches to
sustainable development, short-term development opportunities
attract more attention than the longer-term consequences for the
environment. Local land owners are attracted by high land prices to
convert their land from low intensity use into land for building. Local
governments usually see this as an important source for increasing
their tax base through land and property tax and so support negative
developments.
Short-term
development
opportunities
attract more
attention than
the long-term
consequences
Many of the Mediterranean countries have borders with their
neighbours. In some instances transboundary cooperation exists. The
Spanish report e.g. mentions transboundary commissions with
Portugal and France and that these commissions would be used
actively for discussing coastal issues and their management. A
Master Plan for the Adriatic Sea is the work of a trilateral commission
between Croatia, Italy and Slovenia.
4.5.2 ICZM Framework
Legislative and Policy Framework
The main legislative and policy frameworks governing the development
in the coastal zone are spatial planning instruments: laws,
regulations and policies. These laws and regulations are usually
implemented on the lowest administrative tier of the country (e.g.
municipality). Three countries (France, Spain and Turkey) additionally
have special coastal laws. The French and Spanish coastal laws
define the shoreline fringe and the shore towards the sea as public
property and restrict construction and other use in the private property
part towards the land for a certain distance from the shoreline. Such
measures have been reported to be quite successful for the public
property part and are executed through national level government
organizations. Additionally there are usually environmental laws that
also impact on the coast by making special provisions to the planning
and protection of particular valuable areas or overseeing development
projects.
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