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11 th International Symposium for GIS and Computer Cartography for Coastal Zones Managementla of the NEMA. ICM is now firmly entrenched as a management paradigm for the South African coastal area (Cellierset al., 2013). Key objectives of the ICM Act are to provide a regulatory framework that supports the holisticintegrated approach to coastal management outlined in the White Paper for Sustainable Coastal Development inSouth Africa (DEAT 2000) implemented through coastal management programmes. The ICM Act outlines the institutionsthat must facilitate co-operative coastal governance as well integrated planning. The ICM Act also builds onthe White Paper’s call for a coastal information system and now makes it mandatory to establish such a system andto publish regular state of the coastal environment reports. The DEA has identified the establishment of an oceanand coastal information system as a strategic priority over the short-term (2011-2014).Currently, also forming part of ongoing national debate is the National Climate Change Response White Paper(DEA 2011a) and the National Environmental Management of the Oceans, a draft Green Paper (DEA, 2012). Bothof these are explicit in their expression for the need of improved spatial information and data for management.Ocean and Coastal Information SystemsThe need for national information platforms is evident in the parallel and sometimes overlapping initiatives in theearth and environmental observation domains. Many of these initiatives are directly or indirectly funded by theSouth African government: SAEON and the execution of its mandate; SAEOS (The South African Earth Observation Strategy) portal (saeos.qsens.net); The Risk and Vulnerability Atlas (R&VA; www.sarva.org.za); The World Data Centre for Biodiversity and Human Health (WDC-BHH); a range of other initiatives.The DEA, Oceans and Coast Branch has also recognised the need to develop a coastal and marine informationsystem and as a result has taken a number of steps to implementation of such a system. Importantly, the SA Coastaland Marine Information System has been recognised as a need in the medium-term and has been included in theBranch Ocean and Coasts Business Plan. This system must include both coastal and marine components and needsto be developed as a joint effort between the integrated coastal management and research sections.Other examples of operational systems hosting spatial data and information relevant to oceans and coastal managementabound. DEA has previously developed two closed decision-support tools to assist staff in day-to-day decision-making.The first of these focussed on a system that collated and made information available to a variety ofgovernment stakeholders regarding illegal developments along the Wild Coast area of the Eastern Cape. The secondrelated to the management of off-road vehicle beach driving applications. SANBI maintains a sizeable spatial datasystem on terrestrial, coastal and marine biodiversity (bgis.sanbi.org).A structured model for coastal and marine spatial planning in South AfricaCollectively, the national development priorities, underpinned by a NSDI and future CSDI, and the recognition ofthe importance of spatial information for management in national legislation constitutes an authoritative determinationfor the constitution of a structured model to enable ocean and coastal spatial planning within the context of thenational ICM framework. Such a model is consciously constructed and managed by interested and affected parties.In the absence of a functional and structured model, it is unlikely that seamless coastal and marine spatial planningwill be a significant contributor to the goals of sustainable coastal development.ReferencesCelliers, L., S. Rosendo, I. Coetzee, and G. Daniels. (2013), Pathways of integrated coastal management from nationalpolicy to local implementation: Enabling climate change adaptation. Marine Policy, 39:72–86.Celliers, L., and R. Longhorn (2007), Coastal Spatial Data Infrastructure (CSDI): African Requirements and Responses.In: 8th International Symposium on GIS and Computer Mapping for Coastal Zone Management(CoastGIS 2007), Santander, Spain.DEA (Department of Environmental Affairs) (2012), National Environmental Management of the Ocean. DraftGreen Paper for comment. December 201286