Coastal Zone Management: The Case of Castellón
215
Methodological Aspects
DEVELOPMENT AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE ENVIRONMENT
The work plan for the Integral Management of a coastal stretch should be divided in a
series of action steps to be analyzed and studied (Fig. 1). The first consideration should
be given to the creation of guidelines and organization that would bring together all
the involved entities to take the final decision. As the first step in the study it is
important to know, on one hand, the medium objective of the study, divided up as
follows:
1) Physical
2) Chemical-biological
3) Ecological
and, on the other hand, the agents that act on that medium, which can be divided into:
1) Physical
2) Human
The action of the agents on the medium generates the processes, that can be classified
into:
1) Littoral
2) Environmental
3) Socio-economic
Once, the medium, the acting agents and the processes are known we can deduce the
consequences that any action steps would generate on a stretch of coast, as well as the
sensitivity in each state to natural risk. We could then select the alternative action in a
first approach basis, after the problems are detected and premises are in hand.
STUDY OF THE ALTERNATIVE ACTIONS
To begin with, there were five general alternative action scenarios chosen:
The solutions given to this problem have always been specific and drastic: the
construction of rigid structures, building artificial levees from rubble blocks, or groyne
fields in some areas by filling them with gravel or boulders.
In the present situation, it would seem necessary to have a global approach to
the coast with continuous monitoring in certain characteristic points along those
profiles, which would reach the maximum sea-depth, and would encroach about 300 to
400 meters inland.
215
Methodological Aspects
DEVELOPMENT AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE ENVIRONMENT
The work plan for the Integral Management of a coastal stretch should be divided in a
series of action steps to be analyzed and studied (Fig. 1). The first consideration should
be given to the creation of guidelines and organization that would bring together all
the involved entities to take the final decision. As the first step in the study it is
important to know, on one hand, the medium objective of the study, divided up as
follows:
1) Physical
2) Chemical-biological
3) Ecological
and, on the other hand, the agents that act on that medium, which can be divided into:
1) Physical
2) Human
The action of the agents on the medium generates the processes, that can be classified
into:
1) Littoral
2) Environmental
3) Socio-economic
Once, the medium, the acting agents and the processes are known we can deduce the
consequences that any action steps would generate on a stretch of coast, as well as the
sensitivity in each state to natural risk. We could then select the alternative action in a
first approach basis, after the problems are detected and premises are in hand.
STUDY OF THE ALTERNATIVE ACTIONS
To begin with, there were five general alternative action scenarios chosen:
The solutions given to this problem have always been specific and drastic: the
construction of rigid structures, building artificial levees from rubble blocks, or groyne
fields in some areas by filling them with gravel or boulders.
In the present situation, it would seem necessary to have a global approach to
the coast with continuous monitoring in certain characteristic points along those
profiles, which would reach the maximum sea-depth, and would encroach about 300 to
400 meters inland.