CHAPTER 1 • Principles and Benefits of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (lCZM)
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via atmospheric transport, demands for coastal recreation, including visits to unique
marine resource areas; and internationally determined demands, such as for global
shipment of crude oil and oil products.
Thus, ICZM involves multiple regions, the boundaries of which rarely - if ever -
coincide. For example, governmental boundaries for counties, states and provinces are
rarely contiguous with watershed or ecosystem boundaries. In analysis, explicit consideration must be given to cross-boundary flows - in and out, upwind and downwind.
However, the management structure established for a designated coastal area is not
likely to have jurisdiction over activities beyond its area.
1.4
Estab.lishing Priorities for Management Actions
Given multiple problems and virtually always limited resources with which to "tackle"
them, a major problem in ICZM is to establish priorities, i.e. what to do first. Criteria
for establishing priorities include
• benefits in relation to costs, cost effectiveness,
• distribution of benefits and costs, i.e. who gains and who pays,
• political concern for some segment of the population, e.g. artisanal fishers, or other
low income groups in a given region,
• physical, chemical, biological effects on the environment,
• effects on institutional/administrative structure,
• relative importance of problems, regardless of how "relative importance" is measured,
• feasibility of financing,
• time to first returns,
• accuracy of estimates of benefits and costs, i.e. how likely are they to be achieved.
The significance of each individual criterion and the relative importance of the criteria vary from area to 'Il'ea and over time.
Because the coastal zone is the most biodiverse zone, it may be prudent to impose a
"zero net loss" principle or constraint on resource utilisation (affecting habitats,
biodiversity and the operation of natural processes) in the zone, at least at the start of
the analysis. The adoption of such a precautionary approach (Gray 1997) with its accompanying set of constraints will probably conflict with some other human needs. A
typical multiple objective and value conflict problem is posed, for example, by: the need
of local people to increase fisheries yield in a given zone; the increasing use of the same
or nearby waters for waste disposal; improving conditions for marine transport; an
increasing need to raise the quality of bathing waterslbeaches: and a political desire to
increase the stringency of pollution controls on dischargers to coastal waters. A difficult sustainability balance (E versus S versus P) will need to be struck depending on
the real and full economic value of the various resource management options, the extent to which sustainable human livelihoods can be fostered with alternative income
sources substituting for unsustainable current usages, and the actual resilience of various natural systems and processes.
21
via atmospheric transport, demands for coastal recreation, including visits to unique
marine resource areas; and internationally determined demands, such as for global
shipment of crude oil and oil products.
Thus, ICZM involves multiple regions, the boundaries of which rarely - if ever -
coincide. For example, governmental boundaries for counties, states and provinces are
rarely contiguous with watershed or ecosystem boundaries. In analysis, explicit consideration must be given to cross-boundary flows - in and out, upwind and downwind.
However, the management structure established for a designated coastal area is not
likely to have jurisdiction over activities beyond its area.
1.4
Estab.lishing Priorities for Management Actions
Given multiple problems and virtually always limited resources with which to "tackle"
them, a major problem in ICZM is to establish priorities, i.e. what to do first. Criteria
for establishing priorities include
• benefits in relation to costs, cost effectiveness,
• distribution of benefits and costs, i.e. who gains and who pays,
• political concern for some segment of the population, e.g. artisanal fishers, or other
low income groups in a given region,
• physical, chemical, biological effects on the environment,
• effects on institutional/administrative structure,
• relative importance of problems, regardless of how "relative importance" is measured,
• feasibility of financing,
• time to first returns,
• accuracy of estimates of benefits and costs, i.e. how likely are they to be achieved.
The significance of each individual criterion and the relative importance of the criteria vary from area to 'Il'ea and over time.
Because the coastal zone is the most biodiverse zone, it may be prudent to impose a
"zero net loss" principle or constraint on resource utilisation (affecting habitats,
biodiversity and the operation of natural processes) in the zone, at least at the start of
the analysis. The adoption of such a precautionary approach (Gray 1997) with its accompanying set of constraints will probably conflict with some other human needs. A
typical multiple objective and value conflict problem is posed, for example, by: the need
of local people to increase fisheries yield in a given zone; the increasing use of the same
or nearby waters for waste disposal; improving conditions for marine transport; an
increasing need to raise the quality of bathing waterslbeaches: and a political desire to
increase the stringency of pollution controls on dischargers to coastal waters. A difficult sustainability balance (E versus S versus P) will need to be struck depending on
the real and full economic value of the various resource management options, the extent to which sustainable human livelihoods can be fostered with alternative income
sources substituting for unsustainable current usages, and the actual resilience of various natural systems and processes.