Introduction and Overview

Abstract

Coastal areas are currently experiencing intense and sustained environmental pressures from a range of driving forces which have been increasing in their intensity over many decades. Responsible agencies are seeking better ways of managing the causes and consequences of the environmental change process in coastal zones. This volume contains chapters which discuss the basic principles underpinning a more integrated approach to coastal management, as well as other chapters which highlight practical obstacles to its implementation in both developed and developing countries. Governments are now committed to the policy goal (variously defined) of sustainable development. But the fulfilment of the sub-goal of sustainable utilisation of coastal resources via integrated management is likely to prove to be an especially difficult task. Any successful strategy will have to encompass all the elements of management from planning and design through financing and implementation. It also requires an interdisciplinary scientific and operational approach, combined with a more flexible and participatory institutional structure and emphasis to account for multiple stakeholders and their different resource demands. The importance of historical, socio-economic, cultural and ethical contexts should also be more fully recognized.