Coastal Management

The increasing worry about coastal areas forms part of one of the central matters in the environmental policies of many countries of the world, in the way that they support more than half of the worlds population and the implantation of many activities and installations which have their logical placement on the coast (fishing, aquiculture, tourism, maritime transport etc), activities which on occasions are not easy to complement.

Since the passing of the coastal zone management act of 1972 in the United States many countries have undertook policies of coastal protection and management. And in international environmental measures the subject matter of the sustainability of the coast is reoccurring (see for example chapter seventeen of the Agenda XXI signed at the conference of Rio de Janeiro in 1992)

The integrated management of coastal areas (also known under the initials GIZC) has as an objective to balance in the long term, within the limits placed by the natural dynamic and the load capacity of the zone, the benefits of economic development and the use of the coastal area by human beings, with the protection, preservation and restoration of coastal zones, the reduction of loss in terms of human lives and the damage to the coast and public access and use of the same (JM Barragan)

Currently the GIZC has obtained great scientific development and is an object of monographs, specialized magazine, courses of specialization etc. Related to the management of territory the GIZC is being introduced into public environmental policies around the world. In this section the coastal observatory aspires to offer some examples and models of GIZC, and in particular of the initiatives which are being developed in Spain.

 

FRANCISCO JAVIER SANZ LARRUGA

Investigator