It is estimated that by the year 2000 about 50 % of the world's population of some 6.1 billion will be living in coastal areas (FAO, in prep). Unless appropriate action is taken by governments and users of coastal resources, population pressure and associated levels of economic activity will further increase the already evident over-exploitation of coastal resources and environmental degradation of many coastal habitats (FAO, in prep). In many developing countries, this trend is further exacerbated by the widespread existence of extreme poverty and unemployment. Furthermore, conflict often arises from competing and antagonistic use of resources, or by the displacement of traditional users of coastal resources by new economic activities.
Favourable biophysical and climate conditions, together with the ease of communication and navigation frequently offered by coastal sites (by sea or up river valleys), have encouraged human settlement in coastal zones since prehistoric times.
Many of the world's major cities are located in coastal areas, and a large portion of economic activities, with the exception of agriculture, are concentrated in these cities. Thus, traditional resource-based activities such as coastal fisheries, aquaculture, forestry and agriculture are found side-by-side with activities such as industry, shipping and tourism.
The potential for economic opportunities in coastal cities is a strong attractive force, fuelling immigration from often economically depressed rural areas. As a result, much larger, younger populations can be expected in coastal areas of developing countries in the future. These future coastal residents will demand employment, housing, energy, food, water, and other goods and services, presenting a substantial development challenge for these areas.
Coastal areas are extremely important for the social and economic welfare of current and future generations, as coastal resources support key economic and subsistence activities. The economies of most developing countries are currently very dependent on natural resources, with agriculture, fisheries and forestry sub-sectors, as well as mining, oil and gas extraction, marine tourism and ocean transport, often playing important roles.
Coastal areas will further urbanise, and the economies of developing countries will undoubtedly diversify to some extent through industrialisation. However, dependence on coastal resources will likely remain strong. Industrial development often entails processing of agricultural, fishery and forestry products, together with oil refining and textile manufacture. These diversified economic activities are often also dependent on coastal resources, and as economic diversification increases and makes the component sectors more interdependent, conflicts over natural resources and the environment will tend to develop.
Coastal areas are also important ecologically, as they provide a number of environmental goods and services. The peculiar characteristic of coastal environments is their dynamic nature due to transfer of matter, energy and living organisms between land and sea systems, under the influence of primary driving forces. These include short-term weather and long-term climate, secular changes in sea level, and tides.
Physical features of coastal ecosystems, such as reefs and belts of mangrove, are important for the mitigation of the effects of natural disasters, such as storm-tide surges, shoreline retreat or floods. These areas also play an essential role in natural processes, such as land accretion, and help to control coastal erosion and other damage arising from wind and wave action.
Coastal waters in general, and, in particular, shelf areas, semi-enclosed and enclosed seas, embayments, estuaries, and wetland areas, often benefit from flows of nutrients from the land and/or also from ocean upwelling which brings nutrient-rich water to the surface. They thus tend to have particularly high biological productivity. Moreover, coastal zones frequently contain critical terrestrial and aquatic habitats, particularly in tropical areas. Such habitats together comprise unique coastal ecosystems, support a rich biological diversity and frequently contain a valuable assortment of natural resources. Examples of such habitats are estuarine areas, coral reefs, coastal mangrove forests and other wetlands, tidal flats and seagrass beds, that also provide essential nursery and feeding areas for many coastal and oceanic aquatic species. It is estimated that 90 % of the world's fish production is dependent on such areas at some time in the life cycle. Very significantly, many of the world's most productive agricultural areas are located in agro-ecological zones such as river deltas and coastal plains.
Even when coastal areas do not provide biologically unique ecosystems, their location at the sea/land interface have recreational and aesthetic values which in many countries support valuable tourism activities, as well as attractive sites for industry development and human settlements. Recreational and aesthetic values of coastal areas are increasing in many countries as coastal tourism develops and domestic demand rises with increasing real incomes. In addition, enhanced awareness of the ecological importance of coastal environments is leading to increasing efforts of resource conservation and management, and environmental protection.
The dynamics of alluvial landscapes and natural sedimentation patterns which determine the nutrient and energy flows in coastal areas are increasingly being modified by human activities, in particular those which affect water flows (dams, increased water extraction, deviation of rivers) and erosion, especially caused by deforestation. This prevents or slows down vertical accretion, thus aggravating salt-water intrusion and impairing drainage conditions in riverine, deltaic or estuarine areas and reduces or blocks sediment supply to the coast itself, which may give rise to retreat of the coastline by wave erosion. Coastal areas are also prone to threats from natural causes such as tidal surges.
Wherever rising populations continue to be economically dependent on the primary producing sectors - agriculture, forestry and fisheries - and on other sectors directly dependent on natural resources, such as tourism and mining, the over-exploitation of renewable and non-renewable resources, and the degradation of ecosystems and the resulting loss of natural resource productivity are of primary concern. In this context, it is noteworthy that marine pollution is derived mainly from land-based sources and the atmosphere (Figure 1). The effects from land-based and atmospheric sources are very different. Atmospheric input to the sea is normally dilute and diffuse, while land-based inputs are often from point sources and can have long residence times in coastal waters which are relatively enclosed by either geopgraphic or hydrographic structure. The relative contributions from each source are different in different sea areas, as these contributions depend on the degree of industrialization, the density of populations and urban settlements, the extent of offshore activities and other factors. Significantly, it has been estimated that, as a consequence of human intervention, the global transport of sediment via rivers to the oceans has increased by a factor of three. In addition to sediment loads arising inland from deforestation, agricultural practices, overgrazing and mining, there are contributions also from coastal shoreline manipulations, marine mining and oil drilling. Often, more than 90% of all chemicals, refuse and other material entering coastal waters remain there in sediments, wetlands, fringing reefs, and other coastal ecosystems.
Recently, the World Resources Institute compiled new data to develop an index of potential development-related threats to coastal ecosystems (Bryant et al., 1995; WRI, 1996). The WRI study drew upon digitized map data and defined coastal zones to include the land area within 60 kilometers of the coast and the adjacent nearshore waters. According to the WRI estimates, about 34 % of the world's coasts are at high potential risk of degradation, and another 17 % are at moderate risk. Most of the coastal ecosystems potentially threatened by development are located within northern temperate and northern equatorial zones. Europe, with 86 % of its coasts at either high or moderate risk, and Asia, with 69 % of its coasts in these categories, are the regions whose coastal ecosystems are most threatened by degradation (Box 1). The World Resources Institute kindly provided data sets and digital maps developed for this study, as a contribution to the Prototype of the FAO Digital Atlas. These maps show coastal areas of all regions of the world, and the potential threats due to anthropogenic pressures. In addition to a Global Map, the WRI study generated maps for following regions: Africa, Australia, Eastern Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Southeast Asia, West Asia, Central America, and Former USSR.
Percent of Coastline under Potential Threat (a)
Africa 49 14 38
Asia 31 17 52
North & Central America 71 12 17
South America 50 24 26
Europe 14 16 70
Former USSR 64 24 12
Oceania 56 20 24
World 49 17 34
Notes: (a) Threat ranking depicts potential risk to coastal ecosystems from development-related activities. (b) Low Potential Threat : Coastal areas with a population density of less than 75 persons/km2 , a road network density of less than 100 km of road/ km2 , or with no pipelines known to be present. (c) Moderate Potential Threat : Coastal areas with a population density of between 75 and 150 persons/km2 , or with a road network density of between 100 and 150 km of road/ km2 , or with a pipeline density of between 0 and 10 km of pipeline/ km2 . (d) High Potential Threat : Coastal areas falling within a city or major port footprint or having a population density exceeding 150 persons/km2 , a road network density exceeding 150 km of road/ km2 , or a pipeline density exceeding 10 km of pipeline/ km2 .
The threat estimates were derived from an index that is based on five globally available georeferenced indicators of potential anthropogenic threats:
Each of the five indicators was given equal weight in the construction of a final index of potential threat to coastal ecosystems. The presence of cities and ports automatically defined those units of the coastal zone as being under a high threat. Units outside of cities and ports were defined as being under a high threat if any one of the three density indicators was high; remaining units were defined as being under a moderate threat if one or more of the density indicators were moderate. Coastlines ranked as under a low threat were primarily within desert, subarctic, and arctic regions.
The WRI study notes that there are many limitations in the current estimate (Bryant et al., 1995). It is important to note that as the indicators measure pressure rather than condition, results do not imply that these areas have actually been degraded. In addition, the impacts of fishing, deforestation, and agricultural activity are not covered; human activities beyond 60 kilometers of the coast were not considered; the study did not factor in the relative sensitivities of different ecosystems to disturbance; data quality was better for some regions than for others; data modelling and mapping added additional uncertainty to the results; and pressures may have been underrepresented where they have a cumulative effect. The current study also was at too coarse a scale to guide national management and planning activities. A second phase of the project would develop a set of more comprehensive, finer-resolution indicators (Bryant et al., 1995).
There have been considerable efforts within countries as well as internationally to address economic and environmental problems being experienced in a wide range of coastal areas. Major interests currently focus on the development and implementation of integrated coastal management (ICM) programmes, aiming to help solve the mounting economic and environmental pressures on the coasts. Recently, Cicin-Sain et al. (1995) compared coastal management guidelines developed by five different international entities (World Bank, 1993; World Coast Conference Report, 1993; UNEP, 1995; Pernetta and Elder, 1993; OECD, 1991), based on ten major variables which were considered important in the design and implementation of ICM programmes: (1) scope/purpose (major aspects covered); (2) principles; (3) definition of the management area; (4) functions of ICM; (5) legal basis for ICM; (6) horizontal integration (mechanisms for intersectorial coordination); (7) vertical integration (mechanisms for intergovernmental integration); (8) financial arrangements; (9) prescriptions on the use of science; and (10) capacity building. Based on their comparisons, the authors developed a "Consensus set of ICM guidelines" (Table 1). It should be noted that Sorensen (1997) critically reviewed international and national ICM efforts.
A major international workshop on ICM in tropical countries, held in 1996 in Xiamen, China P.R., discussed lessons learned from successes and failures experienced with ICM efforts (IWICM, 1996). The workshop generated (i) an overview of the processes of formulating, designing, implementing and extending ICM within the East Asian region as well as to other regions, and (ii) a set of Good ICM Practices. For the sake of brevity only a shortened version of the main findings and suggestions contained in the workshop report (IWICM, 1996) is provided below, while interested readers are encouraged to further study the full text of the major documents of the workshop.
Following the publication of a general review on integrated management of coastal zones (Clark, 1992), FAO is about to publish Guidelines on Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries, and Integrated Coastal Area Management (FAO, in prep). The forthcoming FAO Guidelines describe the institutional options, policy processes, planning mechanisms and issues specific to the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors, respectively, with regard to integrated coastal area management. Since there are many approaches to resolving the often difficult institutional problems which arise when countries seek to adopt integrated coastal area management, guidance, not recipes, is proposed.
In many countries, sector-oriented line ministries have the mandate, technical competence and professional experience to conserve, manage and develop coastal resources. Commitment on the part of some ministries is a condition of the successful adoption and application of truly integrated plans for the conservation, management and development of coastal resources. As well as the institutional capacities to undertake their tasks, the ministries must also have staff with a sufficiently flexible approach for constructive collaboration across ministries. Perhaps the most critical lesson from the fairly limited experience so far is the need for adequate human and financial resources to be made available. In most cases, this calls for a re-allocation of funds, rather than additional funding. However, line ministries understandably find it difficult to shift priority away from their traditional, sector-based issues to cross-sectoral ones.
Experience also points to a need to distinguish between coastal management strategy - which describes the goals and the means to achieve these goals, and plans - which express the objectives in details, targets, policy instruments, necessary human and financial resources, and time-frames. The Guidelines suggest that the responsibility for the preparation of an integrated coastal area management strategy - which provides the basis for sectoral plans - should lie with a lead, coordinating organisation or body. The preparation of plans and the implementation of this strategy should be the responsibility of the line ministries. (Alternatively, a new organisation responsible for the design and implementation of integrated coastal area management plans might be established by government.) The Guidelines also suggest that such plans should not stand alone but should be an integral part of sectoral development, resource management and research activities. These plans should be flexible and adjusted periodically as more information becomes available or new issues are addressed.
These Guidelines aim to enhance the contribution of the agriculture sector to the integrated management of coastal areas. The agriculture sector, as broadly defined, is comprised of the sub-sectors of agriculture (including crops and livestock), forestry (including timber, non-wood forest products, and wildlife), and fisheries (including capture fisheries and aquaculture). The Guidelines also provide an introduction to this approach for those who are not familiar with integrated management.
Specifically, this document is intended to help develop awareness in the agricultural sector line agencies, and resource users of: i) the external or internal environmental effects which each sector may generate; and ii) environmental impacts originating outside the sector and felt in one or more of the sub-sectors. In addition, the document indicates ways for planners and resource users in each of the agricultural sub-sectors to take these impacts into account in plan formulation. Since any ICAM strategy will be influenced by the respective strengths of the bargaining positions of the many parties involved, the Guidelines seek to improve the bargaining positions of the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sub-sectors. Other major interested parties include industry, urban areas and dwellers, the tourist sector, industrial ports, sea transport (including oil transport), and mining.
The Guidelines should be useful even in the absence of formal institutional and organisational arrangements for integration and coordination for ICAM. Line agencies can take a proactive stance, and seek to clarify and quantify trans-sectoral impacts, as well as formulating and coordinating appropriate management interventions. This in turn will help to develop a constituency for more formal organisational arrangements for ICAM and adoption of appropriate management strategies.
The goal of the Guidelines is therefore to assist countries to achieve sustainable development of their coastal resources by contributing to:
For further information on FAO's activities on integrated management of coastal areas, visit the home page of FAO's Sustainable Development Department:
http://www.fao.org/WAICENT/FAOINFO/SUSTDEV/
or contact Nadia Scialabba (nadia.scialabba@fao.org), Sustainable Development Department, Environment and Natural Resources Service.