Helping Communities Adapt and Plan for Coastal Hazards: Coastal Zone Management Program Recommendations for National Tool Developers

Adapting to changing coastlines is an unprecedented planning challenge as coastal hazards, including those associated with climate change, influence all areas of resource management. Tools have been developed to aid in understanding coastal hazards and to facilitate the planning and implementation of adaptation strategies. Through interviews with members of eight geographically distributed state Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Programs and several federal and nonprofit partners, we explored the utility of current tools for on-the-ground adaptation planning and implementation needs. State CZM Programs operate as trusted information brokers at the nexus between national resources and local needs. Here we provide seven recommendations for how to overcome the challenges identified with tool discovery, lack of trust, and the coarse spatial resolution of national tools. Our findings suggest local community needs are better addressed when end-users play a role in the tool development process. We also recommend leveraging CZM Program connections because they have the knowledge and expertise to identify solutions and disseminate information. While the recommendations presented here were taken from the perspective of state CZM Programs regarding coastal tools, the lessons learned may provide valuable insight into the tool development process for other resource management fields.     

Conservation and development in Oregon's coastal zone

Abstract

Coastal zone management in Oregon is based on the state's general land‐use law. This body of law is designed to deal with population increase, urbanization, and preservation of agricultural land, as well as with other problems throughout the state. Early planning and policy recommendations for the coast were in the hands of a commission having predominantly local membership. This commission produced an extensive series of studies, policies, and recommendations which were assembled as a proposed management tool for natural resources. Staff of the commission was then absorbed into the state land‐management agency, which developed final goals and guidelines for compliance with the Coastal Zone Management Act. Adoption of the coastal goals in December 1976 has triggered deadlines for local government compliance within the coastal zone. The management program is now undergoing federal review.     

Affordable housing in California's Coastal Zone: A tale of state authority vs. local autonomy

Abstract

This article examines the efforts of the California Coastal Commission to pursue simultaneously goals of environmental quality and affordable housing in the same state‐imposed regulatory program. The authors conclude that the Commission made substantial progress toward realizing both ends. However, the coastal body fell victim to its own successes, and housing was removed from its jurisdiction. As the Coastal Commission exercised its authority, opposition grew in strength and numbers. Key opponents included local government, which lost land‐use regulatory power to the Commission, the building industry, whose relationships with coastal localities were disrupted, and local property owners, whose land was restricted to uses other than the most profitable one.     

Providing Public Access to the Shore: The Role of Coastal Zone Management Programs

In many coastal states and territories, coastal zone management (CZM) programs have been the prime catalyst in leveraging public access initiatives among state and federal agencies, public organizations, and the private sector. A wide range of tools are used, including acquisition, regulations, technical assistance, and public education. The diversity of approaches is illustrated through a variety of case examples. Although hard numbers for measuring outcomes were not uniformly available, between 1985 and 1988, when federal and state CZM funding dedicated to public access was tracked, $141.5 million (unadjusted 1988 dollars) were spent on 455 public access-related projects. A policy shift occurred in the 1990s away from reliance on acquisition and regulation as the most effective means of providing access and toward technical assistance and public outreach-a response to the overall decrease in funds available for access. CZM programs have been able to balance the contradictory goals of the federal Coastal Zone Management Act of 1972 (CZMA), such as protecting coastal resources while providing for increased public access to those resources. It is recommended that CZM programs conduct assessments to determine the kind of access needed in the future and where it should be located. And, due to the creativity and innovation that states and territory coastal programs use to achieve access, it is recommended that a national clearinghouse be established for documenting and sharing information on innovative tools and programs.     

An Assessment of Integrated Coastal Management Governance and Implementation Using the DPSIR Framework: KwaZulu-Natal,South Africa

Coastal areas are under increasing pressure driven by demands for coastal space, primarily though population growth, in migration and the need for space for socioeconomic activities. The pressures and associated changes to the coastal environment need to be managed to ensure long-term sustainability. South Africa has enacted an Integrated Coastal Management Act (ICM Act) to facilitate dedicated management of its coastal environment. The implementation has been met with a number of challenges, primarily relating to financial and human capacity constraints, particularly at the local government level. Given that the ICM Act devolves powers to local government, it is imperative that implementation challenges be addressed. This paper focuses on KwaZulu-Natal, one of four South African coastal regions, which is a renowned tourist destination and home to 11.1 million people (Statistics South Africa 2015 Statistics South Africa. 2015. Mid-Year Population Estimates. Statistical release P0302. Pretoria, South Africa: Statistics South Africa. [Google Scholar]). This paper considers the state of coastal management, as well as implementation challenges being experienced at a local governance level, and highlights ways to address these. Data were acquired through questionnaire surveys and semistructured interviews. The Drivers-Pressures-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) framework was used to identify relevant ICM issues and concerns and develop potential actions for improving the implementation of coastal management activities and the ICM Act. In the assessment of the ICM governance and implementation to date, a key concern identified was a general lack of coastal management knowledge among officials. It was specifically identified that knowledgeable management and capacity-building required championing from the provincial government in order to more efficiently and effectively implement the objectives of the ICM Act through an improved understanding of the coastal environment, its functioning and management.     

A Local Transboundary Approach to the Governance of Mediterranean Coastal Borderlands

Abstract

Coastal borderlands are subjected to particular socioeconomic, political and environmental dynamics in Europe and worldwide. The presence of the international boundary in these areas poses challenges in the process of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM). The aim of this paper is to explore the existence, characteristics and the role that local cross-border cooperation plays in transboundary coastal zone management as well as the resulting potentialities of local endogenous development for improving the management and governance of the tourism sector, coastal development, fisheries and marine protected areas in the Albera Marítima (Northwestern Mediterranean). The applied methods included document review, statistical information and semi-structured interviews. The research shows that local agents are not capable of developing a stable cross-border network due to persisting lack of trust, weak joint strategic vision and high competitiveness in sectors like fishery and tourism. Based on particularly interesting initiatives occurred in Albera Marítima and other successful experiences in Mediterranean coastal borderlands, a proposal has been made to implement several measures, including a transboundary integrated coastal plan, the joint observatory of fishery resources and a scientific network platform. For the aforementioned issues, the study contributes to the ICZM literature by providing a new perspective on local transboundary cooperation.     

Integrating visual management into the coastal zone planning process: The Massachusetts experience

Abstract

This paper concerns the limitations on integrating visual management into the coastal zone planning process as exemplified by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, a state with a strong tradition of “home rule”; and a CZM implementation program based on a “networking”; of existing state authorities. The implications of the Massachusetts experience are that: (a) management of esthetic resources at the state level continues to be much less of a priority than management of ecological resources such as wetlands or floodplains; (b) visual management has yet to engender a strongly supportive constituency beyond that concerned with historic preservation; (c) project review focusing on visual impacts may be a more appropriate activity for local rather than state government; and (d) the technical aspects of visual management or impact assessment are far more advanced than their political acceptability. Political realities, together with the decision that implementation of the program should be based on a networking of existing authorities, thus determined the degree to which visual management could be incorporated into the state's program. As a result, the program's principal instruments of visual management became a strengthening of existing programs such as Wild and Scenic Rivers, reliance on wetland protection statutes to indirectly protect natural scenic values, and the use of the federal consistency provisions of the Coastal Zone Management Act to foster focused growth patterns through provision of publicly funded infrastructures. Esthetically oriented project review, with the exception of potential impacts on historic sites, was left to the discretion of local government, and a technical assistance program was created to provide funding or professional skills to communities interested in developing their own esthetic controls or design review processes. Maine, Rhode Island, and other New England states have followed a similar course.     

Examining Local Coastal Zone Management Capacity in U.S. Pacific Coastal Counties

The coastal zone has critical natural, commercial, recreational, ecological, industrial, and esthetic values for current and future generations. Thus, there are increasing pressures from population growth and coastal land development. Local coastal land use planning plays an important role in implementing the U.S. Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) by establishing goals and performance policies for addressing critical coastal issues. This study extends the CZMA Performance Measurement System from the national level to the local land use level by measuring coastal zone land use plan quality and political context in fifty-three Pacific coastal counties. Plan quality is measured using an evaluation protocol defined by five components and sixty-eight indicators. The results indicate a reasonable correspondence between national goals and local coastal zone land use planning goals, but a slight gap might exist between the national/state versus local levels in the overall effectiveness of coastal zone management (CZM) efforts. The results show many U.S. Pacific coastal counties lack strong coastal zone land use plans because the average plan quality score was only 22.7 out of 50 points. Although these plans set relatively clear goals and objectives, they are somewhat weaker in their factual basis, identify a limited range of the available planning tools and techniques, and establish few coordination and implementation mechanisms. The regression analysis results indicate that CZM plan quality was not significantly related to any of the jurisdictional characteristics.     

The social and political economy of coastal zone management: Shrimp mariculture in Ecuador

Abstract

The paper examines the applicability of First World CZM policy for the Third World by focusing on Ecuador's shrimp mariculture, an industry whose explosive growth has reshaped the coastal zone and generated problems threatening loss of the resource base itself. This has led to recognized need for CZM and movement by development agencies to transfer the CZ policies of developed countries. Against this background, the analysis explores local concepts of investment and conservation, the role of government and law, and the influence of the social economy on mariculture development. It illuminates how local use and management of coastal resources is inseparable from specifically Ecuadorean cultural concepts, institutions, and practices. This places in relief the salient differences between management in the First and Third Worlds, illuminating how coastal zone management must not only be internally consistent, but cognizant of and integrated into the prevailing social, economic, and political conditions.     

Integrated Coastal Management in the Philippines: Testing New Paradigms

With fisheries declining, coral reefs battered, mangrove forests under threat, pollution levels rising, and coastal communities experiencing increased poverty, the Philippines faces severe challenges in managing its coastal resources. Coastal management efforts began in the Philippines more than 20 years ago through various community-based projects. Now, integrated coastal management is expanding in the country and holds the potential to reverse the trends. This article analyzes the situation in relation to new approaches for coastal management being undertaken through the Coastal Resource Management Project supported by the United States Agency for International Development implemented by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. This project, drawing on the lessons generated by past and ongoing coastal management initiatives, is emphasizing integrated approaches to management over narrowly focused fisheries management and habitat protection efforts. It highlights the increasingly important role of local governments and the changing roles of national government to effectively support integrated coastal management. Multisectoral collaboration is explained as standard procedure to achieve outcomes that are broad based and sustainable. Local and national level activities are contrasted and shown as essential complements in building institutionalization of resources management within all levels of government. A practical result framework is explained for measuring relative success at the local government level of implementing best practices for coastal management. Finally, lessons being learned related to collaboration, level of focus, education, and communication; who is responsible; and expansion of the project are highlighted.     

SiMoCo: the viability of a prototype platform for a coastal monitoring system: a case study

Coastal zones are among the most productive areas in the world, offering a wide variety of valuable habitats and ecosystems services. Despite the low population density in the Brazilian coastal zone, their distribution is quite concentrated near some coastal cities and state capitals. This concentration places enormous pressure on coastal resources. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to present an overview on the current status of SiMoCo (Sistema de Monitoramento Costeiro, or Coastal Monitoring System in English) project as a possible early warning system that can be integrated to the Brazilian Coastal Management Information System. This prototype platform provides a real-time access to the composition, organization and simulation of planktonic communities. First, our results demonstrate such a system detecting a target dinoflagellate; second, we apply structural and functional indexes to compare and characterize the ecological networks from two different coastal areas. Conclusions are made about SiMoCo’s feasibility and its possible contribution to the decision-making process within integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) strategies.     

CZARA of 1990: A Critical Time for Coastal Management

To appreciate the present, sometimes you need to reflect on the past and wonder “what if?” This is one of those times. In recognition of the 40th anniversary of the Coastal Zone Management Act and acknowledgment of the dedication of the program's practitioners, it is important to note that the successful implementation of the Nation's primary coastal law has depended, and will continue to depend, on its legitimacy and institutionalization in the political culture of the country. Today, the national coastal management program, while underfunded and, in recent years, subject to wavering political support, has nevertheless reached a certain level of stability to safeguard the country's coastal resources. It is fitting, therefore, in this special issue of Coastal Management to recall a time when the future of the CZMA was in serious doubt.     

Advancing Coastal Habitat Resiliency Through Landscape-Scale Assessment

Coastal areas are among the most biologically rich regions in the world. They provide tremendous benefit to people through ecological services like pollution filtration, carbon sequestration, and storm protection. However, human activity has decreased the ability of ecosystems to provide these services, and in many coastal areas, restoration is not as effective as it could be. Limited success is largely attributed to vague goals and a lack of holistic, science-informed planning. Quantifying coastal habitat health can aid in setting better restoration goals and lead to greater restoration success. The Long Island Sound Study National Estuary Program conducted the first comprehensive look at coastal habitat health for the Long Island Sound Estuary. In this study we also reviewed landscape-scale habitat assessment progress within other coastal programs. Results can be applied to establish ecosystem health-oriented goals that improve habitat function and resilience across coastal areas.     

Tragedy of the San Francisco bay commons

Abstract

Although the early efforts to save San Francisco Bay in the 1960's provided the role model for protection of California's 1100 mile ocean coastline, neither Proposition 20 of 1972 nor the California Coastal Act of 1976 provided any benefits to San Francisco Bay. One result is that the Bay is locked into its urban, shoreline‐use dominated plan of 1969 while every other estuary and coastal wetland in California receives much stronger protection of its resources. Furthermore, due to the complexity of California's water laws, there is no instream flow protection for receiving waters such as San Francisco Bay. This is particularly critical considering that 70% of the Bay's freshwater inflow has been diverted. The Bay's present decline as the largest and most important estuary on the West Coast, as well as its possible death as an estuary, may be irreversible. The problem requires the immediate attention of engineering, scientific, economic and legal disciplines if San Francisco Bay is to be saved.     

CZM in California: Successes and Challenges Ahead

California has a forty-year history of successful coastal zone management. The San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, the California Coastal Commission, and the State Coastal Conservancy have protected and made accessible hundreds of miles of shoreline. While each agency has played a critical role, this article focuses on the Coastal Commission. Implementing the California Coastal Act, the Coastal Commission has partnered with local government, other agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and the public to concentrate new development in already developed areas, and much of the rural coastal zone looks as it did in 1972. The Commission has protected and expanded public shoreline access through its regulatory actions. Using strong ecological science the Commission has protected a wide variety of sensitive habitats and wetlands. And under the authority of the Coastal Zone Management Act, the Commission has reviewed thousands of federal projects to assure that they are consistent with the Coastal Act. Challenges continue, though, including population growth, sea-level rise, and inadequate funding to update local coastal land use plans to address new issues, such as climate change adaptation. New investment is needed at the national, state, and local level to continue the success of the California program.     

Implementing coastal zone management: 1972–1990

Abstract

The implementation history of the Coastal Zone Management Act offers insights into the process of long‐term intergovernmental policy implementation. This five‐stage history is explained as a coproduction process, in which coastal state, environmental, and development advocacy coalitions interacted with congressional committees and the federal coastal office to shape coastal policy and manage coastal development. The coproduction approach proved invaluable during the Reagan assault on the coastal program, when the states and Congress assumed responsibility for keeping the program alive. Acknowledging underlying stakeholder dynamics as the basis for coastal program evaluation could strengthen future coastal management implementation.     

Protecting Estuaries and Coastal Wetlands through State Coastal Zone Management Programs

This article, one part of the National Coastal Zone Management Effectiveness Study, evaluates the effectiveness of state coastal management programs in protecting estuaries and coastal wetlands. State programs were evaluated in a four-step, indicatorbased process to estimate (1) the relative importance of the issue; (2) the potential effectiveness of programs based on the policies, processes, and tools used; (3) outcome effectiveness based on on-the-ground indicators; and (4) overall performance, where outcome effectiveness was compared to issue importance and potential effectiveness. State evaluations were synthesized to provide a national perspective on CZM contributions and effectiveness in estuary and wetland protection. Although on-the-ground outcome data were sparse, they were sufficient to determine at least probable levels of effectiveness for about one-third of the states. Of these states, 80% were performing at expected or higher levels, considering how important the issue was in their state, and the scope and strength of the policies, processes, and tools they had deployed. Monitoring and record keeping, freshwater wetland management, and the use of nonregulatory restoration in coastal management were common program weaknesses. The evaluation approach and indicators used here are recommended as a starting point for designing a national monitoring and performance evaluation system addressing this CZM objective.     

Guidelines for urban development in Louisiana's coastal wetlands

Abstract

Coastal Louisiana is currently experiencing extensive urban growth as its natural resources are exploited. Such growth is projected to continue for the foreseeable future. This article examines problems encountered in developing wetland areas for community use. The urban development process in the coastal zone is examined using a problem‐identification methodology. This methodology consists of examining each of the stages of wetlands development sequentially, determining potential problems and their results, and specifying how the regulatory system for urban development needs strengthening in order to mitigate these problems. For those development practices determined not to be regulated at all or inadequately regulated, local ordinance amendments and other restrictive measures applicable to specific development stages are proposed. The study concludes with a brief discussion of a goals‐oriented process for deriving future urban development regulations for the enhancement of regional planning efforts.     

Gender Issues within the Population-Environment Nexus in Philippine Coastal Areas

Sixty percent of the Philippine's population resides in the coastal zone. Women and men in coastal communities depend chiefly on the sea for subsistence. Over fifty percent of the dietary protein requirements of coastal communities are derived from municipal fisheries and shallow coastal habitats (reef fishes, marine plants, and mangroves). Coastal populations are young and expanding at rates that exceed regional and national averages. Expanding human pressures and man-made disturbances (over harvesting, destructive fishing, siltation, etc.) that offset natural processes are destroying habitats and creating protein food security crises and increasing malnutrition. At the same time conflicts among users of coastal resources are escalating. Access constraints, gender inequities, and cultural barriers stymie options for women and men to plan their families and create alternative livelihoods. National and local government agencies are addressing food security concerns through vertical policies and programs (e.g., fisheries management, integrated coastal management). The IPOPCORM project uses a cross-sectoral approach and quasi-experimental evaluation design to test the hypothesis that food security will be achieved more quickly when coastal resources management (CRM) and reproductive health (RH) management are implemented together. The purpose of this article is to review the project's experience and highlight the trends observed in program monitoring and evaluation during 2001–2004, which suggest better impact on RH, CRM, and gender indicators in the sites where the synergistic approach is being applied.     

American Samoa: Establishing a coastal area management model for developing countries

Abstract

Debate over the appropriateness of U.S. approaches to coastal management procedures for developing countries has increased over the past few years. The coastal management program which was developed for American Samoa offers the opportunity to test the utility of the U.S. approach to CZM for developing nations.

American Samoa represents a blend of traditional and new cultures and thus may be a microcosm of developing countries. American Samoa's development of a CZM plan is examined with emphasis on similarities and differences with U.S. experience. A culture‐oriented framework is presented which can shape programs appropriate to developing countries. Finally, a process and a set of guidelines provide an outline for those attempting the difficult task of applying U.S. environmental planning and management to other countries.