The status of coastal zone management in South Africa

Abstract

In this article, an overview of the status of coastal zone management (CZM) in South Africa is presented. Firstly, it provides background to the development of various initiatives to promote sustainable use of coastal resources within the context of sociopolitical changes in South Africa. Thereafter, it examines the progress made with respect to key attributes underpinning most CZM programs. Finally, it identifies obstacles to achieving effective CZM in South Africa and makes recommendations to address these shortcomings. The review reveals that whilst considerable progress has been made in certain areas of program development, such as resource conservation and pollution control, there are several gaps and inadequacies within existing efforts. These include the absence of a clear policy to guide efforts, lack of coordination amongst government departments involved in CZM, as well as inadequacies in our legal and administrative system. The promulgation of a Coastal Zone Management Act and the establishment of a Coastal Unit charged with the coordination and review of all activities impinging on coastal resources are amongst the recommendations made.     

Merging Socioeconomic Imperatives with Geospatial Data: A Non-Negotiable for Coastal Risk Management in South Africa

The current approach to coastal development set-back delineation in South Africa is producing high-tech empirical methodologies that attempt to pinpoint areas at risk from physical coastal processes and the subsequent positioning of set-backs in relation to these risk areas. Experience in the Western Cape province of South Africa has shown that this approach contributes only partially to coastal risk management. In the context of an urban and peri-urban environment, and bearing in mind that set-backs have significant socioeconomic implications, the development of a set-back line at the local scale requires an expansion beyond just relying on the numerical modeling of physical coastal processes. This research reveals that such an approach is parochial and socially detached and a more inclusive and integrated approach grounded in and spanning localized social, cultural, economic, political, and ecological intricacies of the coastal space is required. Fundamental to achieving this is a re-consideration of the broader project management processes applied in the development of set-backs. The article concludes with a set of principles and guidelines for determining set-backs in complex coastal contexts at the local scale.