Capacity Building in the frame of EU ICZM related policies

This section is meant to be a review of the way coastal areas and their management are tackled within the most relevant EU documents and resulting Capacity Building needs. Several excerpts of the European Action Plan on Capacity Building for ICZM in Europe have been used.

See also EU coastal related policies

Introduction

The policy responses that recognize the need for ICZM in Europe are abundant. During the last decade, the EU has begun to specifically address problems related to the state of the coasts, their sustainable development, and the coast as a regional entity. This includes the issuing of two major policy documents, namely:

• The Commission communication on Integrated Coastal Zone Management: The Strategy for Europe (ICZM Strategy, COM (2000)547 final); and

• The European Parliament and the Council recommendation concerning the implementation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management in Europe (EU ICZM Recommendation, 2002/413/EC).

The coastal zones are also addressed in other integrated and horizontal policies and directives that are not directly aimed at coastal zones but are nevertheless very relevant to the sustainable development of the coasts and should play a critical role in the planning and implementation of ICZM (see figure 1).

Figure 1: The Policy Framework for ICZM

Based on the compulsory character of European Directives, both the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC) -environmental pillar of the future Maritime Policy (The Blue Book) and the Water Framework Directive (WFD) are worth mentioning. Furthermore, the EU Recommendation on ICZM provides the policy integration platform on which to base other directives which are of relevance to the coast. In particular, the integration of the WFD and Marine Strategy Framework Directive with the EU ICZM Recommendation provides opportunities for coupling coastal zone management with catchments basins and marine regions. In this regard, ICZM has shown that it could become the instrument to link terrestrial and marine legislation, especially at the Regional Sea Level.

Regional seas conventions also play an important role in the development of ICZM initiatives. For example, the Nature Protection and Biodiversity Group of the Helsinki Convention (HELCOM) address the Ecosystem Approach and ICZM in the Baltic Sea.

More recently, the Aberdeen Declaration (June 2007), the Declaration of the Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions (October 2007) and the recently signed Mediterranean ICZM Protocol (January 2008), form the policy framework for any ICZM initiative in Europe. The EC Treaty (1999) Art.130a (promotion of economic and social cohesion) mentions islands as areas requiring special attention.

Capacity Building in the ICZM Evaluation Report

See also Evaluation of ICZM in Europe

In 2006, the European Commission appointed an ICZM Evaluation Team to carry out an independent evaluation of ICZM in Europe.

Following the analyses of national ICZM reports and strategies, submitted by coastal Member States in response to the ICZM Recommendation, in addition to a wide range of complementary information and data and intensive consultations with coastal stakeholders, the evaluation exercise resulted in the formulation of:

• 4 strategic and cros-cutting recommnedations, and
• 5 operational recommendations with a total of 19 recommended actions

One of these 5 operational recommendations of the ICZM Evaluation Report deals with Capacity Building issues: Endorse awareness, guidance training and education

Endorse awareness, guidance training and education

According to this report, a crucial issue in the implementation of ICZM is the understanding and ownership of stakeholders along the European coast regarding this approach for a sustainable management of the coastal zone

The promotion of awareness, guidance, education and training for ICZM is an important means to foster such ownership and to contribute to human capacity building

However, the ICZM evaluation questionnaire revealed that only a 31% of all respondents feel that such instruments are currently being used to address coastal zone issues in their country

'Main challenges'

• Sectoral thinking has to be overcome
• Knowledge of basic economic, ecological and social processes has to be translated
• The ability to cooperate across spatial boundaries and scales has to be trained, taking collective decisions on a complex topic such as coastal development

Starting for general Awareness Raising measures, a range of tools should be employed to achieve progress

A central element would be to develop guidance materials that illustrate the process of implementing ICZM, referring to all relevant stakeholders and practices

To establish ICZM training centres and programmes and to facilitate exchange, also beyond the EU, should further enhance to uptake of the approach and dissemination of Good Practices

With a view to the long-term deployment of the ICZM approach, specific curricula at various educational levels are important means

Capacity Building and the Green Paper

See also: Consultation on Maritime Policy: the issue of Capacity Building

See also: Green Paper for an EU Maritime Policy

Capacity Building and the Marine Strategy

See also: Marine Strategy

Capacity Building and the Water Framework Directive

See also: Water Framework Directive

Capacity Building and Ecosystem-based Management

Capacity Building Needs associated with the evolution from ICZM to Ecosystem-based Management

See also Ecosystem-based Management

Further reading

See also Marine Strategy

Roadmap for Capacity Building for ICZM

List of articles on Capacity Building for ICZM

Capacity Building Network main page

The main author of this article is Garriga, Maica Please note that others may also have edited the contents of this article. Citation: Garriga, Maica (2008): Capacity Building in the frame of EU ICZM related policies. Available from http://www.coastalwiki.org/wiki/Capacity_Building_in_the_frame_of_EU_ICZM_related_policies [accessed on 27-04-2024] For other articles by this author see Category:Articles by Garriga, Maica For an overview of contributions by this author see Special:Contributions/Maicagarriga