ICZM in the UK: A Stocktake. Final Report - section 1

(2004) ICZM in the UK: A Stocktake. Final Report - section 1. Project Report. HMSO, UK.

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Summary

The coastal land, estuaries, and inshore waters of the UK are rich in natural resources and wildlife. They support a large proportion of the population and a great variety of economic activity. Decision-makers concerned with coastal planning and management have to reconcile and manage potentially competing activities and interests. Historically, policies and decisions have been made from the viewpoint of individual sectors, but there are risks and difficulties with this approach. Poor co-ordination of actions on the ground, inconsistent decisionmaking, unclear overall direction and an adversarial rather than co-operative approach to managing activities at the coast can often arise as a result. The greatest risk however, is not being able to achieve the combined environmental, economic and social potential of sustainable development. In recent decades, many sectoral interests have recognised the need for a more consistent, integrated, and visionary approach to working and to managing their activities at the coast. Ideas of how this might be achieved have been enshrined into an approach known as ‘integrated coastal zone management’, which seeks to integrate policies and actions across sectors, as well as recognising the interlinked nature of the natural environment of coastal land, estuaries and inshore waters.

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