Evaluation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) in Europe

ICZM has been adopted by the European Union as a powerful integrated and participatory territorial approach that is understood as “a dynamic, multi-disciplinary and iterative process to promote sustainable management of coastal zones”. ICZM is mainly characterized by two important features: first, the integration of several, greatly differing sectors with high importance to coastal development into a joint planning and implementation effort and, second, wide participation of government, public, and private stakeholders having a vital interest in coastal affairs.

The ICZM tool was initially developed in the United States in the 1970's. In Europe, despite some early policies (e.g. the 1973 resolution on coastal areas) ICZM was tested through a comprehensive Demonstration Programme in 1996 – 1999 including 35 demonstration projects and six thematic studies. This has provided systematic information about sustainable coastal zone management, and stimulated a broad debate among the various actors involved in the planning, management and use of European coastal zones.

A broad consensus was achieved that ICZM promises to be a crucial instrument to overcome long-lasting problems in the degradation of European coastal areas. Gradually ICZM has become an important element in several related European policy contexts, as well as several important EU Funding Programmes; also the EC Treaty mentions islands as areas where special attention is required. More recent initiatives of ICZM relevance include the European Marine Policy and the planning for the EU's regional policies after 2006.

European Coastal Member States (20) were encouraged through a Communication from the Commission and the Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council concerning the implementation of ICZM in Europe in May 2002 to elaborate and implement a national integrated coastal zone management strategy on the basis of a national stocktaking. The Recommendation also established eight principles to be followed in the national strategies that had been established on the basis of experiences developed by the Demonstration Programme (see also National Reporting).

In response to the ICZM Recommendation national strategies had been expected to be defined and under implementation by February 2006.

Whether this important milestone can be reached, to which degree and how it will be reached and which lessons can be learned for the way forward is essentially the substance of the present evaluation, being conducted by the International Ocean Institute (Malta and Germany offices) and Rupprecht Consult – Forschung und Beratung, GmbH (Cologne, Germany). The results of this evaluation shall assist the European Commission to review the Recommendation and to submit an evaluation report to the European Parliament and Council by the end of 2006 for further Community action.