Anthropogenic transformation of the coastal zone continues at a steady
pace, especially in the developing maritime countries, where coastal
resources are often crucial to national economies. However, exploitation
of these resources is often indiscriminate, ill planned, or carried out
without adequate scientific knowledge. This leads to rapid resource
depletion, and often irreversible environmental degradation. The 1992
Rio de Janeiro UN Conference on Environment and Development recognized
the expediency of an integrated and sustainable use of all coastal
resources, functions and services grounded on sound scientific data.
The present volume is based on the 1994 international workshop
Integrated Coastal Zone Management, and brings together contributions
by leading specialists both on basic concepts and on applications of
coastal management. The work is divided into six parts, dealing with the
conceptual framework of ICZM; regional and global aspects of coastal
management; environmental assessment in ICZM; capacity building and
technology transfer; monitoring and environmental analysis; and case
studies and status of ICZM plans. The book also incorporates an
interactive ICZM planning module, COSMO, which can be of use in
designing a management plan for a coast. Attention is also given to
long-term environmental effects of present-day actions. It is hoped that
COSMO will prove an additional learning tool for ICZM practitioners and
enhance the value of the book.
This work is intended to give a broad coverage of conceptual and
technical aspects of ICZM, and will be of use to operational executives
as well as students of ICZM, environmental economists, policy-makers and
senior managers in the international development agencies and
governmental and non-governmental organizations. It can be recommended
as a textbook and as a reference work.
