Coastal Zone Policy

Integrated Coastal Zone Management or ICZM – What is it about?

Many European coastal zones face problems of deterioration of their natural, socio-economic and cultural resources. The impacts of climate change are expected to further increase the exposure of the coast to flooding and erosion. Yet, coastal planning activities or development decisions still take place in a sectoral way, hardly being linked to each other. This fragmented approach to planning and management leads to inefficient use of resources, conflicting claims on space and missed opportunities for more sustainable coastal development.

To improve this situation, the European Parliament and the Council adopted in 2002 a Recommendation on Integrated Coastal Zone Management which defines the principles sound coastal planning and management. These include the need to base planning on sound and shared knowledge, the need to take a long-term and cross-sector perspective, to pro-actively involve stakeholders and the need to take into account both the terrestrial and the marine components of the coastal zone.

The European Commission has now launched a review of the EU ICZM Recommendation, with a view to a follow-up proposal by the end of 2011. An impact assessment is conducted to explore the need and options for future EU action and to assess potential social, economic and environmental consequences that new initiatives proposed by the European Commission may have.

On 23 March the Commission launched an on-line public consultation, for 8 weeks, to seek the views of stakeholders and all interested parties to inform the impact assessment. The consultation report can be downloaded here.

To complete the consultation the European Commission organised a public hearing on 30th of May 2011 to discuss options for future EU action in the field of Integrated Coastal Zone Management. All those interested in coastal planning and management were invited to participate.

In 2010, the EU already set a significant step forward in strengthening the legal framework for integrated coastal zone management in the Mediterranean: On 13 September 2010, the Council adopted the decision to ratify the ICZM Protocol to the Barcelona Convention.

To complement the efforts by EU coastal Member States and regions to implement the EU ICZM Recommendation, the European Commission launched the OURCOAST initiative. OURCOAST gathers and disseminates case-studies and practical examples of coastal management practice in Europe. OURCOAST offers a mailing list subscription to be kept up to date on OURCOAST news and developments in EU ICZM policy.

Comments and questions regarding these pages are welcome at ENV-ICZM@ec.europa.eu.