Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea: The coastal zone in an Era of globalisation

Human pressure has changed the physical and ecological characteristics of coastal zones for centuries. ‘Boom and bust’ development of coastal zones is a historically recurrent problem. For nearly 40 years, there have been concerted efforts to improve management of the diverse human pressures that have led to deterioration of coastal environments. Since 1992, Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) has been a dominant policy paradigm for bringing together relevant sectors of society to overcome conflicts of resource use and to pursue sustainable development. There is growing evidence that, with some exceptions, these efforts have not reversed environmental degradation. A major reason for this is that the economic and social changes leading to this decline operate increasingly at temporal and spatial scales greater than the scope of management regimes established through ICZM. Alternative approaches such as Adaptive Management are needed to deal with this mismatch of scales. Cross-scale tools including information technology and social networking may also provide vehicles for innovation. As part of a broader range of tools, ICZM helps respond to locally driven problems and adapt to global change. Effective future management must work across scales and benefit from the ‘long view’ of how coupled social and ecological systems operate.