Skip to main content
European Commission logo print header

Article Category

Content archived on 2022-12-02

Article available in the following languages:

Commission asks stakeholders for feedback on ICZM

Since 1996, the European Commission has been running a demonstration programme on integrated coastal zone management (ICZM), aiming to show how better coordination, administration and increased public participation in decision-making can help to improve coastal areas. Towards...

Since 1996, the European Commission has been running a demonstration programme on integrated coastal zone management (ICZM), aiming to show how better coordination, administration and increased public participation in decision-making can help to improve coastal areas. Towards the end of 1999, DG XI (one of the three Directorates-General that jointly manage the programme) will begin to compile the final conclusions of this programme and will draft recommendations on what shape the Commission's ICZM strategy should take in the future. Before this, however, the Commission is conducting a broad debate to sound out the views of those interested in or affected by changes in ICZM strategy. DG XI has therefore produced two documents outlining the Commission's experiences, position, and existing plans for policy options in the future. The first volume "Towards a European integrated coastal zone management (ICZM) strategy: general principles and policy options" opens the question of how findings from the Commission's programme can be translated into action at the European level. The second, "Lessons from the European Commission's demonstration programme on integrated coastal zone management (ICZM)", pools specific lessons and experiences from the demonstration programme. This document is more technical, and underlines ideas presented in the first document. It is therefore particularly pertinent for those actually involved in establishing or sustaining an ICZM initiative. DG XI wants feedback on these documents to consider in its preparations of the final recommendations and conclusions on an ICZM strategy. The first discussions on these documents kicked off recently at a conference held in Brussels, where the intense pressures on coastal regions and the need for ICZM was underlined. The general mood of the meeting was one of support for the Commission's position, and for undertaking ICZM initiatives at a local level or regional level, supported by a centralised system - Europe. This was the first in a series of meetings to be held over the next few months to review the contents of the ICZM documents and discuss stakeholders' reactions to what has been said.