PRACTICES OF COASTAL ZONE MANAGEMENT OF THE JORDANIAN GULF OF AQABA BY MAPPING SPATIAL CONVERGENCE OF SEAFRONT HUMAN ACTIVITIES AND THEIR POTENTIAL IMPACT ON THE MARINE ENVIRONMENT

摘要

This study aims to present the practices of coastal zone management of the Jordanian coastline in the Gulf of Aqaba by mapping and analyzing the business sectors along the Jordanian coastline and their corresponding potential impact on marine environment. Geographic Information System (GIS) tools were applied in order to illustrate the spatial convergence of current human activities along the coastal zone region. Although the Jordanian Gulf of Aqaba looks increasingly overused due to the relatively limited shoreline (~27km), it is almost managed due to successful spatial clustering of coastal sectors, which resulted that human activities, mostly tourism and industrial terminals, is continuing to grow, without remarkable conflict with one another. Conserving space for nature, e.g., the Aqaba Marine Park and potential new marine protected areas, may not conflicts with marine shipping in a big extent, after translocating Aqaba Port to the southernmost area. The results of the study present an overview of the coastal management of the Jordanian coast of the Gulf of Aqaba and aim to depict possible impact of existing human activities with ecosystem components. This study also shows the development of an effective coastal management in the Jordanian coastline, as an element of integrated coastal-use management that calls for sustainable development.