Implementing the EU Communications and the EU Recommendation on Integrated Coastal Zone Management: A Study Developing a Model Series of Indicators to Evaluate the Effectiveness of the Integrated Coastal Zone Management Process in the East Riding of York

摘要

Though many of the EU's coastal zones face a variety of environmental threats, to date the EU has been slow in adopting specific legislation designed to tackle this pressing problem. Thankfully, the EU Communications on Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) (2000 and 2007) advance a more prominent role for ICZM as a tool for environmental protection and sustainable development. As with any environmental tool, what is needed is a series of indicators for determining the effectiveness of ICZM. In 2002, further to powers delegated to local authorities under the Town and Country Planning Act (1990), East Riding of Yorkshire, UK launched their Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Plan to address management of the coastal zone from Flamborough Head to the Humber Estuary. Despite recommendations from the European Commission to incorporate provisions to monitor and evaluate the process and outcomes of ICZM initiatives, this receives little attention in the East Riding Plan; and the Action Plan, which should be reviewed annually, has remained unchanged since 2004. In order to address this issue, this article aims to develop a model series of measurable indicators to enable the East Riding of Yorkshire Council to practically monitor the effectiveness of their ICZM Plan in accordance with EU instruments concerning ICZM. It draws on international best practice, primary research, questionnaires and communication with key stakeholders and experts, to formulate a series of indicators which provide a transparent and clearly justified method of quantifying and qualifying the ICZM process. Nineteen indicators, each with clear objectives and targets, are split under the headings of the Eight Principles of ICZM put forward in the Communication from the European Commis- sion to the Council and the European Parliament on Integrated Coastal Zone Management (COM/00/547). The completed indicators provide valuable information and have the potential to feed directly into the ICZM Plan to overcome any inherent shortcomings. If used in conjunction with existing "state of the environment" indicators, this indicator set will facilitate the complete evaluation of ICZM, and will be ideally placed to ensure that ICZM implementation efforts have long-term sustainability under EU and UK law.