The international proliferation of integrated coastal zone management efforts

Abstract

At the present time approximately 142 integrated coastal zone management efforts have been initiated by approximately 57 sovereign or semi-sovereign states. With the exception of Africa there is a relatively even distribution of these efforts around the world. For a number of reasons in the last ten years the greatest growth in integrated coastal zone management programs has been among developing nations. The continual increase in the number of programs is making international communication, coordination and information exchange increasingly difficult. Last year there was at least one attempt to reverse this trend. A roster was prepared by listing all known integrated coastal zone management efforts. At the present time a survey is being conducted to improve the informatin content of the roster. The information derived from the survey will be used to prepare an interactive data base to both analyze the expanding field of integrated coastal zone management and serve as a central point of contact.