| Integrated Coastal Area Management (ICAM) is a continuous, proactive, and adaptive planning and decision-making process to achieve the conservation and sustainable use of coastal land, water, and natural resources. This dissertation studies institutional arrangements of ICAM. It is concerned with the management and resolution of multiple competing interests and conflicts on the land/water interface. It is a comparative study, and it includes approximately a hundred ICAM cases from 50 coastal nations. It is an empirical study, and it examines how ICAM is done “on the ground.” This dissertation consists of two major parts. The first part examines how six natural and social factors affect ICAM features. The second part builds a typology, or model, for national ICAM programs. It examines five major features of ICAM programs, including the legal foundations, jurisdictions, administrative arrangements, and the management tools of ICAM.; This dissertation has considered and assessed the “appropriateness” of the Chapter 17 model which was adopted by the United Nations Conference of Environment and Development (UNCED, the Earth Summit) in 1992. This study has concluded that the Chapter 17 ICAM model is overly idealistic, ambitious, and challenging to many, if not most, coastal nations.; This dissertation has examined the “effectiveness” and “appropriateness” of various ICAM approaches, options and tools. The results of this research strongly support the conclusion that the ICAM programs which are widely considered to be successful share the following characteristics: they are grounded in statutes, possess adequate and even substantial regulatory authority, focus on relatively well defined coastal resource management problems and issues, have stable and appropriate “vertical” and “horizontal” administrative arrangements, respect wherever possible traditional coastal resource management practices, and cooperate with sister programs.; In conclusion, the intelligent use of ICAM experiences from other coastal nations, especially developed nations, is necessary for coastal nations, especially developing coastal nations. Blindly copying successful ICAM models developed elsewhere is a prescription for failure. |
