General objective
The ENCORA Thematic Networks will identify which coastal expertise exists where in Europe and analyse strengths and weaknesses of existing knowledge, policies and practices. The themes will:
Produce a European directory of existing coastal expertise and practices, called the 'Coastal wiki';
Develop a European Action Plan;
Disseminate results through brochures, websites, workshops, seminars and conferences.
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Themes |
Contact |
Theme 1: Multifunctionality and valuation
In the densely populated coastal areas intense relations among environmental and anthropogenic processes take place that have important effects on coastal resources and their future availability. Such a complex system requires an integrated and holistic approach in order to bring together the interests of the coastal area in a co-ordinated and rational manner, managing coastal resources for optimum social and economic benefit for present and future generations without prejudicing the state of ecosystems and resources. Hence, there is a need to develop common strategies focusing on practical aspects and implementing knowledge related to ICZM practices. This theme will focus on valuation methods regarding socio-economic impacts on coastal areas through an integrated and interdisciplinary approach.
Theme 2: ICZM Participation and Implementation
Integrated Coastal Zone Management implies the participation of political/policy, economic and environmental stakeholders, as well as the public. This theme will be directed to the following issues:
- Determining the level of implementation of stakeholder participation;
- Determining what are the bottle-necks towards progress in stakeholder participation;
- Developing examples of best European practice to improve stakeholder participation;
- Encouraging national, regional and local authorities to introduce new methods for stakeholder participation.
Theme 3: Marine and coastal spatial planning
Marine and Coastal Spatial Planning provides a comprehensive framework for integrating and implementing coastal management strategies in Europe. The theme also offers a framework for integrating national research programmes on coastal and marine planning in the different countries. The theme encompasses the following issues:
- Benchmarks for assessing progress towards ICZM;
- Structuring coastal spatial planning at multiple scales, from local to European;
- Incorporation of coastal and marine planning in a Sustainable Development framework;
- Dissemination of knowledge;
- Exchange of experience worldwide.
Theme 4: Pollution, prevention, detection and mitigation
Diverse sources of pollution threaten the water quality in the coastal zone:
- Oils and paintings from the ships;
- Harbour runoff containing a mixture of contaminants including oils, oil emulsifiers, paints, solvents, detergents, bleach, antifouling paint scrapings;
- Ships’ passages and dredging operations that increase the suspended solids contents in the water. These sediments are likely to be polluted by heavy metals and organic micro-pollutants;
- Pollutants as a result of urban, agricultural or industrial activities;
- Ship accidents or industrial accidents with their environmental impact due to oil spill or chemical pollution;
- Storage of wastes including polluted dredged materials.
The theme will address the development and application of emerging methodologies for preventing, detecting and mitigating pollution, with special emphasis on the observation (determination and tracking) and monitoring of pollutants and the assessment of impacts of these pollutants on the coastal ecosystem.
Theme 5: Long term coastal geomorphological change
All coastal authorities are faced with the need to make predictions concerning the behaviour of the coastline over a timescale of order 50 years in order to fulfil integrated coastal zone management planning requirements. The primary objective of this theme is to promote the development, demonstration and dissemination of new and emerging models and methodologies for the prediction of long-term geo-morphological changes to coastal and estuarial behaviour systems including the effects of climate change. Considerable progress can be made at the European level by networking activities to spread existing examples of good practice and research amongst European partners.
Theme 6: Effect of Development and Use on Eco-morphology and Coastal Habitats
Increased human exploitation and infrastructure developments in the coastal and estuarine zones influence the geo-and eco-morphology resulting in enlarged stress on coastal habitats. This theme integrates research on the Effects of Development and Use on Ecomorphology and Coastal Habitats in the different European countries. Existing concepts for dealing with habitat change and identifying obstacles to effective management will be evaluated, including major existing knowledge gaps. An important result will be the identification of promising technologies for recovery of habitats through the development of environmental technologies that are focused on the coastal environment. This will be carried out in close co-operation with the coastal authorities all over Europe dealing with the practical management of the coastline.
Theme 7: Restoration and preservation of coastal biodiversity
The continuously increasing socio-economic pressure on the coastal system from human activities in the coastal zone and upstream, stresses the need for a decision making framework to objectively allocate the different user functions in the coastal zone and to minimize environmental degradation. The primary focus of this theme is to create a widely applicable and useful ecological valuation protocol for the terrestrial as well as the marine part of the coastal zone which is assessed by stakeholders within the European coastal environment.
Theme 8: Sustainable coastal engineering techniques
Coastline retreat, often due to erosion, is a major issue for coastal managers and planners along many parts of world's coasts. This theme aims to develop a guide (best practices) for sustainable coastal engineering techniques to solve practical coastal protection issues. The thematic network will identify projects carried out by the various partners and stimulate co-operation on this field of research. The results of new attempts to predict the behaviour of shore protection schemes with the help of computer simulations will also be considered.
Theme 9: Assessment of field observation techniques
Collecting data representative for the state of the coastal environment is requisite for successful management of the coastal zone but a costly and demanding task. The primary objective of this theme is to spread tools and practices, useful in resolving observational problems in the coastal area, among the public and private sectors. The thematic network shall serve as a European platform for developers, engineers and users of field observation techniques, thus enhancing the scientific state of the art and offering new possibilities to commercial enterprises. Special emphasis will be on the progress of remote-sensing techniques and remote-controlled measuring devices.
ICZM is a new management concept for managers and decision-makers and represents a new way of thinking and educating for scientists and faculty members where several levels of integration need to be achieved and where the different disciplines concerned with the study of oceans and coasts cannot operate independently any longer. Therefore, capacity building in ICZM needs a twofold perspective, (1) the training and education of a new generation of coastal professionals based on ICZM principles and (2) to reorient existing coastal managers; and decision makers, by training them in a more multidisciplinary and integrated manner. The theme will conduct a survey on capacity building, education and training courses in ICZM, raise a European network for Capacity Building Training and Education, establish an exchange program for students and instructors and dress a European Action Plan.
