Coastal zone management for the new century

This essay surveys the field of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) in terms of its readiness to handle coastal resources conservation problems of the Twenty First Century. It discusses each of the main components of ICZM including, inter alia, boundaries, objectives, coordination mechanisms, issues, techniques, institutional and legal arrangements, permits, environmental assessments (EA), protected areas, constraints, and success factors. It advocates use of modern computer and e-mail/world web utilities. It concludes that the incremental approach to ICZM is best for the next century and that EA is the best tool for controlling coastal development. The essay also targets the Strategy Plan as the key element in program development and stakeholder participation as the best way to gain support for ICZM. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.