Progress of coastal management in Latin America and the Caribbean

The outputs that result from the formal procedures of public policies are objective indicators that drive their progress. In this paper we have used four indicators of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) that reflect the institutional capacity of each country: Policy, Regulations, Institutions and Instruments. The results are mostly heterogeneous in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC). Some countries have been working towards ICZM for several decades whereas others are lagging behind. In this article the 26 LAC countries have been grouped into four different levels of ICZM progress over the previous two decades: Pre-Initial, Initial, Transition and Development. The results from this classification exercise allow us to state that the majority of countries are in the two lowest levels, with only nine countries in a better situation. The 2019 results have been compared with those obtained in a similar exercise done almost two decades ago. This comparison allows us to observe the progress, setbacks or stagnation of certain countries. Precisely because the situation detected is heterogeneous, the possibility of cooperation between more advanced and less advanced countries in LAC for ICZM can be considered. South-South cooperation also facilitates taking advantage of the regional fact that they are countries with a shared history, culture and language.