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International Journal of Marine Science 2013, Vol.3, No.29, 225-237
http://ijms.sophiapublisher.com
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3.2.1 Diagnosis
The parameters considered refer to the specific information
for the Ocean and Coastal zones regarding the geology,
geomorphology, strategic ecosystems, uses, conflicts,
environmental quality of the water, among others.
According to the evaluation of these parameters in the
territorial land use plans, it was found that in the aspects
in which more shortcomings are found in the plans, are
related to the oceanographic conditions diagnosis
especially in that referring to the currents regime and the
bathymetric information of the marine area adjacent to
the municipalities. Likewise, the socio-economic and
governability aspects must be strengthened considering a
holistic vision of the territory.
In most part of the cases the geomorphology, uses and
ecosystems information is referred to the terrestrial-coastal
sub-zone; the specific information on the marine
ecosystems could be identified.
In general, the cartography in land use plans of the
municipalities of the Colombian Pacific, reference
only the terrestrial-coastal sub-zone, which is
consistent with the fact that the municipalities
jurisdiction is only in that specific sub-zone. However,
it is basic to consider the marine-coastal sub-zone,
taking into account that the actions developed by the
municipality may affect these areas and, in turn, the
different processes in the marine zone affect the
municipality and its inhabitants. Regarding the
anthropic threats subject, for all the plans there is too
few information in the pollution sources and
especially its space location.
Some published job about coastal land use planning
and ICZM carried out in Canada and the United States,
have mentioned the importance of including in the
territorial planning the adjacent marine zone, taking
into account the strong interaction between the
physical, biological and socio-economic processes
happening between the continent and the adjacent sea,
making the handling to be given in an articulated way
(Farris, 2002; Gilman, 2002; Portman, 2007; Smith,
2002; Stewart et al., 2003; Thampanya et al., 2006;
Yañez-Arancibia and Day, 2004a, b). They stress the
need of having a knowledge on the dynamics and the
ecosystems conditions present in these areas such as
the estuaries, mangroves, deltas, beaches and cliffs
and the energy and matter exchange between the sea,
the land and the atmosphere as well as the dynamics
and processes in the ocean (coastal dynamics and
oceanographic aspects) and the threats evaluation to
which the coastal areas are being subject.
3.2.2 Delimitation of the coastal area
The delimitation of the coastal area was defined as
one of the criteria to be evaluated, considering it an
essential aspect at the moment of arranging the
municipalities located in this area. This criterion
allows to get an idea if the whole of the municipality
that corresponds to a coastal area according to the
PNAOCI criteria, or if it is the case that only one part
is under the coastal influence; likewise, this
demarcation criterion is useful to know which are the
main urban centers located in the coastal area.
According to the PNAOCI, in the demarcation of the
coastal area the six main ecosystems or units of the
Nation´s coastal resources must be included, in view
of its structural and possible functional space limit
(MMA, 2001). For the Colombian Pacific these are:
Coral reefs
Mangrove ecosystems
Transition forests
Beaches and cliffs systems
Estuaries of deltas and coastal lagoons
Sedimentary soft bottoms of the continental platform
Two coastal area types are likewise established, the
continental and the insular. For the Colombian Pacific
coastal municipalities´ case, mention is made of the
continental coastal area.
The continental coastal area is constituted by three
sub-zones or parallel stripes which always include the
air space found above the sea or of the emerged
continent, the marine bed and the land, as well as the
underground for the oceanic and terrestrial dominance
included in the coastal area (MMA, 2001). These
sub-zones are: the coastal marine sub-zone, low tide or
transition strip sub-zone, and coastal-terrestrial sub-zone.
For the Colombian Pacific, the criteria for the
delimitation of these areas are: Marine-coastal
sub-zone or offshore area: The limit of this sub-zone is
the continental platform edge using as a referent the of
200 m isobaths. At the north of the Colombian Pacific
(coastal area of the Outline), due to the fact that the
continental platform gets narrower, the limit of this
sub-zone is fixed up to a parallel line located 12
nautical miles of distance toward the sea. The criterion