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International Journal of Marine Science 2013, Vol.3, No.29, 225-237
http://ijms.sophiapublisher.com
233
Regarding the sub-zones of the continental coastal
area, it is emphasized for the coastal area
municipalities of the Colombian Pacific, that more
than 90% of the main inhabited centers (including the
municipal seats of government) are located in the
coastal area. Also in some cases, a great part of the
population is settled in the transition sub-zone, where
they have a high risk by affectation in the presence of
natural threats (fluvial flooding and tides, earthquakes,
tsunamis, sea level rise, coastal erosion, sedimentation).
The process of delimitation of coastal areas is a
critical factor in the process of ICZM (Balaguer et al.,
2008). The incorporation of the boundaries of the
coastal zone in the planning of municipalities will
contribute to consider in this process, marine and
coastal ecosystems, demonstrating the variability of
habitats and ecological processes, social, economic
and institutional changes that may occur in this area.
It is worthwhile to indicate that for the coastal area of
the Colombian Pacific, the mangrove is one of the
ecosystems with greater representation. Only in the
South Pacific, it has around 50% of all the country´s
mangroves. It is basic to take this situation into
consideration in this demarcation of the municipalities
territorial land use planning, in order to establish and
implement measures for the conservation of this
ecosystem, considering the strategic importance for
the country and for the region, which supports great
part of the inhabitant´s productive activities. The
different studies developed on ICZM and ecosystems
managements in the Gulf of Mexico, United States
and Canada, indicate the importance of implementing
the planning processes, develop actions oriented and
based on the key ecosystems management. This case,
such as the mangroves, have importance due to the use
given to its associated resources (mollusks,
crustaceans), coastal protection in the presence of
processes such as the coastal erosion, and the water
quality maintenance (Farris, 2002; Portman, 2007;
Stewart et al., 2003; Thampanya et al., 2006;
Yañez-Arancibia and Day, 2004a, b).
3.2.3 Zoning
The zoning has been pointed out as one of the most
important tools for planning and handling of the
territory zoning based on its ecological, social and
economic values. The zoning may be used to separate
the compatible and incompatible uses, identify the
ecological importance areas for the protection, define
the growth patterns of the towns and establish the
areas exposed to natural threats (Amler et al., 1999;
Gilman, 2002; Smith, 2002; Stewart et al., 2003). In
the same way, in the ICZM framework the zoning is seen
as a tool integrating the ecological, socio-economic and
institutional aspects for the management of the coastal
areas (Cicin-Sain and Belfiore, 2005; Cicin-Sain and
Knecht, 1998; Portman, 2007).
According to it, different types of ecological uses,
threats and risks, use conflicts may arise, that must be
considered in the territorial land use planning.
Figure 4 shows the relevant elements for the territorial
land use planning of the coastal area, for this case,
municipalities of the Colombian Pacific.
Figure 4 Elements to take into consideration in the territorial
land use plans of the zoning proposal.
In general the territorial land use plans of the
municipalities of the Colombian Pacific coastal area
have limitations in the ecological zoning, mainly in
the definition of the ecological units of marine-coastal
sub-zone, in the zoning of use conflicts and in the
threats, mainly anthropics.
Ecological zoning
Taking into account the ecosystems defined as part of
the coastal area in Colombia according to the
PNAOCI, the ecosystems existing and identified in
the territorial land use planning are mentioned.
According to the PNAOCI, in the demarcation of the
coastal area the six main ecosystems or units of the