Basic HTML Version
International Journal of Marine Science 2013, Vol.3, No.29, 225-237
http://ijms.sophiapublisher.com
225
Research Article Open Access
Criteria for Incorporating the Guidelines of the Integrated Coastal Zone
Management (ICZM) in Territorial Land Use Planning: Study Case for the
Colombian Pacific Coastal Area
Ángela López Rodríguez , Paula Cristina Sierra-Correa, Pilar Lozano-Rivera
Marine and Costal Research Institute “Jose Benito Vives de Andreis-INVEMAR, Playa Salguero-Santa Marta, Colombia
Corresponding author email: angela.lopez@invemar.org.co
International Journal of Marine Science, 2013, Vol.3, No.29 doi: 10.5376/ijms.2013.03.0029
Received: 01 May, 2013
Accepted: 30 May, 2013
Published: 02 Jun., 2013
Copyright
©
2013 López Rodríguez et al., This is an open access article published under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits
unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Preferred citation for this article:
López Rodríguez et al., 2013, Criteria for Incorporating the Guidelines of the Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) in Territorial Land Use Planning:
Study Case for the Colombian Pacific Coastal Area, International Journal of Marine Science, Vol.3, No.29 225
-
237 (doi: 10.5376/ijms.2013.03.0029)
Abstract
In Colombia, Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) has been implemented through the “National Environmental
Policy of the Oceanic Spaces and Coastal and Insular Areas of Colombia-PNAOCI” (Acronyms in Spanish), whose guidelines have
considered the need to include marine and coastal ecosystems in land use planning. ICZM, as a special planning approach, can
contribute to territorial land use planning of the municipalities located in coastal areas, because it can provide guidelines for the
conservation and use of ecosystems in these areas. In this work, the Colombian Pacific coastal area municipalities, which are part of
the “Tropical Eastern Pacific Region” and are located between the 01°30´ and the 07°10´ latitude North and between the 77°40´ and
the 82°00´ longitude West were taken as a study case. The review of their territorial land use plans was made for each one of the
municipalities by means of the descriptive analysis of the biophysical, socio-economical and institutional components, seeking to
explain, through the different criteria and particular and critical parameters of the coastal-marine areas, the aspects these
municipalities must consider and adjust in their territorial land use planning. The criteria selected are related with aspects such as:
existence of the territorial land use plan, demarcation of the coastal area, diagnosis (those aspects such as the identification of
strategic marine and coastal ecosystems, high impact natural phenomenon i.e. Tsunamis, coastal erosion, oceanographic process, uses,
conflicts, risk and governability aspects), zoning and prospecting. The analysis concludes that the ICZM´s principles incorporated to
the territorial land use planning processes in the Colombian Pacific could be the opportunity to minimize impacts from land to sea,
and generate space.
Keywords
Land use planning; Integrated Coastal Zone Management; Zoning; Colombian Pacific coastal area
Introduction
In general, the deterioration processes in coastal areas
are evident given the little control of the human
activities and the weak zoning and planning processes
which do not consider the particular characteristics of
these areas (Barragán, 2003; Cicin-Sain and Knecht,
1998; Clark, 1996; Chua, 1993; Kay and Alder, 2005).
This situation is not different in Colombia (South
America), particularly the development of Pacific
coast region has been made in an unorganized way, on
topics such as:
i
) Location of human populations in
high risk areas (coastal border areas of flooding from
rivers, sliding areas), ii) growth of human populations
to strategic ecosystems (e.g. mangroves); iii)
Development of unsustainable production activities iv)
Limited access of human populations to basic services
(water, power, sanitation, health), causing impacts on
ecosystems. In this sense it is necessary to orient
zoning and planning processes in which the
management and sustainable use alternatives are
identified so they contribute to avoid the deterioration
of the ecosystems present in the area.
The Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) is
defined as a special continuous, dynamic and
participative holistic planning process, which
contributes to the decision making regarding the use
and protection of the coastal areas, recognizing the
particular character of these areas (Cicin-Sain and
Knecht, 1998; Clark, 1996; Chua, 1993). ICZM is sets
as a tool that contributes to the territorial zoning. It
considers among its goals the sustainable development
of the ocean and coastal areas, the vulnerability
reduction in the presence of natural threats of the