Basic HTML Version
International Journal of Marine Science 2013, Vol.3, No.29, 225-237
http://ijms.sophiapublisher.com
226
coastal areas and its inhabitants, and the maintenance
of the essential ecological processes (Farris, 2002;
Kay and Alder, 2005; Stewart et al., 2003).
Several countries around the world have considered
the need to incorporate the guidelines of Integrated
Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) into the territorial
land use planning process of the coastal areas.
Considering the coastal zone has specific
characteristics related to natural resources, sensitive
lands, hazards areas, coastal access, use priorities, and
significant impacts of development (Farris, 2002;
Gilman, 2002; Stewart et al., 2003; Yañez-Arancibia
and Day, 2004a, b).
The purpose of this work is to identify the criteria for
the incorporation of ICZM guidelines into the
territorial land use planning though a study case on
Colombian Pacific coastal area. The selection of the
criteria was based on the analysis of secondary
information on ICZM and land use planning.
1 Background
Existing knowledge indicates that territorial land use
plans of the coastal areas in Colombia do not have the
critical information on the Ocean and Coastal
environment. A weakness in the inclusion of the
marine-coastal aspects could be assumed allowing its
environmental zoning in subjects such as: marine-coastal
physical environment such as currents, tides, winds, El
Niño phenomenon, ecosystems, fauna, vulnerability in
the presence of natural threats, municipality coastal
environment demarcation, pollution sources, land uses,
among others. In this sense, it is necessary to address the
zoning and planning processes identifying management
and sustainable use alternatives to contribute for
avoiding the deterioration of the ecosystems present in
the coastal zones.
A number ICZM studies have been carried out in the
Colombian Pacific coast. Between 1999 and 2009 it
was developed the pilot project for designing the
integrated management plan of the coastal areas of
Guapi and Iscuandé municipalities (INVEMAR et al.,
2003; López et al., 2003); on 2004 was designed the
management plan for the south coastal area of the
Colombian Pacific coast (INVEMAR et al., 2006;
López et al., 2008). The Planning National
Department prepared the handbook of “Basic
Elements for Integrated Management of the Coastal
Areas”, offering the guidelines for the integrated
management of the marine-coastal territory in the
framework of the country´s territorial land use
planning processes (DNP, 2008). Other important
works that have contributed elements for present study
are related to vulnerability due to natural threats such
as earthquakes, tsunamis, El Niño phenomenon,
erosion, sedimentation and sea level rise (Duarte,
1992; INVEMAR, 2003; Lacambra et al., 2003;
Reyna, 1997). These studies and others in the
Caribbean coastal areas have provided the information
to define the criteria for the incorporation of the ICZM
into the territorial land use planning.
Study area
The coastal area of the Colombian Pacific is part of
the “Tropical Eastern Pacific Region” (Steer et al.,
1997) and is located between the 01°30′ and the
07°10′ latitude North and between the 77°40′ and the
82°00′ longitude West (CCCP, 2002). At North, it
borders with the Panama Gulf; on the south with the
Ecuadorian coast waters and the Carnegie submarine
mountain range; and to the West with the Pacific
Ocean and the territorial waters of Panama and the
Cocos mountain range (CCCP, 2002). It has a
coastline length of 3 513 km, and it includes the
Chocó, Valle del Cauca, Cauca and Nariño
Departments and the Gorgona, Gorgonilla and
Malpelo Islands (Figure 1).
2 Materials and Methods
The present work is based in a descriptive analysis of
the different environmental aspects and relevant
subjects for territorial land use planning of the
Colombian Pacific municipalities. This methodology
is focused on description and analysis of the diverse
components of the system (biophysical, socio-economic
and institutional) in order to establish a diagnosis and
definition of the key aspects that must be taken into
account in the planning of a territory (Hernández et al.,
1997). This methodological framework has been applied
to the development of different planning processes of
territory (Becerra et al., 1998; Alonso et al., 2003).
Several approaches have been generated for dealing
with ICZM. In general these processes define a series
of common phases: 1) preparation and institutional
arrangement, 2) diagnosis, 3) proposal or design
(which includes the zoning), 4) execution or
implementation and 5) evaluation and adjustment.