Best Management Practices
Integrated Coastal Management and international co-operation
Sustainable development can be a vague term, but the concept indicates that coastal and marine problems need comprehensive solutions that take into account social, economic and ecological issues.
Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) offers a framework for integrating environmental, economic, social, cultural and public health interests in the interests of sustainable development. The ICM approach varies considerably in its range. It can range from the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, in Australia, responsible for water catchements as well as activities but not fisheries, to the Chesapeake Bay Programme, in the United States, concerned particularly with pollution, or the Zanzibar coordination programme.
The Regional Seas Programme of UNEP, Agenda 21 (approved in 1992 by the Earth Summit of the UN Conference on Environment and Development), and the General Programme of Action on Land-based Activities adopted in 1995 all put the emphasis on sustainable development in the activities they promote.