Integrated coastal management in Brazil: analysis of the National Coastal Management Plan and selected tools based on international standards

Abstract

The Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) in Brazil is a political-institutional process, manifested in the establishment of the National Coastal Management Plan (NCMP) and in the formulation and implementation of specific tools for territorial planning in the coastal zone, as well as other activities related to ICZM in Brazil. This work analyses some official documents related to the Brazilian NCMP and to the frequently used tools for performing ICZM in Brazil: Macrodiagnostic of Coastal Zone, Orla Project and Coastal Ecological and Economic Zoning. The analysis is based on legislative, ecological and socioeconomic indicators, found in the Handbook for Measuring the Progress and Outcomes of Integrated Coastal and Ocean Management, published in 2006 by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission. The results indicate adequacy of NCMP and tools on the definition and delimitation of the coastal zone, as the institutional processes of coordination and cooperation within the ICZM and about the diagnostics and the territorial planning of the coastal zone. However, the Brazilian NCMP as the cited tools still need to fully meet the major global goal of the ICZM, as internationally defined by the Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP), with respect to the improvement of the life quality of coastal populations who depends on the sea resources and with respect to the environmental conservation of the Brazilian coastal zone. With the wide dissemination of results, is expected to contribute to the improvement of NCMPs and ICZM tools maintained worldwide, since we emphasize the importance of including the international general objectives of the ICZM, as well as inclusion the dimensions of sustainability in the ICZM processes, so try to ensure economic growth, coupled with respect to coastal populations and environmental conservation in coastal areas.

From restoration to responsive governance: Rio Doce after the Fundão failure

“…The strengths and shortcomings of coastal management in Brazil have been reviewed by Klumb-Oliveira and Souto (2015). Their study finds that there is a lack of environmental data and insufficient consideration of the maritime domain.…”

An Endless Endeavor: The Evolution and Challenges of Multi-Level Coastal Governance in the Global South

“…In Brazil, the central federal-level actor interaction hub on coastal governance sits at the Coastal Management Integration Group (GIGERCO). This is the level where the interplay of governance modes is possible, where autonomous, collaborative and hierarchical dynamics meet, and where opportunities were recently identified for steering transformations towards a more participatory, integrated, and ecosystem-based regime [23,31].…”

“…We seek to advance the national level coastal governance system's analysis [23,31,[37][38][39][40]] by focusing on the insights provided by the investigation of the evolution of opportunity contexts at critical levels of the country's ocean governance regime: the CIRM, its subsystem GIGERCO and its main governing instrument, the Federal Action Plan for the Coastal Zone (PAF)-whose general aims are to help CIRM and the Ministry of Environment steer the implementation of Brazil's National Management Plan for the Coastal Zone. The theory by Westley et al [2] has never been applied particularly in a national approach, being the first to our knowledge to apply the framework systematically and informed by empirical data.…”