Capacity Building in the frame of EU ICZM related policies

This section was meant to be a review of the way coastal areas and their management are tackled within the most relevant EU documents and resulting Capacity Building needs.

Capacity Building in the ICZM Evaluation Report

Endorse awareness, guidance training and education is one of the 5 operational recommendations of the ICZM Evaluation Report

According to this report, a crucial issue in the implementation of ICZM is the understanding and ownership of stakeholders along the European coast regarding this approach for a sustainable management of the coastal zone

The promotion of awareness, guidance, education and training for ICZM is an important means to foster such ownership and to contribute to human capacity building

However, the ICZM evaluation questionnaire revealed that only a 31% of all respondents feel that such instruments are currently being used to address coastal zone issues in their country

Main challenges

• Sectoral thinking has to be overcome
• Knowledge of basic economic, ecological and social processes has to be translated
• The ability to cooperate across spatial boundaries and scales has to be trained, taking collective decisions on a complex topic such as coastal development

Starting for general Awareness Raising measures, a range of tools should be employed to achieve progress

A central element would be to develop guidance materials that illustrate the process of implementing ICZM, referring to all relevant stakeholders and practices

To establish ICZM training centres and programmes and to facilitate exchange, also beyond the EU, should further enhance to uptake of the approach and dissemination of Good Practices

With a view to the long-term deployment of the ICZM approach, specific curricula at various educational levels are important means