Concept:
Integrated Coastal Resource Management (ICRM) comprises those activities which achieve sustainable use and management of the economically and ecologically valuable resources in coastal areas in which are considerate of interactions among and within resource systems and those of humans and their environment.
Management Goals and Means:
The long term goals for ICRM in the Philippines will be:
1. sustainable use and management of coastal resources;
2. regeneration of depleted resources; and,
3. equitable access and use of resources.
It is suggested that management give emphasis to the protection of the important resources for the primary benefit of coastal communities by (Baguio Resolution on Coastal Resource Management, March 1990):
- endorsing policies that promote and enhance sustainable development of coastal resources;
- encouraging the development and implementation of integrated, interdisciplinary and comprehensive coastal resource management plans;
- strengthening management capabilities of government and non-government organizations responsible for the management of coastal resources;
- undertaking measures to relieve human population pressures in coastal areas;
- implementing and rigorously enforcing effective regulations and supporting incentives schemes to promote sustainable uses of coastal resources;
- increasing awareness in coastal populations regarding their critical dependence on the continued productivity of coastal resources;
- promoting community-based participation in coastal resources management;
- adopting policies and programs to enable women to participate in and contribute more actively to the effective management of coastal resources for sustainable development; and
- exploring ways and means by which the public and private sectors can cooperate and thereby benefit from efforts to sustain and develop coastal resources.
Management Approach and Structure
The general theme of management shall be to involve the coastal communities in the decision making and implementation process of CRM. Regulatory functions shall be encouraged at the municipal level to complement national laws affecting coastal resources. Decisions and participation shall lie with the communities, municipal governments, Depart of Agriculture regional offices and non-government agencies working in the area.
Management structure will evolve from the organization of community-based management groups and barangay units which are represented at the municipal level. Territorial use at the barangay, municipal and bay level shall be incorporated into the ordinance and bay management agreements.
Area Focus (practical)
The area generally considered to fall within the ‘coastal zone’ in that which includes all coastal marine resources and those dependent on marine influence and those areas which are affected by or have a significant influence on marine resources within the practical limits to implementation of a coastal resource management plan.
Landward boundaries are the inner reaches of marine dependent ecosystems or 1 kilometer, which ever is greater unless there is a significant source of an influence on the coastal area which is located farther inland. Seaward boundaries are determined by the outer reaches of fishery resource system which are associated with or influence by the coast or areas beyond which contain human or natural influences on the coastal waters depending on current regimes, functional jurisdiction and/or arbitrary limits for management areas.
It should be noted that economic activities outside of the CRM area which do not influence the environment of the CRM area are not considered part of a coastal management plan.
Area Focus (exact as defined for the Philippines)
The strip of land and adjacent lake or ocean spaces (water and submerged land) in which the land ecology and land use directly affect lake and ocean space ecology and vice versa. Functionally, it is a broad interface between land and water where production, consumption and exchange processes occur in high rates of intensity.
Ecologically, it is an area of dynamic biochemical action but with limited capacity of supporting various forms of human use.
Geographically, the outermost boundary is defined as the extent to which land based activities have measurable influence on the chemistry of the water of or on the ecology biota. In determining the boundaries of the Philippines coast zone, the point of reference used is the zero mark or mean sea level in the 1:50,000 topographic maps. The innermost boundary is 1 kilometer from the shoreline except at places where recognizable indicators for maritime influences exists like mangrove, nipa swamps, beaches, vegetation, sand dune, salt beds, marshlands, bayous, recent marine deposits, beach sand deposits and deltaic deposits in which cases the 1 kilometer distance shall be reckoned from edges of such features. (National Environmental Council)
Resources Managed
The primary resources to be managed as part of ICRM shall be those of ecological and economic importance to the area. The most probable target resources in the Philippines will be:
a. fish stocks
b. coral reef and seagrass systems
c. estuaries and mangroves
d. beaches
e. water quality coastal forest
f. shoreline land
CRM Planning and Implementation Process
A series of activities are a prerequisite for the formulation of a CRM plan and its implementation. Below are most important tasks leading to the CRM plan. Although the order of presentation is a logical sequence, several tasks will be ongoing simultaneously and contribute to each others completion. For example, eventhough a preliminary draft CRM plan can be accomplished after the environmental profile is complete, the draft plan will be continually refined as new information is made available from primary research and discussions with local government and community leaders. Also, by drafting the preliminary CRM plan before the primary research is completed, particularly gaps in the plan can be addressed by the research teams and in some cases their work plans altered to satisfy planning needs.
CRM Environmental Profile
All existing information and data from secondary sources initial site observation on the management site and its problems should be summarized into profile document which contains:
Introduction to the site and its management problems
- Geography and physical setting
- Coastal resources Population, demography and land use
- Resource uses and socioeconomics
- Institutional and legal framework
- CRM issues, causes and preliminary solutions
Development of Preliminary Draft CRM Plan
Informal meetings with communities, government and research team should be conducted to begin to define management problems and their causes and to define management policies and strategies as appropriate for the site. These finding should be drafted into a preliminary management plan which contains:
Introduction to the site and the management plan objectives
- Summary of the CRM profile relevant for management
- Management problems and their causes
- Policies for management, both existing and proposed
- Strategies and actions to achieve management objectives and to solve management problems
- Institutional arrangements for implementation
- Pilot projects for immediate implementation
- Maps and supporting documents
Research to Collect Primary Data
Based on the gaps on the secondary information and initial observations of the CRM Profile and particular planning needs, more comprehensive and detailed research is needed to provide a baseline upon which long term management and monitoring can be achieve. The important components of this research should cover:
- Biophysical aspects of the management area – assessment of the coastal and marine habitats, fishery stocks, water quality
- Demographic, socioeconomic and cultural aspects
- population and its distribution
- resource use practices and patterns
- cultural characteristics and traditions
- Legal and institutional aspects
- existing laws affecting the area
- existing formal institutions and their mandates
- informal institutions affecting the area
Position Papers on Policy and Management Strategies from each Research Groups
Results of the initial research should be summarized and presented in a workshop which finalizes the management problems and their causes and formulates management policies, strategies and actions for the management plan. This is then used to refine the preliminary management plan which was based as secondary information and initial observations.
Small Workshops with Local Government and Community Leaders
The proposed management plan should be discussed with the local communities on a regular basis to ensure that their perspective is well represented. Pilot projects can be finalized with NGOs and Local Leaders based on these discussions.
Pilot Project Implementation
Initial pilot projects can begin before the management plan is complete as a means of testing the plan strategies and actions in small areas with selected communities. Pilot projects should be monitored and used to refine the overall CRM plan.
Expansion of Pilot Projects into CRM Plan Implementation
After the initial pilot sites have been selected and implementation begun, more areas can be selected and implemented based on the results of the initial test sites. The CRM plan can be further refined.
