Coastal zone Governance: Kerala in relation to National and International situations

Abstract

Some of the leading coastal countries like Australia, China, France, Israel, Japan. New Zealand, Oman, Spain, Sri Lanka, Thailand. Turkey, U.K., U.S.A and others have taken urgent steps for coastal zone management following the 1992 United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) to meet their commitments to the sustainable development of coastal areas and the marine environment under the national Jurisdiction as per Chapter 17 of Agenda 21 of the above conference. As the coastal zone is generally busy with many economic activities like agriculture, forestry, fisheries, transport and manufacturing industries, it is necessary to accord priority to the conservation of the natural resources and the coastal ecosystem to ensure their sustainable development. Therefore, many coastal countries have evolved Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) plans.