Sectoral and Territorial Cooperation in the European Demonstration Programme on ICZM

The search for integration among economic sectors and territorial administrations has become one of the defining features of coastal management initiatives in recent years. A wide range of ideal dimensions to integration has been described in the literature, with two common elements being horizontal and vertical integration involving, among others, the wide range of administrative actors in the coastal zone. Examination of the European demonstration projects in ICZM suggests that integration efforts on the ground start more modestly, with efforts to engage a range of different formal and informal stakeholders in a cooperative process aimed toward development of a set of common goals and a strategy for the coast. While institutional contexts vary greatly between different countries within Europe, in most countries integration between sectoral and territorial planning is not possible within a single administrative level. However, the direct involvement in local ICZM initiatives of key actors from central administrations is often impracticable. This article suggests actions could be taken at more central levels of government in order to simplify the institutional context in which local ICZM is developed.