International Coastal Management:
Tools for Successful Regional Partnerships and Initiatives

Contemporary coastal governance now has a three-decade history in the United States while programs in other nations extend back twenty years or more. This diverse body of experience teaches that the essence of the coastal governance challenge lies in adding new dimensions of spatial and temporal integration to traditional sector-by-sector planning and decision-making. As a strategy for progressing towards more sustainable forms of coastal development and conservation, coastal governance requires decades of sustained effort. The benefits of improved quality of life for coastal communities and the protection or restoration of bio-physical attributes of coastal ecosystems usually require modifications to prevailing forms of societal behavior. Equity issues posed by the anthropogenic transformation of coastal environments, that are otherwise often ignored, must be confronted. Such forms of integration can threaten the distribution of power among divisions of government and require unfamiliar forms of collaborative behavior. Thus, while the planning phases of a coastal governance process are often completed, programs frequently fail to make the transition to effective implementation. The reasons for sustained success or failure are examined and strategies to improve the prospects of success are discussed