Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) Framework and Ecosystem Approach: eutrophication phenomenon at the Mediterranean Sea

Abstract

The Mediterranean environment stressors and their effect on trophic state require the assessment of interconnection between land-based drivers, the real and potential pressures and impacts. To achieve this, it is necessary to consider as well, several social and economic factors that may influence decision-making around land-sea planning and the management of nutrient, pollutants and sediment transport. Moreover, once the ecological situation is characterized, it is advisable to establish the linking between the natural systems and the ecosystem services. In the Mediterranean Sea, it fairly demonstrated by ecosystem-based management approaches and the literature that human activities can affect the water column, the seafloor, and the biodiversity, among others. Moreover, it is a fact that these issues require a detailed piece of knowledge of a wide variety of geological, sociological, economical and biological variables, among others. Those variables are dependent on prioritises actions. One of them is the monitoring, mitigation and control of the eutrophication processes, which needs the deconstruction of the Integrated Coastal Zones Management (ICZM) approach into priorities actions, in accordance with the multi-level water characteristics and their interconnection, i.e., the coastal zone dynamics, and the multilevel governance.