Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)

In the EU sponsored research project Resource Management in Karstic Areas of the Coastal Regions of the Mediterranean (ResManMed, 1997-2000), three case studies were used: the Antalya region in southern Turkey, the region north of Beirut, Lebanon and the Island of Gozo.

An extensive series of environmental field surveys, complemented with the interpretation of aerial photographs and satellite images resulted in the production of an Atlas of Thematic Environmental Resource Maps for each of the study areas.  The Gozo Atlas includes maps depicting the Landcover, Watersheds, Soils, Habitats, Land degradation, Surficial Cover Infiltration and many more.

The compilation of data on the state and use of all environmental resources, including socio-economic data, into one single coherent Geographic Information System allowed to gain new insights about environmental resource relationships and resource interdependencies.  Moreover, the additional consideration of the perception of the local stakeholders towards their environment, their soils, their valleys and their heritage, offered a novel form to assess whether our actions today are compatible with the needs of tomorrow's generations.

At present, IRMCo act as scientific coordinators in the ongoing research project on the Sustainability of Mediterranean coastal lagoon ecosystems under semi-arid climate (COLASU, 2002 - 2005).  The Colasu consortium includes specialist laboratories in France, Portugal and Spain and focuses on the lagoons of Nador in Morocco and El Meleh in Tunisia.

Detailed information on the project's objectives, methodologies used and the results achieved to date are available on http://www.colasu.com/