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Presentation
 
How and why did we create the I+D+i GIZC team?
 
 
- I+D+i GIZC: The Balearic Islands’ initiative to move towards ICZM.

I+D+i GIZC: The Balearic Islands’ initiative to move towards ICZM. To meet this challenge of a new way to manage the coastline based on knowledge, the Government of the Balearic Islands and Spain’s Higher Council of Scientific Research (CSIC) created in February 2005 a Integrated Coastal Area Research and Management Unit (UGIZC) within IMEDEA. This research unit constitutes a joint, ambitious and realistic initiative, related more to real strategic sustainability objective in a medium (2010) and long term (2020) in the Balearic Islands, which, linked to short-term environmental problems, are and should be the object of action in each and every area of the public sector and public institutions and other parties involved.

This initiative starts from the need for and importance of quality research as a key element to achieve a truly sustainable management of the coast in the Balearic Islands. This has been IMEDEA’s clear belief and approach for more than ten years, since they have been establishing relationships between quality research and sustainable management and encouraging multidisciplinary and global research, something that has led IMEDEA to be considered an international reference in this field.

So, the objective of UGIZC is to carry out scientific research, technological development and encourage knowledge transfer and innovation to achieve true knowledge-based ICAM.

- General coordination and leadership of the Government of the Balearic Islands in coastal areas.

General coordination and leadership of the Government of the Balearic Islands in coastal areas. Just as we have outlined above, ICAM is a process in which the active participation of the whole of society at very different levels is vital: public administration, researchers, agents and sectors involved (NGOs, business associations, unions, professional bodies, users, residents, etc.). All of these, often with distinct and legitimate needs, should occupy key roles in the implementation of true ICAM in the Balearic Islands based on knowledge and accepted by society. They should all constitute the elements of a system of solid and efficient organisation to be taken into account.

The final success of this initiative (UGIZC) is intrinsically linked to the active participation of the Balearic Ministry of Economy, Revenue and Innovation and the Ministry of the Environment as core elements in the aforementioned system of horizontal coordination, which is also undoubtedly one of the key element in the implementation of truly knowledge-based ICAM in the Balearic Islands.


- From ICAZM towards a new Sustainability Strategy for the Coast of the Balearic Islands.

The ultimate intention of the work of UGIZC is to provide the basic scientific elements and collaborate in the creation, by the Government of the Balearic Islands, of a new Sustainability Strategy (of the coast) in the Balearic Islands which could be drawn in 2008-09 (and as such would be a natural continuation of the first phase of the work of UGIZC. Below are some initial ideas and principles relating to this initiative.


The Sustainability Strategy for the coast of the Balearic Islands could have the aim of guaranteeing in the medium to long term the quality, safety and productivity of coastal areas through a series of objectives involving government, the environment, the economy and society. The strategy is based on the principles of sustainable development and should provide the global framework in which each and every one of the activities that may affect or condition balance can be included. All of this should be done upon the basis of knowledge, research and technological development, and reliable and detailed information on coastal areas and starting from the need for an integral and interdisciplinary approach and the active participation of various public and private institutions related to the coast in areas such as the environment, tourism, fisheries, emergencies, health, development, sport, innovation, research, and so on.


The ultimate aim is to be able to assess the various alternatives of uses of the coast and provide tools to resolve conflicts from the point of view of reliable and objective knowledge, all of which should guarantee from a sustainable perspective (thus taking into consideration the wellbeing of future generations) both the quality of coastal areas and the safety of activities taking place there, key elements both for the resident population and maintaining the competitiveness of economic activity, wellbeing, and the quality of life of the general population.

- How do we achieve sustainability of the coast in the Balearic Islands?

The strategy will define lines of action for public administrations, productive agents and the general population. The will be general goals that the society of the islands should reach in the medium (4-5 years) and long terms (15-20 years), together with specific objectives, commitments and action that we should monitor, analyse, and if needs be, redirect. In this manner we can guarantee the achievement and maintenance of an optimal level of quality of life for present generations without endangering the wellbeing of future generations. It should be remembered that these goals approach a series of environmental and sectoral matters, which can be achieved through the fulfilment of specific objectives and action involving the environment, economy, society, government and research and technological development. Amongst the potential environmental areas we can identify for example climate change, biodiversity, territory and the countryside, and amongst sectoral matters we can initially identify energy, transport, tourism, development and town-planning, agriculture and fisheries, amongst others (following EEA principles). In 2007 it is hoped that the Balearic Ministry for the Environment and IMEDEA will create joint work groups to further knowledge in these areas and outline specific initial elements for the strategy: initially, the costal observatory (phase one of the Technology Platform); biodiversity and habitats; quality of water; coastal oceanography, beaches and deposits; SIG and databases.

- Elements of the Sustainability Strategy for the Coast in the Balearic Islands.

The strategy is conditioned by four key elements:

  1. The clear belief in knowledge, research and technological development as key elements in a new form of quality research directed at responding to the needs of society, a new form of marine and coastal systems and ecosystems which is integral, multidisciplinary and predictive and operational
  2. The definition of goals, objectives and commitments accepted by society and relating to the move towards a knowledge-based ICAM starting from the principles of sustainability and management based on ecosystems
  3 The availability of reliable information through the creation of a technology platform and coastal observatory providing data and predictive models, and thus the knowledge necessary on the state and evolution of principal characteristics of the Balearic coast, both in terms of inland areas and beaches, bathing areas and coastal waters
  4 Leadership and coordination from the Government of the Balearic Islands, involving agents relating to the coast.