Assessing Integration Performance in Coastal and Marine Protected Areas. A Document-Based Approach

Multiple pressures generated by inappropriate uses impact worldwide on coastal areas, the ever-evolving and intrinsically fragile interface where land and sea meet. To contrast such pressures, protected coastal and marine areas have been promoted and established. This adds a further layer of complexity in areas where multiple (often competing and conflicting) uses coexist, each planned and regulated on its own. Hence, integration between planning tools in coastal areas represents a key issue, in particular in the Mediterranean basin, where (in principle) it has been addressed by both legally binding acts and voluntary agreements and charters concerning coastal zone management as well as marine spatial planning. This short contribution aims at proposing a framework that brings together principles from the current legal framework and can be applied to assess the level of integration in relation to planning and management of areas characterized by the coexistence of various nature protection regimes. In other words, this framework, which can easily applied in marine protected areas, allows for evaluating their performance in addressing a key aspect of sustainability.