Fundación Chile and the integrated management of the coastal zone
Abstract Chile has a very diverse and variable coastal zone, with a series of phenomena that occur unexpectedly and which demand great flexibility from the management models that are implemented. The oceanographic characteristics have provided Chile’s coastal zone with important pelagic fisheries in the country’s north and center and benthonic fisheries in the south. They have also led to the explosive growth of aquaculture in the last ten years, mostly in the canals zone. In the northern and central regions, megaprojects have dominated coastal zone investments and are about to go into the far north. Also a sustained population increase in central and southern coastal areas is expected as a consequence of the saturation of big cities and development in road, transport and communications. The incorporation of Chile into trade blocks such as APEC, NAFTA, and MERCOSUR together with some recently signed bilateral trade treaties will undoubtedly give a push to the port activity. The construction of different corridors throughout the country that will provide access to the Pacific for some regions in Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia and Argentina will have a similar effect. Alterations in the quality of the environment (Pollution), threats to the coastal zone’s diversity (exhausted resources) and conflicts among users are mentioned among the principal problems affecting coastal zone urging for an integrated management approach for this critical and sensitive area. A coastal zone management plan for Chile, more than creating new regulations, many of which already exist, should be able to set up effective mechanisms among the different sectors involved in the use of the coastal zone, generate mechanisms to resolve differences, provide adequate scientific and technical information for decision making and establish simple and realistic mechanisms for education and citizen participation. The National Management Plan should be essentially FOCUSED, REGIONALIZED, INTEGRATED AND INFORMED. In fact, the basic idea promoted by Fundacion Chile and the Navy’s Maritime Territory National Board would be to generate a system supported by one or two central coordinating institutions articulated with regional institutions, which would carry out the above-mentioned objectives. The greatest benefit of a Plan like this one is that Chile’s coastal zone and its resources can be used sustainably with the appropriate mechanisms, but in an informed and integrated way and respect regional and local peculiarities. Some of the major features of this approach are presented and discussed here.