An implementation model for integrated coastal management in South Africa : from legislation to practice

[摘要] ENGLISH ABSTRACT: In South Africa the government's progress in developing policy in support of people-centred IntegratedCoastal Management (ICM), as expressed in the Coastal Policy and the Integrated Coastal Management Act,is commended. However several challenges pertaining to policy implementation remain which constitute theprimary need for this research. Indeed, South Africa already has many pieces of the ICM implementationpuzzle, but a structured framework or model to assist in achieving a workable, integrated system is stilllacking.The aim of this research is to design an implementation model for ICM within the South African context andto propose a novel and innovative generic process for the design and refinement of such models. This aim isachieved by addressing four research questions, namely: (i) Can contextual, country-specific knowledge beharnessed to design a prototype ICM implementation model for South Africa?; (ii) Is the prototype designworkable (or compatible) in the existing coastal marine statutory and governance system of South Africa(i.e. a practical validation)?; (iii) Is the prototype model for South Africa scientifically credible and how caninsights into the uniformities contributing to improved integrated environmental management (IEM) andICM be applied to assess such credibility as well as inform refinements to the model (i.e. a theoreticalvalidation)?; and (iv) Can a generic process for the design and refinement of country-specificimplementation models be derived from the research methodology applied in this study? Design science wasselected as the primary strategy of inquiry for this study and a mixed-methods approach was used, claimingthat the specific focus is real-world practice. Qualitative and quantitative methods are used to execute thisresearch.This research demonstrates a method where experience and country-specific knowledge are harnessed todesign a prototype ICM implementation model for South Africa and, in doing so, experientially capturingimportant emerging paradigms for improved ICM implementation – as identified in the scientific literature –namely the ecosystem-based management, spatial planning and cooperative environmental governanceparadigms. In the prototype design, the ecosystem-based management and spatial planning paradigms arecombined with traditional problems- or issues-based approaches, applied in many of the earlier ICM models.Personal experience also confirmed the importance of informed and well-established actor involvement incoastal management (cooperative environmental management) which manifested in the inclusion of theimportant avenues of actor involvement (i.e. the support elements) in the prototype model. Moreover, SouthAfrica's sector-based governance system is accommodated in the design by anchoring the managementprogrammes component (remaining largely sector-based) between the resource vision, objectives and zoningcomponent and the monitoring and evaluation component, implying that management programmes remaingrounded in an ecosystem-based approach and subservient to the agreed vision and objectives, and needs ofthe coastal ecosystem. A practical validation, using the management of land-based activities as case study, reveals that approachesto coastal management in South Africa, grounded in the current statutory framework of the country, canlargely be aligned with the approach proposed in the prototype implementation model. Indeed it isinefficiency or a lack of operationalisation of existing legislation that may pose the biggest challenge foreffective implementation of this model. Because the prototype model is designed to accommodate sectorbasedmanagement programmes, it can be extended to accommodate sectors or activities other than thosepresented in the case study, such as conservation, transportation (shipping) and fisheries. Consequently, theprototype model can be applied in South Africa without any substantive adaptation of the existing statutoryframework. Clearly, the challenge of effectively operationalising existing statutes remains.A critical review of relevant scientific literature provides information on and understanding of uniformitiesin IEM, the broader domain within which ICM is nested, using the key paradigms that contributesignificantly to the improved implementation of IEM, to express such uniformities. It became apparent fromstudying the evolution of ICM over the last two decades that many of the key paradigms that significantlycontribute to improved implementation of IEM have also proved valuable in the implementation of ICM.The insight gained from scientific literature was applied in determining fourteen evaluation criteria withwhich to assess of the scientific credibility of the prototype design. The subsequent assessment of theprototype design confirmed that the collective learning in IEM (and ICM) implementation over the last twodecades is consolidated in this prototype design, apart from two aspects, namely scientific support networksand sustainable financial support. These were not initially defined as key components for ICMimplementation in South Africa, but in retroflection proved to be valid; South Africa has establishedindependent scientific networks outside the realm of government that coordinate scientific research insupport of coastal management, and the explicit recognition of these scientific support networks in theprototype model will highlight their importance to ICM. Also, the inclusion of a sustainable financial supportmechanism as a key component in the model will significantly enhance the importance and necessity ofhaving a sound funding strategy associated with ICM implementation in South Africa.Considering the prototype design and its practical and theoretical validation, two interdependent butdistinctive adaptive cycles emerged. The refined model therefore incorporates these dual, adaptive cyclescoined the resource and actor cycles. The resource cycle is much in alignment with the original componentsof the prototype design, but a distinct modification is the inclusion of the demarcation of the geographicalboundaries of coastal management units as a separate component in the model. In essence, the components inthe actor cycle represent the key actor groups involved in the governance system for ICM. Thesecomponents reflect the original support elements in the prototype design but include the two additionalcomponents identified in the theoretical validation, namely scientific support and financial supportmechanisms. The revised model with its dual, adaptive cycles contributes an implementation perspective tothe growing body of scientific literature on social-ecological systems. In this literature, the ecological systemis viewed as intricately linked with and affected by the social system as depicted by the interlinked resourceand actor cycles of the revised model. Further, a practical and novel three-step generic process for the design and refinement of country-specificICM implementation models is proposed, based on the design-science approach applied in this study. First,the process involves the design of a prototype model, primarily based on local knowledge within the countryspecificcontext. Second, the process entails dual validation procedures, namely an empirical validation andtheoretical validations. Finally, the outcome of the validation process is used to refine and improve theprototype design. Further, the refined model design proposed in this study is posed as a suitable prototypedesign for countries with similar sector-based coastal management milieus to South Africa.The research reported here does not offer a complete solution to the identified problem as there are manifoldangles from which to approach effective and sustainable ICM. In this study an implementation angle waschosen, more specifically from a practical environmental management perspective that recognises importanteconomic and social elements and interactions. Opportunities exist for researchers in other expert fields toinvestigate ICM policy implementation in South Africa from their perspectives. For example, ICM can alsobe viewed from purely economic, public administration, social or educational stances. In particular,techniques such as science mapping could be used to identify whether paradigms exist that constituteuniformities in IEM and ICM in addition to the ten key paradigms studied in the research. Any newcharacteristics deriving from the analysis of the additional paradigms can then be used to refine theevaluation criteria for the assessment of the scientific credibility of ICM implementation models.Knowledge gained and innovations made in such studies can be integrated into the ICM implementationmodel presented here to continuously improve its operationalisation.This research provides two main products, namely a workable and scientifically sound implementationmodel for ICM in the South African context and a generic process for the design and refinement of countryspecificICM implementation models, both requiring adaptive management approaches.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University