Interjurisdictional coastal management in metropolitan areas

Abstract

Coastal management requires intersectorial and interjurisdictional coordination but this approach can be difficult to implement in complex systems like the metropolitan areas. This paper deals with the different ways of understanding coastal management as influenced by viewpoints fed through political agendas in administratively fragmented coastal systems. The case of study is the Buenos Aires megacity (Argentina), a conurbation of 12.8 million inhabitants. We analyzed the population growth, the land uses, the economic activities, the urban waterfronts, the natural landscape protection, the intervention instruments, the public involvement, the legislation and the interboundary cooperation in the ten jurisdictions superimposed in the coastal zone during the 1970 - 2015 period. The results showed that the coastal development was conditioned by the dichotomies metropolization/decentralization and nationalization/privatization in the political arena. The implemented ICZM initiatives were ephemeral or unsuccessful due to the absence of specific policies and financial incentives recognizing the coast as clearly differentiated from the hinterland. The metropolitan coastal fringe has been managed as an empty space for urbanization under a vision pushed by the real estate interests, the main intervention tool being the local-oriented urban project. The decentralization, as opposed to the interjurisdictional integration, derived in a sectorial, uncoordinated coastal management with strong dependence on external financial sources and diminished capacity for dealing with the long-term transjurisdictional environmental problems like chronic pollution and recurrent flooding. Agreements shifting towards an integrated coastal zone management model seem to be the only way to reach a sustainable, high quality coastal development. Future studies of megacities under different institutional systems will provide data to contrast the performance of other metropolitan coastal management models.**HIGHLIGHTS* This is the first research paper on interjurisdictional coastal management in a megacity.* Fragmented governance, decentralization cycles and a lack of specific coastal policies characterized the management model.* Habitat artificialization, loss of ecosystem services and land privatization were fueled by the real estate interests.* Large-scale socio-environmental problems became chronic and will persist until an ICZM approach is implemented.* The conclusions are relevant to coastal metropolitan systems, particularly in developing countries.