The coastal territory is a complex socio-ecological system (SES), which needs to be governed using an integrated approach. Integrated coastal management (ICM) is considered as the main approach in coastal governance, offering a holistic view of the coastal zone by integrating different governance sectors and governance levels, but ICM is not a fixed approach and should be adopted to meet each particular unique national and local situation. Full scale ICM in Latvia is not applied, but the following problems are recognized as most significant in the coastal territory: the lack of qualitative infrastructure and the lack of good governance; the local level coastal SES is studied, monitored and evaluated insufficiently as well as good practice examples are not communicated enough. In the current study, the exploration of the legisla-tive regulations and planning documents was conducted, therefore, the main research methods are docu-ment studies and expert interviews. Both the vertical and horizontal integration were assessed for the coastal governance, as well as overview of ICM developments in the modern history of Latvia. In order to understand the situation of the coastal governance in Latvia, the scheme of coastal dune protection zone was prepared, based on Latvian coastal legislation, however it is often difficult to depict different protec-tion zones in practice in such a dynamic and changing territory as a coastal zone.
Effects of rainfall-runoff pollution on eutrophication in coastal zone: a case study in Shenzhen Bay, southern China
