Concepts and definitions; Coastal nations and subnational units; Coastal management; Coastal zone and coastal area; Shorelands and coastal uplands; Coastal resources, uses, and environments; Coastal systems; Coastal sectoral management or planning; Integrated planning; Integrated coastal zone management; Ocean management; Differences and commoanalities among coastal nations; Geographic disparities; Coastal resource value; Concentrations of development and population; Coastal orientation; Level of development; Existing or potential government powers in the coastal zone; Evolution of integrated coastal zone management: from concept to practice; Incipient awareness; Growing awareness; National study; New program creation; Program development, implementation, and evaluation; Coastal issues; Need for a global issues index; Impact issues; Hazard issues; Developmental needs; Organizational process problems; National listings; Surveying national issues; Major actors in coastal management; Well organized actors; Less organized actors; Management strategies; Governance arrangements; Program evaluation; Recommendations.

Coastal ecosystems make up some of the most important and, yet, most endangered, regions in the world. The protection of the unique processes that take place in these ecosystems requires that partnerships be formed among ecologists, resource managers and planners. Experienced in the challenges of coastal system analysis, the contributors to this book provide multidisciplinary guidance on the assessment and management of environmental impacts caused by development. Each chapter examines an issue important to these fragile ecosystems, first presenting a non-technical summary of the issue and a review of the current state of the knowledge, then following with data and a more detailed consideration of the topic. Functioning both as a practical guide, accessible to nonscientists, and as a rigorous scientific source book, Changing Land Use Patterns in the Coastal Zone will be useful to ecologists, urban and regional planners, resource managers, policymakers and students. While many of the case studies included in this volume are drawn from studies in the southeastern United States, the examples and lessons provided will be relevant to those working in all coastal environments.