Coastal management in South Africa: Historical perspectives and setting the stage of a new era Bronwyn J. Goble a, * , Melissa Lewis b , Trevor R. Hill c , Mike R. Phillips d a Oceanographic Research Institute, Durban, South Africa b Honorary Research Fellow, School of Law, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa c Discipline of Geography, School of Agricultural, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, South Africa d Built and Natural Environment, Faculty of Applied Design and Engineering, Swansea Metropolitan University, United Kingdom article info Article history: Available online 17 February 2014 abstract The coastal environment represents a critical interface of human activity, socio-economic influence and ecological diversity. It is estimated that the coastal environment supports some 30% of the world’s population and provides a range of social and economic benefits. Use of the coastal environment is ever increasing due to its attractiveness for recreation and leisure actives, holiday homes and retirement. As a result, the coastal environment is constantly under pressure and management actions, policies and legislation need to ensure the protection of this unique environment. South Africa is considered to be the third most biodiverse country in the world, largely linked to coastal and marine diversity with a number of Marine Protected Areas (MPA). This rich biodiversity needs to be carefully managed while also meeting the needs of South Africans with regards to access to coastal and marine resources. To date management of the South African coast has been governed by various statutes and access to the coast and its resources has been affected by historical spatial planning and socio-political conditions. To facilitate a more holistic management the newly promulgated Integrated Coastal Management Act (Act 24 of 2008) is an attempt to better manage coastal resources to protect coastal assets and functionality. The ICM Act is inherently dynamic, attempting to tackle the interlinked problems of coastal development and conservation. However, to ensure implementation, capacity challenges and historical fragmented governance struc- tures need to be addressed. Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Coastlines represent some of the most important environments in which human activity, socio-economic influence, ecological and topographical diversity and geomorphological conditions interact (Fabbri, 1998). Small and Nicholls (2003) estimate that 30% of the global population are resident at or near the coast, with many coastal countries supporting a large percentage of their population (80e100%) within 100 km of the coast (Martínez et al., 2007). Coastal systems are important economic resources, with combined global value of goods and services being in the region of US $10 trillion annually (Costanza et al., 1997), which accounts for approximately 77% of the world global value of ecosystem services (Martíneza et al., 2007). Due to the dynamic nature of the coast and demand for its re- sources, management of this zone is difficult to conceptualise and boundaries are often poorly defined with the coast referred to as a zone or area of transition (Kay and Alder, 2005). This coastal zone includes a broad array of habitats varying from rivers and estuaries, coastal forests, wetlands to coral reefs, sea grass beds, soft bottom or rocky benthic substrates (Carter, 1999; IGOS, 2006). These in turn provide a range of ecosystem goods and services such as fisheries, water purification and coastal erosion protection, all of which are critical for sustaining populations living within close proximity to the sea (Sale et al., 2008). Of concern, coastal habitats are being adversely affected by sewage and non-point discharges of pollu- tion, development of artificial structures and the removal of natu- rally functioning areas (Martíneza et al., 2007). It is estimated that coral reefs experience loss of 4e9% per year, salt marshes between 1% and 2% and mangroves between 1% and 3%, these losses are more rapid than the global loss of tropical forests, which is esti- mated at 0.5% per year (Duarte, 2009). Coastal authorities are faced with managing a highly complex environment that is subjected to natural and anthropogenic * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ27 (0) 31328 8170. E-mail addresses: bgoble@ori.org.za (B.J. Goble), lewism@ukzn.ac.za (M. Lewis), hillt@ukzn.ac.za (T.R. Hill), m.phillips@smu.ac.uk (M.R. Phillips). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ocean & Coastal Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ocecoaman 0964-5691/$ e see front matter Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2014.01.013 Ocean & Coastal Management 91 (2014) 32e40