Smart Management of Beach & Coastal Resources – SMART BEACHES Call: Interreg Europe 2nd Call

EUROPEAN PROJECT PROPOSAL – CONCEPT NOTE

Smart Management of Beach & Coastal Resources – SMART BEACHES

Call: Interreg Europe 2nd Call

v. 05/05/2016

Contact:

Sara Ibáñez, sibanez@feports-cv.org /Pablo Gorostiza, pgorostiza@feports-cv.org 

Instituto Portuario de Estudios y cooperación de la Comunitat Valenciana – FEPORTS

C/ Tres Forques, 98 - 46018 Valencia – Spain

Tel. +34 963 533 100 - www.feports-cv.org

BACKGROUND

Coastal and maritime tourism is a key source of revenue for many coastal EU Regions, but also is pointed out as a source of pressure and environmental impacts, specially on certain coastal ecosystems and natural areas.

Most of this tourism activity relies primarily on the narrow strip formed seaward by the shallow waters and landward by beaches, sand dunes, coastal wetlands and the first lines of the urban areas. This narrow strip is the territorial support of the coastal tourism and a key factor for the coastal tourism offer and production. It is also a strategic natural asset.

Public Authorities with powers on coastal management deal in the day to day with other sectoral Departments and stakeholders with competing and conflicting interests over this narrow strip. To protect these ecosystems and prevent the degradation of these natural assets is a key driver to ensure the transition to more sustainable patterns of management and exploitation of coastal resources.

Common challenges can be identified, and among others tourism and recreational facilities in beaches, conflicts between public/private use, conflicts between free use and environmental preservation in natural areas, implementation of beach use plans or sensoring and change towards the concept of smart tourism, are relevant topics both in urban and natural beaches taking into account local specificities in each case. In parallel, there is a need to develop and/or adapt planning/regulatory tools allowing to face some of the above challenges and contribute to the environmental, economical and social sustainability of these valuable resources.

OBJECTIVES

The overall objective of the project is to contribute to protect beaches by producing new tools for their governance and management, and in particular:

-          To promote the differentiation and specialization of beaches as tourism resources, exploiting the opportunities offered by each type of beach, according to their characteristics, considering different schemes for urban and natural beaches;

-          To promote a change in the current beach management patterns towards efficiency and sustainability;

-          To enhance the public use of the beaches, both for locals and tourists, improving the communication and information flows for this purpose.

Specifically, the project activities are aimed at:

-          Facilitating a better management of beaches and, through beach planning and management instruments, set out recommendations/regulations related to beach use (e.g. recreational facilities, activities)according to their aptitude to hold such uses and their local specificities;

-          In the case of urban beaches, selecting and defining innovative practices of beach management, facilitating the transition from fragmented management of tourism and recreational uses during the summer season towards more integrated models that take into consideration beach multi-functional aspects and interactions;

-          In the case of natural beaches, taking into account their environmental value and the social perception of these areas and developing tools that allow an specific management oriented to guarantee public use and protection purposes;

-          Promoting the participation of stakeholders by identifying processes and governance strategies for a more integrated and smart beach management;

-          Raise awareness among beach users and public, highlighting the social, environmental and economical importance of beaches.

RELATION TO THE WORK PROGRAMME

Taking into account these needs the Interreg Europe call for project proposals 2016 offers room for its development.

The proposal could be framed within Priority axis 4: ‘Environment and resource efficiency’, Specific Objective 4.1 Improve the implementation of regional development policies and programmes, in particular Investment for Growth and Jobs and, where relevant, European Territorial Cooperation programmes, in the field of the protection and development of natural and cultural heritage.

Specific objective deals with the protection, promotion and development of natural heritage, biodiversity and ecosystems. As stated in the Programme Manual “Regional actors need to protect ecosystems and vulnerable landscapes and prevent biodiversity loss and soil degradation in their territories to prevent (further) degradation of these natural assets. The sustainable management and exploitation of the natural environment can also foster sustainable regional development based on so-called ecosystem services (e.g. pollination for agriculture, or natural flood retention areas) and natural quality (e.g. tourism, regional attractiveness)”.

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Following the requirements of the Interreg Europe call for proposals the project is structured in two phases:

The first phase is aimed at defining the guidelines addressed to a more efficient beach management and to facilitate its mainstreaming through plans to be implemented during the second phase of the project. The first phase will be developed through the following activities:

• Common sharing of main challenges identified during the preparation of the proposal. Some of the main topics addressed are:
  • Beach use planning (spatially and temporary);
  • Beach sensoring and implementation of smart tourism strategies applied to beach management and exploitation;
  • Management of environmental values in beaches, specially out of protected areas (e.g. dunes and habitats in urban areas);
  • Regulatory instruments related to beach use and exploitation, including the mechanisms aimed at guaranteeing their social, economical and environmental sustainability;
  • Identification of best practices and beach management tools (e.g. plans, regulatory instruments, awareness tools, mechanisms addressed to foster innovation and competitiveness);
  • Study visits and organization of workshops with key stakeholders involved in beach management and exploitation (e.g. City councils, tourism sector, civil associations).

As a result of the first phase, each partner will elaborate an Action Plan addressed to improve the implementation of a selected Policy Instrument^[1]. These Action Plans will gather some of the tools, instruments, best practices, ets identified during the first phase as a result of cross fertilization activities developed, setting out the actions to be developed during the second phase of the project.

The second phase is aimed at monitoring the implementation of the actions foreseen in the Action Plans developed in the first phase. The actions to be undertaken are:

- Actions addressed to monitor the implementation of the Action Plans developed in the first phase;

- Communication and dissemination actions;

- Actions linked to project management and coordination.

EXPECTED OUTPUTS.

In accordance with the work plan explained above, expected project outputs would include:

-          Regional reports and a comparative analysis on beach planning and management (gaps, challenges, opportunities, etc);

-          Mapping and guide (toolkit) on beach planning and management;

-          Regional Action Plans/programmes on beach planning and management;

-          An assessment report on the implementation of Project activities.

-          A methodological report that will offer, under a practical approach, the possibility of carry out an ad-hoc analysis and implementation process to other coastal Regions following the project scheme;

CONSORTIUM, PROJECT DURATION AND BUDGET