ICZM:

Integrated Coastal Zone Management

The coastal zones all over the world are undergoing rapid development with growing and conflicting demands on the natural resources, and at the same time they are subject to often irreversible degradation of these resources and thus the very basis for development. Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) is the paradigm for the sustainable development of coastal regions, with a rich literature describing tools and approaches. The approach to ICZM developed by ESS is based on a multi-sectoral integration of quantitative and qualitative analysis, combining field surveys using DIR type   scientific diving for underwater exploration (where DIR modestly stands for "doing it right")

together with advanced tools of quantitative systems engineering using numerical simulation models, with methods of environmental, socio-economic and policy impact assessment using rule-based expert systems technology and interactive decision support methods. Quantitative tools and simulation models include LUC, a simulation model for coastal land use dynamics, 3D prognostic meteorological models: MM5 and WRF, state-of-the-art set of oceanographic and CFD tools: POM, ROMS/TOMS, COHERENS, the OpenFOAM Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) library.

Coastal Impressions: visit our image gallery !

Gulf region/UAE: daily numerical weather forecast Seoul, Incheon Bay: daily numerical weather forecast Adriatic Sea: On-line Species Catalog City of Limassol, Cyprus:   daily numerical weather forecast City of Limassol, Cyprus:   hourly air quality nowcast Coastal Water Quality Simulation: RO brine outfall   Related International R&D Projects:

OPTIMA   Optimization for Sustainable Water Resources Management, an INCO-MPC project for sustainable water management around the Mediterranean, including coastal case studies in Cyprus, Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine/Israel, Tunisia, Morocco.

SMART:   Sustainable Management of Scarce Resources in the Coastal Zone deals with issues of water resources management in five case studies of coastal regions around the Mediterranean, involving partners in Italy, France, Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Tunisia.

The GAIA   global multi-media information system for environmental education and training, an INCO-DC project;   a closely related study is EARSS, the Environmental Assessment and Reporting Support System, developed for UNEP/GRID and ESCAP.

EIAxpert   a rule-based expert system for screening level environmental impact assessment, originally for the Mekong Secretariat, Bangkok, Thailand. An integrated components in WaterWare, a river-basin water resources management information and optimization system.