Spatial Data Infrastructure to Facilitate Coastal Zone Management

The coastal zone is a complex area, consisting of both the marine and terrestrial environments. It is also home for an increasing number of activities, rights and interests, and according to the UN Atlas of the Ocean 44% of the worlds population. Worldwide countries are realising the need to balance development and exploitation of resources in the coastal zone with environmental and social needs.. It has been established that access to spatial data aids in decision making for management and administration. Tools and systems such as the cadastre and spatial data infrastructure (SDI) have been developed that allow access and sharing of spatial data. Many countries are implementing these tools at national, state and local levels, however most of these initiatives stop at the high water mark. The need for access to spatial data for improved decision-making and management does not stop at the high water mark. This paper examines the concept and nature of SDI as a framework to facilitate marine management. It discusses the processes that link people to data in the terrestrial environment and how these can be applied to marine spatial data, with the view of including a marine or coastal dimension at the national level of an SDI model. Underpinning the need for better and more integrated management of the coastal zone, is the need for access to and interoperability of spatial data that relates to the land and marine environments. The development of an SDI that contains spatial data from land, coastal and marine environments will satisfy this need.