Monitoring Coastal Monitoring by definition the maintenance of a regular surveillance of our coasts by collecting data which will help provide a scientific assessment of the status of the ecosystem and the possible impact of human activities on these systems. Such scientific assessments are important for making informed management policy decisions. The political relevance of monitoring in general is reflected, for example, in the GMES program (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) initiated jointly by the European Commission and the European Space Agency with the primary goal of building a European capability for monitoring the environment and issues relating to our security on a global scale.

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Guidelines for monitoring coastal areas have already been defined by, for example, the Joint Group of Experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP), JAMP (Joint Assessment and Monitoring Program of the Oslo and Paris Conventions (OSPAR), the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) and the EC Habitat Directive are examples of initiatives founded on the realization of the urgent need to protect being made to sustain/protect these natural habitats.

Operational examples of monitoring programs for coastal areas include TMAP, the Trilateral Monitoring and Assessment Program, which is part of the national monitoring programs of the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark who are working in cooperation for the protection of the Wadden Sea. TMAP makes an assessment of the status of the Wadden Sea ecosystem based on the so-called Issues of Concern. These Issues of Concern can be seen in one form or another in the recommendations of JAMP, GESAMP, OSPAR or HELCOM and include the effects of climate change, the effects of pollutant inputs, the effects of fisheries on species and communities, the effects of recreational activities on species, and the effects of agricultural activities on the coastal system. Typical for any efficient monitoring program TMAP combines a comprehensive set of physical, biological, chemical and socioeconomic parameters which should be measured together with scientific research in order to arrive at a reliable assessment of ecosystem status. The scientific research is required to find the causes underlying any observed changes, which may then require appropriate management measures. Such research also assists in highlighting parameters which should be measured and how they should be measured, thus adapting to the current needs and knowledge requirements of decision makers. This latter point is important when it comes to defining who are the stakeholders in such areas. This is where the relatively new concept of Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) will play an important role in future assessments of the status of our coastal ecosystems. One good practical example of initiating an ICZM approach is that which was carried out in the Severn Estuary, the so-called Severn Estuary Strategy or SES. The SES project was endorsed by the Environment Agency in Great Britain as part of their efforts to produce a Local Environment Agency Plan (LEAP). In SES a dedicated approach was taken to find out which parties had an interest in the estuary, to identify which issues of concern should be addressed and to develop policies which would address these issues. The European Parliament has also initiated a proposal to implement ICZM as policy in European Member States (COM/00/545 of Sept. 2000 and http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/iczm/home.htm).