Design, Development and Implementation of a Decision Support Info-Portal for Integrated Coastal Management,...

Coastal environments face mounting pressures from development and resource use, and appropriate coastal management supports long-term ecosystem functionality, viability and delivery of goods and services. Integrated coastal management (ICM) is advocated as a best practice approach to achieving this, but comes with its own challenges. Given the diverse nature of the coastal environment and the goods and services it offers, its management is complex. In South Africa, this is exacerbated by the legislative framework which delegates numerous responsibilities to local government without providing financial or human capacity to meet these requirements. These challenges have resulted in the development of a number of guidelines in support of achieving ICM objectives. This paper focuses on one coastal region in South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, which is grappling with coastal management issues, including the implementation thereof for a 580 km coast with 76 estuaries. It considers the progressive, iterative development of an innovative Decision Support info-portal to assist local coastal managers in the absence of human capacity support and tools. Stakeholders were asked to complete a survey to provide feedback on their impression of the tool, its functions and usability. This facilitated stakeholder input into the info-portal development, which was essential in ensuring that the end product is useable, relevant and supportive of coastal management and decision making. Since its public release, the Decision Support info-portal has been implemented and utilised by government officials for both ongoing management and emergency response within the KZN province.