Scottish Government

The study concluded that:

• The voluntary partnership has been an effective mechanism to progress ICZM to its current state in Scotland. It is unlikely that any other mechanism could have achieved the stakeholder involvement and strategy planning as effectively as the partnership. The partnerships have achieved this on limited funding and the support of a core of dedicated partners.
• The partnerships have yet to complete what is considered one programme management cycle. The evidence is that the partnerships are becoming less effective as they progress round this cycle.
• Linking the partnerships' objectives to a coherent set of national objectives will help to give them direction. In addition effective partnerships require financial support and policy support and the status these confer, as well as the backing of those stakeholders who hold statutory powers for the coastal zone.
• It is worth pursuing these changes and voluntary partnerships should continue to be supported as the preferred ICZM delivery mechanism.

The Study in Context

The SCF, together with local coastal management partnerships, is pursuing the sustainable management of Scotland's coastline through the introduction of ICZM. A key component in this process is the development and delivery of a National Strategy for Scotland's Coasts and Inshore Waters.

Against a developing framework for ICZM in the UK and Europe, the SCF has been considering the need for such a strategy for some time. With current high level backing through the adoption of an EU Recommendation on ICZM it has decided to proceed with a work programme intended to develop such a document.

The strategy will develop a long-term vision to address the opportunities and issues that need to be integrated to ensure a sustainable and holistic approach to the management of the coast.

Presently, the main delivery mechanism for ICZM at the local level is through the eight voluntary coastal partnerships. If the developing national strategy is to suggest the means by which the coastal zone is to be managed in a more sustainable manner, then it is vital to know how effective these partnerships are being.

The Partnership as an ICZM Mechanism

This section of the study principally investigated the strengths and weaknesses of the partnership mechanism.

The main strengths were found to be:

• the ability of partnerships to engage fully with stakeholders in the public sector.
• no other organisation is equipped to serve this wide-ranging function of co-ordinating diverse interest in pursuit of ICZM.
• the perceived neutrality and independence of the partnerships.
• awareness raising and networking.
• a partnership works well as a forum, in the sense of a public meeting place for open discussion.
• in their management strategies, the partnerships have been successful in achieving a shared vision for the management of stretches of coasts to which they relate.
• the process of producing management strategies has been seen to be inclusive and a result of a high level of consultation.

The main weaknesses of the partnership mechanism were found to be:

• the difficulty of fully involving stakeholders in the corporate and commercial sector, policy makers and local communities.
• problems with securing long-term funding streams, particularly contributions from stakeholders towards core costs.
• related to lack of secure funding, problems with being able to contract partnership staff for longer periods of more than a year, and thus consequent staff turnover.
• the difficulty of accounting for the real costs to stakeholders involved in a heavily consultative approach such as the partnership.
• the lack of any statutory power to require stakeholders to take action.

Delivery of ICZM

The partnerships' delivery of ICZM revolves around three areas of activity:

• awareness raising and advocacy.
• developing management plans and strategies.
• promoting and implementing actions to achieve the management plans.

The partnerships undertake a range of education activities, run websites and produce newsletters.

Awareness raising was found to have been effective in creating between stakeholders an awareness of each other and what they do in the coastal zone and improving dialogue. There is less evidence of targeted advocacy to bring key absentee stakeholders into the partnerships.

Much effort has been invested in the production of management strategies that are vision statements for the medium to long-term future management of the coastal zone. They are the result of extensive and iterative consultation with stakeholders. Nonetheless, some stakeholders see the strategies as belonging to the partnerships, rather than the partners more broadly.

The strategies are achieved through a set of actions that are implemented by the partners. Assessment of progress against the plans shows that about 30% of actions are now complete, 40% underway and 30% yet to be commenced. The completed ones tend to be 'process actions' such as networking and awareness raising.

In examining the impacts of the partnerships, stakeholders are able to give examples of improvements in the environmental and social quality of the coastal zone. There are fewer examples of economic improvements. However, of concern is the reported lack of impact of the partnerships in influencing beneficial changes in behaviour amongst coastal zone stakeholders.

Delivery of ICZM is a complex task. What is required to achieve it is perceived differently by different stakeholders. Presently there is some confusion over the role of the partnership. Potential roles include guidance, fundraising, strategy formulation, co-ordination of plans, communication, influencing the private sector, co-ordinating activities, project implementation, control of development. The partnerships are generally moving out of a prime role in strategy and planning to one that requires co-ordinating the implementation of actions. However, how this is done needs to be agreed between stakeholders, whose expectations differ.

Recommendations

The following recommendations are made to improve the delivery of ICZM through the voluntary partnership mechanism.

At a strategic level:

• The need for a national strategy for ICZM is strongly supported, and this should include national objectives for ICZM.
• Partnerships' strategies should be reviewed in the light of the national strategy to demonstrate clearly how local actions and local objectives contribute to the larger picture.
• A planning tool such as the "logical framework" should be used to obtain the necessary coherence and logic between the hierarchy of objectives.
• SCF should pursue a strategy of expanding the area of coast covered by partnerships.
• Partnerships should not be given powers of statute over the coastal zone _ this would undermine those functions they deliver successfully, especially bringing stakeholders together in an independent and neutral forum.
• Government should commission a review to identify the gaps, overlaps and contradictions in present statute and then modify legislation accordingly.
• The Scottish Executive should demonstrate its support for, and commitment to, both the SCF coastal strategy and the EU Recommendation, with an annual funding allocation to cover a four-year plan period. This relates to the 45-month period before Member States report back to the Commission on implementation of the Recommendation.
• The partnerships need to be more effective in influencing the plans, policies and behaviour of stakeholders. SCF should be re-tasked to go beyond its present co-ordination and clearing house role to be the contact point and lead organisation for national scale influencing.

At an operational level:

• Partnerships and SCF should examine opportunities to use information and communications technology to better engage stakeholders.
• SCF and the partnerships should investigate how they can engage stakeholders by adding value to the way in which they use the coastal zone, including the feasibility of co-ordinating a quality control scheme for products reaching certain environmental standards.
• A much more systematic approach to monitoring and evaluating the impact of the partnerships should be adopted. This requires both a clear framework of local and national objectives against which to monitor and evaluate, and the formulation of appropriate indicators at each level of objective.
• Partnerships should broaden the skill base and experience of the partnership staff.

About this study

This review was undertaken between February and August 2002 by ITAD Ltd. and BMT Cordah Ltd. The study involved a mixed methodology, employing telephone interviews, e-mail questionnaires, participatory assessment techniques, and review of key partnership documents and literature.