Status: The Netherlands submitted a progress report on the implementation of the ICZM Recommendation in the Netherlands to the European Commission on 3 March 2006, with the main purpose to show the extent to which the Dutch coastal zone is being managed in an integrated and sustainable way.
The Netherlands has decided not to develop a separate strategy for ICZM but to make use of two existing building blocks which in fact are supported by a variety of complementary statutory institutions:

  • the National Spatial Strategy, which establishes a national strategy for integrated spatial planning policies generally; and makes the coastal zone, Wadden Sea and Deltas explicitly part of the main national spatial structures; and
  • the Third Policy Document on Coastal Areas, which provides an integrated frame-work for coastal zone management and policies on coastal areas.

ICZM has been initiated - although not always explicitly mentioned as such - even before the Recommendation. The case for the Netherlands shows that a specific ICZM strategy is not necessarily needed in the country to implement ICZM principles as long as the notion of sustainable development guides the set up of governance and participation.
Reporting Institution
Since 2002 the national level (Rijk) is responsible for the implementation of the Recommendation. Coordination here is carried out jointly by the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, in close cooperation with the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality. Management of the Dutch coastal zone is in hands of a multitude of public and private-sector bodies.

National Institute Coastal and Marine Management, RWS/RIKZ
The Hague