Learning from coastal zone management failure: a multi paradigm approach

There is concern for the environmental protection of coastal zones throughout the developed and developing world. The major defence against environmental degradation is the widespread introduction of the Coastal Zone Management (CZM) and Integrated Coastal Management (ICM) regulatory processes. A great deal of effort is spent introducing, developing and refining the various ICM processes and structures that should reduce the likelihood of man made environmental catastrophe. This paper takes the line that ICM initiatives are likely to be undermined by easily identifiable sociological pressures that are either ignored or misrepresented by the CZM process. Applying Burrell and Morgan?s four paradigm approach to the analysis of an example of environmental degradation on the Chennai coast, the regulatory framework is shown not only to be inadequate, but in fact complicity in the sociological pressures that led to degradation in ways that cannot be overcome by further refinement of the process.