ABSTRACT
The coastal zones are subject to rapid development with growing and conflicting demands on natural resources, and often they are subject to irreversible degradation. The critical phenomena that mainly affect these areas are coastal erosion, flooding due to river floods, tidal waves, or rising sea level, and contamination of the aquifers (e.g., salt-wedge intrusion of seawater). Along the coast, there are many sites of community interest (SCI) subjected to a strong incidence of human activities mainly linked to agriculture and tourism. According to the Recommendation on Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) of the European Commission, coastal areas are of great environmental, economic, social, and cultural relevance. Therefore, the implementation of suitable monitoring and protection actions is fundamental for their preservation and for assuring the future use of this resource. Such actions have to be based on an ecosystem perspective for preserving coastal environment integrity and functioning and for planning sustainable resource management of both the marine and terrestrial components for the promotion of economic and social welfare of coastal zones.
