Índice de gestão costeira municipal (IGCM): uma avalição da gestão costeira do litoral do Ceará, Brasil

Abstract

The coastal zone stands out for its dynamic and sensitive environmental conditions due to its transitory character between the terrestrial and marine environment, as well as for its multiple uses and human settlements. After three decades of the legislative and institutional framework for safeguarding coastal areas provided by the National Plan for Coastal Management (NPCM) in Brazil and the need to assess the efficiency of management systems with a view to their improvement, the urgency of use of assessment techniques, which are essential for strengthening Brazilian coastal management. Thus, this work aims to develop the Municipal Coastal Management Index (MCMI) to evaluate the performance of municipalities in Ceará regarding their coastal management practices. The construction of the MCMI takes place from the adaptation of conceptual references by the authors Barragán (2016) and Elliott (2013), and calculation, through the index proposed by Barros, Carvalho and Franco (2003). It was found that Fortaleza and Caucaia were the municipalities with the best performance, Barroquinha, Paraipaba and Trairi had the worst performances. In general, it was identified that aspects related to policies to face environmental problems and the allocation of resources to the environment are the main strengths, and the dissemination of environmental education and the presence of adequate public institutions are the weaknesses of the group of municipalities. However, with regard to actions that have a direct impact on coastal environments, they are still very incipient, only 30% have an Integrated Management Plan for the Seafront, only four municipalities have legislation aimed at the coastal zone, and only Paracuru makes use of a coastal management instrument (Municipal Coastal Management Plan). The disparity in the results of the index among the municipalities demonstrated how uneven the implementation of public policies is, as well as the complexity of planning the integrated coastal zone.