The fundamental purpose of all integrated coastal management (ICM) initiatives is to
maintain, restore or improve specified qualities of coastal ecosystems and their associated
human societies. A defining feature of ICM is that it addresses needs for both development
and conservation in geographically specific places—be they a single community, an estuary or
the coast of an entire nation. The times required to achieve these fundamental goals at
significant spatial scales far exceed those of the usual 4–6-year project, the dominant ICM
modality in developing nations. This paper offers two simple, but elastic frameworks for
assessing progress over the extended time periods involved. The first is the four Orders of
Outcomes that grouptogether the sequences of institutional, behavioral and social/
environmental changes that can lead to more sustainable forms of coastal development.
The second framework is a version of the more familiar ICM policy cycle. These conceptually
simple frameworks are making it possible to unbundle and organize into consistent formats
the usually implicit assumptions that underpin project and program designs and then group
activities and outcomes along a critical path that leads—or is presumed to lead—to the desired
outcomes. Each stepin the ICM policy cycle and each Order of Outcomes suggest the
indicators by which progress and learning can be assessed. The application of these
frameworks to a diversity of ICM initiatives is proving useful in assessing progress across
portfolios of ICM initiatives, extracting good practices and teasing out how different
governance contexts effect the forces that shape the evolution of ICM initiatives.
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