The United States Experience in Decentralized Coastal Management: Lessons for Indonesia
Proyek Pesisir
TR-0005-E 24
3.0 Transferability to Indonesia
The development of the United States during this period, while having a number of differences, also has a number of parallels to the current situation in Indonesia. During the 1960s, population grew very rapidly in
the United States making impacts much more visible as they occurred over much shorter time frames. In Indonesia, the coastal population also currently is growingvery rapidly. And, with the fiscal crisis of the past
few years not withstanding Indonesia’s economy is also growing and looks to post a higher than 5 percent growth rate for 2000 mostly driven by activities in near coastal areas of the country.
Television, books and other media played a critical role in the United States in supporting the movement for more wise use of coastal resources and are becoming much more prevalent in Indonesia as controls on
information flow are relaxed resulting in a much more engaged and knowledgeable public. Environmental non-governmental organizations flourished in the United States during the 1960s when coastal management
efforts were first beginning and are flourishing and expected to exercise an increasing amount of real politi- cal influence in Indonesia in the coming years in Indonesia.
While at different stages of governance capacity, the United States has shown it is possible to build a program and achieve measurable results within a twenty to thirty years time frame. Through the program-
matic i.e., project by project approach incorporated in the law, the CZMA creates the integrative frame- work and legal mandate necessary to give CZM a position of priority among state and local governments. In
addition, the CZMA ensured the resources and programmatic longevity outside political, special interest and short-term influences of decision-makers to achieve long-term results.
At the time the CZMA was developing in the United States, there was a lot of other related legislation being developed dealing with various aspects of increased environmental management. However, the CZMA
created a galvanizing and transparent framework for constituencies - from universities to local governments to non-governmental organizations - to know where they stand and how they can be engaged in the decision
processes concerning coastal management and development. The CZMA made clear the specific context of coastal zone management against the background of related legislation and “legislative noise” that other-
wise was not focused on coastal management. At the time the CZMA was created, this other legislation and background noise was very similar to the background and noise created under many of the new pieces of
legislation in Indonesia e.g., Law 221999.
Although the CZMA of 1972 created a context for coastal management in the United States, and provided considerable guidance to states and local governments to get started in coastal planning, it left considerable
freedom up to decentralized government entities in terms of important and critical key decisions. This is especially important in the United States where despite being a continent, the coastal zone is extremely vast
and diverse. In this way, the United States coastal zone is strikingly similar to Indonesia’s coastal zone. The level of flexibility provided through the United States continues to enable ecological and cultural diversity
to be accommodated and enhanced. This lesson certainly applies to Indonesia for the same reason: to pro- vide a program that enables and enhances cultural and ecological diversity.
There is one other element that ties the United States and Indonesia together in terms of coastal issues. A growing proportion of their populations are living within or very near the coastal zone, at once creating
higher impacts on coastal resources and tying the national economy of both countries to the health and continued productivity of coastal ecosystems.
The United States Experience in Decentralized Coastal Management: Lessons for Indonesia
Proyek Pesisir
TR-0005-E 25
With these similarities, there is a significant difference that the IST was designed to exploit: the United States has nearly 30 years of experience in coastal management initiated through federal legislation. The
evolution of the U.S. Coastal Management Act continues today. This evolution has a number of key ele- ments that can inform Indonesia’s new efforts in establishing a integrated coastal management program that
meets minimum criteria to “preserve, protect, develop, and where possible, to restore or enhance, the re- sources of the Nation’s coastal zone for this and succeeding generations”, while encouraging local govern-
ments and the public to assume full authority for these resources under regional autonomy. Similarity Indonesia needs a way to manage locally while addressing regional and national concerns, and
providing local practitioners with adequate resources, both technical and financial.
The United States Experience in Decentralized Coastal Management: Lessons for Indonesia
Proyek Pesisir
TR-0005-E 26
4.0 Lessons for Decentralized Coastal Zone Management
