Improving vulnerability assessment towards Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM): a case study of small islands in Indonesia

Vulnerability assessment is one of the methods currently being used to measure the ocean and coastal sustainability in order to enable better evaluation and redesign of land-based development and policy-making. Because of different geological and geographical formations, the elements that comprise the vulnerability indicators are different from each other, and there are various vulnerability equations that have been used. At the present time, there are no unified vulnerability indicators that can be applied universally to every country. The Seribu Islands, Indonesia, also known in English as the Thousand Islands, consisting of 105 islands located to the north of Jakarta, have been chosen as a study area for vulnerability assessment according to the basic principles of Integrated Coastal Zone Management theory. The results indicate that in practice, Indonesian Integrated Coastal Zone Management legal systems do exist and that in some cases, part of the responsibility for the problems rests with legislation that imposes complex systems of administration, unrealistic sanctions and impractical solutions. This research also shows that inter-sectoral, inter-governance and spatial developments are the three components that need to be improved for the successful implementation of Integrated Coastal Zone Management in the region.