ICARM requires harmonization of the interrelationships between coastal areas and river basins and the adoption of goals, objectives and policies for this. It aims to promote sustainable development of natural resources and resolution of conflicts over resource allocation for the production of social goods and services. ICARM takes into account the ecological, economic, social and cultural aspects of river and coastal ecosystems at various levels of governance. Moreover, ICARM uses technical and managerial instruments to achieve its goals. ICARM is an action-oriented, continuous and adaptive process based on stakeholder participation and partnership-building.
NOWPAP set up the Working Group on ICARM following the decision of the 4th NOWPAP’s Pollution Monitoring Regional Activity Centre (POMRAC) Focal Points Meeting held in Qingdao, China in April 2006. The Working Group held its first meeting in Toyama, Japan on 10 July 2007. The fourth POMRAC Focal Points Meeting adopted the Terms of Reference for ICARM Working Group (Annex 9 of the Meeting Report).
National Reports on Integrated Coastal and River Basin Management in the NOWPAP region, published in 2007, and the Regional Overview on Integrated Coastal and River Basin Management (ICARM) in the NOWPAP Region, published in 2010, documented the situation in the NOWPAP region and identified opportunities for ICARM. The “Integrated Coastal Planning and Ecosystem-Based Management in the Northwest Pacific Region ” report was published in 2015.
In 2018, NOWPAP is re-establishing the working group of ICARM. The Group should promote regional, transboundary and cross-sectoral cooperation on integrated coastal zone management and marine spatial planning in the NOWPAP region and provide a platform for sharing experiences on mainstreaming integrated coastal zone management and marine spatial planning into national Sustainable Development Goals frameworks. It will also support capacity-building and identify integrated coastal zone management and marine spatial planning sites and cases for transboundary cooperation as well as projects and funding sources for these activities.
