A river basin-oriented approach was developed to support the sustainable management of human activities in a coastal area of Regione Abruzzo, Italy. Consensus and collaboration between the public, different sectoral and territorial administrations, and the economic actors was identified as a crucial prerequisite for the long-term achievement of sustainable coastal development for this region and to make existing developments sustainable. The RICAMA (Rationale for Integrated Coastal Area Management) Project was set up on a regional scale to integrate the natural and economic information in a comprehensive integrated coastal planning, management, and development framework. To achieve this objective, 19 coastal municipalities, three provinces, and one regional government, each with their sectoral services (and their sectoral management activities), needed to be "networked" to promote effective sharing of information and a coordinated approach to management. A "wide area network" was developed that includes other authorities, stakeholders, and the general public. The methodology used to support the network is based on (i) suitable and updated information about the coastal state, (ii) use of informed maintenance strategies, (iii) use of Environmental Impact Assessment and Strategic Environmental Assessment for the assessment of goodness of projects/plans, (iv) adoption of an Environmental Management System for structuring the management actions at various (administrative) levels, and (v) adoption of soft intervention technologies.
