• What is Geography?

• What is the Coastal Zone?

Introduction

Objectives: to define geography, the coastal zone or environment, and to understand the links between the two,as a contextual setting

What is Geography?

Geography is defined as the:

Geography thus is really a way of looking at things…...a point of view

"spatial" refers to space on the earth's surface and spatial phenomena are ones that may be shown on maps

•Geography: the bridge between the human and physical sciences

• Geography: looks at the spatial connection between people, places, and the earth… where…

• The purpose of geography is to provide "a view of the whole" earth by mapping the location of places. – Ptolemy, 150

• Synoptic discipline synthesizing findings of other sciences through the concept of Raum (area or space) – Immanuel Kant, c. 1780

• Synthesizing discipline to connect the general with the special through measurement, mapping, and a regional emphasis – Alexander von Humboldt, 1845

• Man in society and local variations in environment - Halford Mackinder, 1887

• "As a young man, my fondest dream was to become a geographer. However, while working in the customs office I thought deeply about the matter and concluded it was too difficult a subject. With some reluctance I then turned to physics as a substitute." - Albert Einstein

• How environment apparently controls human behaviour - Ellen Semple, c. 1911

• Study of human ecology; adjustment of man to natural surroundings - Harland Barrows, 1923

• "The science concerned with the formulation of the laws governing the spatial distribution of certain features on the surface of the earth." - Fred Schaefer, 1953

• "To provide accurate, orderly, and rational description and interpretation of the variable character of the earth surface." - Richard Hartshorne, 1959

• "Geography is both science and art" - H.C. Darby, 1962

• "To understand the earth as the world of man" - J.O.M. Broek, 1965

• "Geography is fundamentally the regional or chorological science of the surface of the earth." - Robert E. Dickinson, 1969

• "Study of variations in phenomena from place to place." - Holt-Jensen, 1980

• "...concerned with the locational or spatial variation in both physical and human phenomena at the earth's surface" - Martin Kenzer, 1989

• "Geography is the study of earth as the home of people" - Yi-Fu Tuan, 1991

• "Geography is the study of the patterns and processes of human (built) and environmental (natural) landscapes, where landscapes comprise real (objective) and perceived (subjective) space." - Gregg Wassmansdorf, 1995

Other Definitions of Geography

The coastal zone, depending on how you define it, is only 10 percent of the earth's surface, but over one-half of the earth's population lives there (Magoon and Converse, 2002) The coastal zone is a unique environment where water, land and air meet, and processes occur to form landscapes unlike those found anywhere else. The general definition of the European coastal zone was formulated in 1996 as: 12 miles seaward of the coastline (territorial waters); 10 kilometres (km) of the land side of coastal structures or areas. (http://reports.eea.eu.int/92-9167-067-7/en/topic_3_1997.pdf) However, other, less quantitative definitions also exist, including: “the coastline, together with adjacent areas (maritime fringe, foreshore and inshore waters” (Sheehan, 1994, p.13.2.1) “an area of dynamic transition where land and sea interact and which includes both the landward margin and inshore waters” (DoE, 1996, p.1) “a strip of land and sea of varying width depending on the nature of the environment and management needs” (ECSE-EEC-EAEC, 1997, p.6)

New Zealand and Ecuador have attempted to define the coastal zone by the specific issue to be addressed

What is the coastal zone ?

There are many definitions of the coastal zone e.g.

Why is geography important in coastal zone management?

• Geography is a discipline that has much to add to CZM because it is about what, where, why and how?

• Geography is about processes across space and through time and is an integratory discipline.

• Essentially the coastal zone is an environment of objects, features and processes that interact and happen across space and through time. Geography is a spatial discipline, and “coastal zone management, by definition, is spatial management” (Fedra and Feoli, 1998).

Why is geography important?

Sheehan (1994) has argued that “data…is the most important part of the coastal zone management system” and furthermore, that “for coastal zone management to be ‘management’, data must be organised and made available” (p. 13.2.2).

In addition, this data relating to the coastal zone must be integrated so that coastal managers are presented with the full picture of the complete coastal zone and not just the marine or the terrestrial component.

If this is not the case, how can management itself be called integrated, unless planners and managers are presented with the information that show how the marine and terrestrial areas interact in the coastal zone?

As Green and King (1999) have suggested “while distinguishing between the two surfaces (land and water) for the purposes of scientific investigation, data collection and analysis is a convenience. In reality management of the environment depends upon and requires a more ‘holistic’ approach, one which necessitates integration of the data and information, not only from different sources in a practical sense but over a larger area in the spatial dimension” (p. 4-5)

Data and the Coastal Zone

Tools of the geographer:

• Fieldwork• Computers: e.g. models, GI S (Geographical I nformation

System)• Mathematics: e.g. models, simulation• Statistics: e.g. measurements• Remote Sensing: e.g. aerial photographs, satellite• Cartography: e.g. maps (Ordnance Survey), visualisation

TaskDefine the following…….

…...On the worksheet