A multi-discipline and multi-scale approach to coastal zone and river basin planning in a suburban Mediterranean region

The aim of this paper is twofold. The first is to provide evidence of the need for the integration of Coastal Zone Management policies within broader Environmental Management schemes on a regional scale, particularly in the case of semi-arid Mediterranean landscape where ephemeral stream basins connect natural coastal environment with sub-coastal ones. The second objective is to discuss an analytical methodology aiming at the construction of multi-discipline and multiple-scale interpretative patterns able to provide the means for both the delineation of a coherent global strategy and the implementation local policies in such a region. For the purpose of both objectives the study takes into account evidences resulting from expert (GIS--based) and common (community based) analyses preliminary to the establishment of a protected area in the catchments area of an ephemeral stream in the south-east of ltaly: Lama San Giorgio (BA)