ECOPLAYA will generate the knowledge-base to facilitate the development of a new integrated beach management model through a second generation Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM 2.0) process based on Ecosystem Approach principles. Nowadays, beaches are subjected to a great number of human and climatic pressures that condition their three basic functions, be depositories of biodiversity, offer protection to the coast, and satisfy the needs of human leisure. The current processes of beach management, based almost exclusively on guaranteeing the recreational function of beaches, have forgotten in the past other important functional aspects which has led us to situations with high erosive rates and great degradation of their biotic components, situations that today we try to reverse managing these systems in a more integral way and considering the ecosystem that allow their correct functioning. ECOPLAYA is aimed to introduce the principles of the Ecosystem Approach, integrating social-ecological processes, functions and human impacts on beaches to ensure long-term provision of the ecosystem services provided by the coastal units through a new conceptual framework that guarantees a correct and modern management.
