Purpose

To “provide for the effective management, beneficial use, protection, and development of the coastal zone.”  See L. 1977, c 188, § 1.

Coastal Zone Management (CZM)

CZM is about balancing the needs of economic development and conservation of resources in a sustainable manner and is a concept also known by other terms including integrated resource management, ecosystem management, and place-based management. We look at ecosystems as an interrelated whole rather than at the individual species, resources, or uses. In a system, everything interrelates. Nothing is mutually exclusive, or independent. 

Because no point of land in Hawaiʻi is more than 30 miles from the ocean, the CZM area encompasses the entire state. What occurs on land, impacts and influences the quality of the coastal waters and marine resources. The CZM area also extends seaward to the limit of the State’s police power and management authority, including the territorial sea. 

Our Kuleana

Within a framework of cooperation among federal, state, and local levels, the Hawaiʻi CZM Program (HICZMP) employs a wide variety of techniques to address complex coastal issues and uphold environmental law including:

• Collaborating with communities to combine local expertise and western science to create a balanced approach to managing coastal land and resources 
  
• Providing technical assistance to support a vibrant planning and management system that guides human activities to assure land and water uses are designed and carried out in a sustainable manner 
• Utilizing partnerships to help assure comprehensive and coordinated research, policy development and implementation, and public education on ocean and coastal interests 
• Identifying emerging coastal issues and exploring solutions.