Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2001-07-04-Speech-3-364"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20010704.12.3-364"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
".
Mr President, integrated coastal zone management is a necessity, but unfortunately many still do not know what it is. Be it the Irish Cliffs of Moher, the Algarve in Portugal or the Watt mud flats on the German coast, Europe’s coasts have tremendous economic, ecological, social and cultural importance.
Coasts are not conurbation areas, but nevertheless around one third of the EU population live in coastal regions today. This presents dangers for the fragile ecosystems that coasts represent. However, the socio-economic problems have grown too, because coastal regions are far removed from the heartbeat of the conurbations and are neglected by politics. I need mention only the coastal regions’ lack of infrastructure links. So we must do something for the coasts in Europe.
In view of the growing problems, we urgently need to find a system of planning and management that includes everyone connected with the coasts. We must create an integrated management to ensure sustainable development and preserve the coasts as habitat. In Germany we have a saying: too many cooks spoil the broth. I hear the voices of critics raising their fingers in warning and quoting this proverb. But I say to them, the proverb may apply to broth but not to our coasts. The problem areas differ a great deal, and a wide variety of sectors are affected, but the links between them are obvious. Tourists come to my coast, for example, for the crabs. The artificial deepening of rivers or the discharge of harmful substances threatens the stock of crabs. No crabs, no tourists, no money! And there are no alternative job opportunities, certainly not in the fisheries sector.
We are faced with wide-ranging problems that cannot be solved, at least not adequately, by the Member States alone. What we need is a joining of forces on the coast, and clearly that will not happen without friction. But it will benefit our environment in the long term. We will not get very far or make much progress in Europe if we all keep ploughing our own furrow."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples