Zou, Z.; Zhang, Y.-Y.; Lee, S.-H.; Tsai, S.-C. The Transformation of Coastal Governance, from Human Ecology to Local State, in the Jimei Peninsula, Xiamen, China. Water2023, 15, 2659.
Zou, Z.; Zhang, Y.-Y.; Lee, S.-H.; Tsai, S.-C. The Transformation of Coastal Governance, from Human Ecology to Local State, in the Jimei Peninsula, Xiamen, China. Water 2023, 15, 2659.
Zou, Z.; Zhang, Y.-Y.; Lee, S.-H.; Tsai, S.-C. The Transformation of Coastal Governance, from Human Ecology to Local State, in the Jimei Peninsula, Xiamen, China. Water2023, 15, 2659.
Zou, Z.; Zhang, Y.-Y.; Lee, S.-H.; Tsai, S.-C. The Transformation of Coastal Governance, from Human Ecology to Local State, in the Jimei Peninsula, Xiamen, China. Water 2023, 15, 2659.
Abstract
The coastal zone, situated at the sensitive interface between land and sea, serves as a pivotal area of extensive human economic activities. As one of China's economic special zones, Xiamen exemplifies the comprehensive trajectory of coastal governance in China. This research adopts an interdisciplinary approach grounded in historical geography and political ecology, employing data collection methods encompassing historical literature, field surveys, and interviews. The research findings indicate that:(1) The year 1994 witnessed the pivotal role played by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS) in connecting Jimei Peninsula from a local context to the international arena, thus signifying a momentous turning point in the process of scale reconstruction. However, the subsequent implementation of the Coastal Exclusion Policy in 2002 had detrimental consequences, leading to the disintegration of the local scale, the erosion of maritime culture, and the disregard for the livelihood security of displaced coastal populations.(2)The Coastal Exclusion Policy serves as an instrumental tool for implementing scale politics, while its functional realignment has had profound implications for the coastal zone, encompassing economic transformation, ecological degradation, and the marginalization of the socio-cultural fabric that intertwines humans and the coastal environment.
Keywords
Coastal Exclusion Policy; Governance; Scale; Function Shift
Subject
Social Sciences, Geography, Planning and Development
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
