A System of Integral Quality Indicators as a Tool for Beach Management: A Holistic View of Beach Environments in the Northwestern Mediterranean

Many coastal areas of the world are highly pressured by human activities. In the Northwestern Mediterranean zone, tourism is the sector that mostly affects coastal and beach environments. As a consequence of the overpopulation of many littoral areas, beaches have become socio-ecological systems from which a demand for quality has been established. Most developed quality measurements have been based on very few parameters that only assess the most evident beach processes. The work of this book attempts to study beach environments globally. The legal and administrative framework of management has been revised; existing tools and practices of management assessed and no previously studied processes described. All this information has been synthesized to create the Beach Quality Index, a new tool, designed to be used into Environmental Management Systems as a help in decision- taking processes. This book has been written for academics and professionals working on beach management issues, with the goal to integrate all disciplines involved on them, as well as for those interested in the development of local practices that assure environmental quality of coastal areas.