The POOC (Plano de Ordenamento da Orla Costeira) is a Coastal Zone Management Plan applicable to the littoral of the Portugal (there are nine plans, in total). It is a special plan, designed for the management of the coastal zone that ties privates and public entities. It has a maximum width, in the terrestrial zone, of 500 m counted from the line that limits the edge of waters of the sea, and a maritime band of protection that is limited by the 30 batimetric. Since 2000, the coastal zone of the Central Region of Portugal is regulated by the POOC Ovar-Marinha Grande comprising an area that extends for 140 km, throughout 11 municipalities, from the Beach of Esmoriz to the Beach of S. Pedro de Muel. Through a Programme of Interventions a set of actions/measures/projects/studies are established to regulate coastal uses, to manage beaches, to control coastal erosion and maintain the coastline. For each intervention it is identified a project, where it is described the intervention; identified the entity responsible of the implementation and execution of the intervention; and it is foreseen the costs and timings of the investment. Although, it can be eventually criticized, the POOC has allowed several positive changes with visible consequences in terms of the improvement of the environmental quality, the protection of the biophysical integrity of some sensitive systems, the environmental education and attitude of the populations. This case study examines the major goals of the POOC, presenting some of the interventions that have been implemented in the coastal zone by the CCDR-C (Regional Development Coordination Commission of Central Portugal). |