The world’s coastal regions are densely populated and environmentally vulnerable. They are subject to increasing pressures from a number of sources, including industrial development, urban expansion, the exploitation of marine resources and tourism. There is thus an urgent need to integrate the many uses made of coastal resources so that they can be developed in harmony with one another and with the environment. Agenda 21 and in particular its chapter 17 ‘Protecting and Managing the Oceans’ reaffirmed this need.This publication describes one way in which tourism is being better integrated with the coastal environment: the European Blue Flag campaign. Now a decade old, the Blue Flag campaign is an award system in which European beaches that fulfil a number of exacting criteria in relation to factors such as the quality of bathing water, cleanliness and safety are given the right to fly the Blue Flag. With the generous financial and moral support of the European Commission, this flag has become a European symbol of coastal environmental quality. It is much sought after by local authorities throughout Europe for the status it confers on them and the attraction it has for beach tourists. In 1995, 1463 European beaches were awarded Blue Flags.For some time the Industry and Environment Centre of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP IE) has been working with the Foundation for Environmental Education in Europe (FEEE), which coordinates the Blue Flag campaign, and the World Tourism Organization (WTO) to investigate the possibility of extending the campaign to non-European regions. One way of doing this was to commission a study of the issues involved.One conclusion of this study is that schemes such as the Blue Flag campaign have done much to improve environmental awareness in coastal areas. However, the Blue Flag campaign has evolved rapidly and efficiently under European conditions to serve European needs. In other areas of the world, the coastal environment is geographically and physically different, social and economic conditions have little in common with those in Europe, and the coastal environment faces quite different threats. Such areas might benefit greatly from similar schemes and, while the Blue Flag campaign as constructed in Europe might not be directly transferable to non-European regions, its principles and topics of concern are equally relevant anywhere in the world and could be therefore be adopted.However, other countries and regions wishing to initiate award schemes for beaches can learn much from the Blue Flag experience. The final chapter of this publication highlights the problems likely to be encountered and the steps that need to be taken to mount a successful coastal award campaign.