Building Coastal Resilience in Europe

News written by the European Marine Board

European coasts face multiple, interacting and cumulative pressures including those resulting from increasing greenhouse gas emissions (e.g. sea-level rise, Ocean warming, Ocean acidification, extreme events) and localised activities such as fishing, aquaculture, waste disposal and coastal urbanisation. These create a unique set of context-specific issues that need to be addressed holistically using a systems approach, considering the dynamics between both coastal societies and ecosystems as part of interconnected social-ecological systems. EMB Position Paper No. 27 ‘Building Coastal Resilience in Europe’ provides an overview of concepts and frameworks for building coastal resilience, a six-step approach for their use in coastal management, and an overview of key pressures facing European coastal social-ecological systems and their impacts. It also highlights tools for building coastal resilience, with a specific focus on coastal protection and Nature-based Solutions, as well as barriers and enablers to their implementation and uses three case-studies across Europe to demonstrate key concepts. The document closes with key policy, scientific and community recommendations on how to build coastal resilience and enhance capacity to cope with impacts from climate change and other coastal pressures. 

Find out more about the Position Paper and download here.