Coasts

Another spectacular beach of Anse Source d'Argent on the island of La Digue, Seychelles. March 2008. Attribution: Tobias Alt

According to the UN atlas, 44% of people live within 150 kilometres (93 miles) of the sea. ^W

Environmental importance: The coast and its adjacent areas on and off shore are an important part of a local ecosystem: the mixture of fresh water and salt water in estuaries provides many nutrients for marine life. Salt marshes and beaches also support a diversity of plants, animals and insects crucial to the food chain.

The high level of biodiversity creates a high level of biological activity, which has attracted human activity for thousands of years. ^W

Sea level rise: Sea level rises can considerably influence human populations in coastal and island regions and natural environments like marine ecosystems. Sea level rise is expected to continue for centuries. Because of the slow inertia – long response time for parts of the climate system, it has been estimated that we are already committed to a sea-level rise of approximately 2.3 meters for each degree of temperature rise within the next 2,000 years. ^W

What communities can do

• beach clean ups
• raise awareness of coastal communities threatened by Climate change, mitigation and adaption response options

Resources

Citizens data initiative

Research shows that 634 million people - one tenth of the global population - live in coastal areas that lie within just ten metres above sea level.

Maps

Land projected to be below annual flood level in 2050, coastal.climatecentral.org

News and comment

2015

South Africa must start managing its retreat from the coast, May 8

2014

Plenty more fish in the sea: preserving stocks in Madagascar, October 15

Events

• 

  Feb 2 World Wetlands Day, 2020: Sun

• 

  Jun 8 World Oceans Day, 2019, Sat

See also

• Coasts UK
• Climate action
• local information can be found, or shared, via our many location pages

CASwiki... Places - Topics - Resources - News / About - Join - Talk - Village pump / UK

External links

• Wikipedia: Coasts, Coral reef, Sea level rise

Coastal wiki

• Blue Ventures is a science-led social enterprise that develops transformative approaches for nurturing and sustaining locally led marine conservation. The organisation works in partnership with coastal communities in places where the ocean is vital to the culture and economy, and promotes transformative and integrated approaches to marine conservation and coastal poverty alleviation. Blue Ventures has operated field programmes in Belize, Fiji, Malaysia, Madagascar and Ghana. Blue Ventures is currently operating in Madagascar and Belize. The promotion of community-based tropical marine conservation forms the cornerstone of Blue Ventures’ work, which focuses on developing innovative models for sustaining and scaling locally-led marine conservation.

Blue Ventures runs volunteer expeditions to Madagascar, Belize and a new site in 2016 - Timor leste, for international volunteers and for school and university groups. The volunteer programmes are integrated within every part of Blue Ventures' work. BV’s volunteer programme has received numerous awards within the tourism sector, and been praised by Simon Reeve of the BBC's Indian Ocean Series. ^W

• Coral Reef Alliance, nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California, that partners with local reef communities around the world to protect coral reefs. With 19% of the world's coral reefs already destroyed and another 35% at immediate risk or threatened due to human pressures, organizations like CORAL are addressing an urgent need. CORAL promotes conservation through its Coral Reef Sustainable Destination (CRSD) approach, a holistic model that combines marine protected area (MPA) management and sustainable business operation for community benefit. ^W