Coastal and Marine Governance

This theme involves interdisciplinary research at the boundaries of social, ecological and physical sciences on coasts and ocean resources that involve complex social and ecological dynamics with governance at multiple scales. The research spans topics such as the role of marine protected areas in conservation, community resilience, coastal futures under climate change, and the critical role of ecosystem services in fishery and resource dependent societies and in coastal cities.

The research integrates where people live in coasts with the role of social drivers of stress on marine environments. The research spans global trends, micro-level studies of behaviour and well-being, and the specific issues of poverty and development in the global South, marine spatial planning and integrated ocean management. The research draws on political ecology, to social-ecological studies, embedded in the notions of coasts as ecological systems.

Photo courtesy of SPACES project – Picasa