Launch a UN Decade endorsed project

Coastal Zones Under Intensifying Human Activities and a Changing Climate: A Regional Programme Integrating Science, Management and Society to Support Ocean Sustainability (COASTAL-SOS)

With ~2 billion people relying on its resources, the East Asian seas have nourished rapid economic growth over the past decades.

But this comes at the expense of ocean health. COASTAL-SOS, a UN Decade endorsed project articulates a novel approach of cross-sectoral partnership between 10 research institutions, 6 companies, 3 non-profit foundations, and 4 international programs/organizations in designing, conducting and delivering “the science we need for the ocean we want”. Through interdisciplinary research, the project will examine the trajectories of six model coastal ecosystems over the past 50 years and predict their future (30-year) directions.

The initiative enables effective integration of science, governance, and society to fundamentally change the “business-as-usual” development model of coastal zones. In this launch session, representatives from Coastal-SOS parties will present the project’s overall design, discuss best practices for the partnership, and put forward further collaborations with other initiatives and stakeholders within and/or beyond the region.