- Resilient coastal ecosystems are central to the realisation of a sustainable, inclusive, prosperous, and equitable ocean economy, as coastal areas are home to more than 40 percent of the world’s population and host most of the transport, commercial, residential and national defense infrastructure of more than 200 nations and territories.
- Coastal ecosystems are undergoing profound changes, as they are challenged by climate change, threatened by urbanisation and poor upstream agriculture and extractive industry practices, increasing sprawl of coastal infrastructure, and overexploitation of resources.
- Failure to properly manage our coastal ecosystems will result in continued environmental damage, compromised development of established and emerging ocean sectors, disadvantaged nations and peoples, as well as inadequate infrastructure to meet the demands of changing demographics and climate change impacts.
- To ensure the environmental, economic and social sustainability of our space-constrained coastal ecosystems, ongoing development of our coasts must be balanced across multiple competing uses.
- The full range of economic, social, cultural and environmental values of coastal ecosystems must be balanced through enduring partnerships and active stewardship from government, industry and communities, and supported through innovation and research.
- This Blue Paper focuses on how to enhance coastal ecosystem resilience and enable sustainable pathways for economic, infrastructure and social development, without compromising the integrity and benefits of coastal ecosystems, or disadvantaging the people who rely upon them.
- This paper identifies opportunities for nations to cooperate by building upon past success to realise a sustainable ocean economy through championing the following four coastal opportunities for action: build ecosystem resilience; mitigate impacts of terrestrial and extractive activities on coastal ecosystems; advance sustainable, future-proofed blue infrastructure; and enhance community resilience, equity and access.
- With COVID-19 creating an imperative for stimulating economic activity, there is a unique window of opportunity to ensure that relevant policy and investment decisions address the challenges faced by coastal ecosystems and communities, as well as foster sustainable economic pathways. This involves supporting the recovery and development of impacted communities, building the resilience of coastal ecosystems and safeguarding the services they provide and future-ready built infrastructure.
Attribution
The source of this flipbook:
High Level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy. (2020a, October). COASTAL DEVELOPMENT: RESILIENCE, RESTORATION AND INFRASTRUCTURE REQUIREMENTS. https://www.oceanpanel.org/blue-papers/coastal-development-resilience-restoration-and-infrastructure-requirements
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