project - Research and innovation

COllaborative lAnd-Sea inTegrAtion pLatform (COASTAL)
Platform Voor Land-Zee Integratie en Samenwerking (COASTAL)

Ongoing | 2018 - 2022 Belgium
Ongoing | 2018 - 2022 Belgium
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Context

More than 90 % of the EU territory is covered by rural areas, where roughly half the EU population lives and works. The agri-food sector has a production worth 675 billion euro, and is the third largest employer in Europe. Rural development in the EU faces major, highly-dynamic challenges including global competition, decreasing population densities, lack of employment, desertification, land abandonment, and climate change. In the EU alone, the coastal regions contain half the population as well as half the GDP, and 23 of 28 EU countries have a coastline. The blue economy contributes to 5.4 million European jobs, and an added value of 500 billion Euro annually, and is a major driver of the European economy and clearly identified as prioritized area for growth .Existing research and policy still primarily address issues from either a coastal- or rural-based perspective, making it ill-adapted to support effective land-sea integration at the local, regional and macro-regional scale. User-friendly instruments for identifying and analysing problems from an integrated perspective and deriving effective policy recommendations are scarce. To be effective and accepted, tools for business and policy support and integration of coastal and rural development plans should be based on a participatory, multi-actor approach. This will enhance and exploit co-creation, taking into account the different levels of governance and systemic transitions, while being sufficiently flexible for adaptations.

Objectives

Combining local knowledge and scientific expertise in a co-creation process to engage actors and stakeholders to improve land-sea collaboration. The central objective is to increase economic development while reducing the environmental pressures. The project will contribute to integrated land-sea planning and synergy in the study regions and wider EU territory, and result in a durable, online platform for knowledge exchange, supporting land-sea collaboration with practical tools and examples.

Objectives

Integratie van lokale en expert kennis teneinde actoren en belanghebbenden te betrekken in een co-creatie proces gericht op verbetering van de land-zee samenwerking. De centrale doelstelling is de economische groei te verbeteren en tegelijkertijd de milieudruk te verminderen. Het project levert een bijdrage aan geintegreerde land-zee beleid en synergie in de studiegebieden in EU, en leidt tot een duurzaam, online platform voor kennisuitwisseling en de ondersteuning van land-zee samenwerking met praktisch inzetbare instrumenten en voorbeeldtoepassingen.

Activities

The main project activities include: (1) the participation of local actors and experts in "Multi-Actor Labs" to analyse problems and develop innovative business and policy solutions, (2) combine qualitative and quantitative techniques in this co-creation process to understand land-sea systemic transitions, (3) to develop multiple scenarios and business/policy indicators measuring the impact of improved land-sea collaboration, and (4) derive practical business road maps and policy strategies.

Activities

De belangrijkste projecttaken bestaan uit: (1) deelname van lokale actoren en experts in "Multi-Actor Labs" om problemen te analyseren en innovatieve oplossingen te formuleren, (2) combinatie van kwalitatieve en kwantitatieve technieken om de dynamiek van het land-zee systeem beter te kunnen begrijpen, (3) het ontwikkelen van scenarios en bedrijfs- en beleids indicatoren die de toegevoegde waarde van land-zee synergie kunnen meten, en (4) het formuleren van praktische aanbevelingen voor bedrijfs en beleids-strategieen

Additional information

The project is organised around six case studies or "Multi-Actor Labs":

• Belgian Coastal Zone & Hinterland (Belgium)

• South-Westh Messinia (Greece)

• Norrström/Baltic (Sweden)

• Charente River Basin (France)

• Danube’s Mouths - Black Sea (Romania)

• Mar Menor Lagoon (Spain)

Project details
Main funding source
Horizon 2020 (EU Research and Innovation Programme)
Type of Horizon project
Multi-actor project
Location
Main geographical location
Arr. Antwerpen

EUR 4 999 944.00

Total budget

Total contributions including EU funding.

Resources

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75 Practice Abstracts

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Contacts

Project coordinator

Project partners