Working within this context, the EU H2020 COASTAL project seeks to improve
land-sea synergies in strategic business and policy decision-making, by fostering
collaborations between coastal and rural stakeholders in order to support sustainable
growth in rural, coastal and marine sectors by cross-sectoral collaborations and the
codesign of robust land-sea sustainable strategies; create links between EU WFD and
MSFD by developing policy alternatives for sea-coastal-rural areas; highlight the
connections between land ecosystems and coastal ecosystems, for a sustainable use
and management of these ecosystems; and reach the sustainable development goals.
7.2 The H2020 COASTAL Project
7.2.1 Methodology and Tools
The COASTAL project is a unique collaboration of coastal and rural business
entrepreneurs, administrations and stakeholders, along with natural and social science
experts. Local and scientific knowledge are combined to identify problems and
develop practical solutions in the form of robust business road maps and strategic
policy guidelines, aimed at improving land-sea synergy. A multi-actor approach is
followed to analyse the social, environmental and economic land-sea interactions in a
collaborative System Dynamics (SD) framework, taking into consideration the short-,
mid- and long-term impacts of decision-making and feedback mechanisms on coastal
and rural development. The project is organized around participatory Multi-Actor
Labs (MALs), combining tools and expertise to focus on six case studies representing
the major coastal regions in the EU territory. Each MAL consists of local actors and
experts who participate in collaborative exercises to analyse problems and causes,
propose and discuss solutions as well as validate and interpret the impacts of simulated
business and policy decisions. The MALs are connected via an online platform for
collaborative knowledge exchange – the COASTAL platform. The COASTAL platform and the synergistic tool sets will be further exploited and developed beyond the
project lifetime. The ultimate ambitions of COASTAL are to inspire strategic land-sea
planning and contribute to the formulation of integrated coastal-rural regulations at the
regional, national and EU level (Fig. 7.2).
7.2.2 COASTAL Project Case Studies
8
The COASTAL project’s six case studies and corresponding MALs differ by
problem context, spatial scale and social-environmental conditions. They are
8 All case study descriptions have been developed by local MAL leaders as part of the COASTAL
project and are extracted from the project internal documentations (Belgium, Jean-Luc de Kok
110
E. Akinsete et al.
land-sea synergies in strategic business and policy decision-making, by fostering
collaborations between coastal and rural stakeholders in order to support sustainable
growth in rural, coastal and marine sectors by cross-sectoral collaborations and the
codesign of robust land-sea sustainable strategies; create links between EU WFD and
MSFD by developing policy alternatives for sea-coastal-rural areas; highlight the
connections between land ecosystems and coastal ecosystems, for a sustainable use
and management of these ecosystems; and reach the sustainable development goals.
7.2 The H2020 COASTAL Project
7.2.1 Methodology and Tools
The COASTAL project is a unique collaboration of coastal and rural business
entrepreneurs, administrations and stakeholders, along with natural and social science
experts. Local and scientific knowledge are combined to identify problems and
develop practical solutions in the form of robust business road maps and strategic
policy guidelines, aimed at improving land-sea synergy. A multi-actor approach is
followed to analyse the social, environmental and economic land-sea interactions in a
collaborative System Dynamics (SD) framework, taking into consideration the short-,
mid- and long-term impacts of decision-making and feedback mechanisms on coastal
and rural development. The project is organized around participatory Multi-Actor
Labs (MALs), combining tools and expertise to focus on six case studies representing
the major coastal regions in the EU territory. Each MAL consists of local actors and
experts who participate in collaborative exercises to analyse problems and causes,
propose and discuss solutions as well as validate and interpret the impacts of simulated
business and policy decisions. The MALs are connected via an online platform for
collaborative knowledge exchange – the COASTAL platform. The COASTAL platform and the synergistic tool sets will be further exploited and developed beyond the
project lifetime. The ultimate ambitions of COASTAL are to inspire strategic land-sea
planning and contribute to the formulation of integrated coastal-rural regulations at the
regional, national and EU level (Fig. 7.2).
7.2.2 COASTAL Project Case Studies
8
The COASTAL project’s six case studies and corresponding MALs differ by
problem context, spatial scale and social-environmental conditions. They are
8 All case study descriptions have been developed by local MAL leaders as part of the COASTAL
project and are extracted from the project internal documentations (Belgium, Jean-Luc de Kok
110
E. Akinsete et al.