1.4.3 Cultural Heritage Protection from Anthropogenic
Climate Change
Natural and cultural heritage represents a key socio-economic capital and offers
many different benefits to citizens. Extreme weather conditions and the adverse
effects of climate change are able to significantly damage cultural and natural
heritage. If we do not act immediately, the damage may be irreversible. A Greek
emblematic initiative for the protection of monuments of cultural heritage from
anthropogenic climate change was launched in 2019 at “Climate Change Impacts
on Cultural Heritage: Facing the Challenge” international conference. The aim of
this initiative is to track the effects of climate change on these monuments, as well as
to assess the social and economic values at stake. It will also address critical
challenges to be faced by decision-makers, who are managing these monuments.
1.5 Sustainable Coastal and Rural Areas
1.5.1 The COASTAL Project
Rural development in the EU is affected by several environmental, economic and
social pressures, such as changing market developments, decreasing population
densities, lack of employment, desertification and others. However, coastal areas
provide appealing business opportunities while they are influenced by economic
activities in the hinterland (European Commission 2017b). To analyse the environmental, economic and social interactions of rural and coastal areas, multi-actor
approaches need to be combined with System Dynamics in a holistic manner.
The COASTAL (Collaborative Land-Sea Integration Platform) H2020 project
aims to improve the rural-coastal synergies in strategic business and policy decisionmaking and collaboration between coastal and rural actors. A generic toolset and
performance indicators are being developed, demonstrated and applied by combining a multi-actor approach with system dynamics modelling, which enables the
understanding of the interactions with market, demographic, environmental and
climate forecasts and the quantification of the positive and negative externalities
(COASTAL 2020).
COASTAL is a unique collaboration of 29 partners from 8 EU Member States,
representing coastal and rural business entrepreneurs, administrations and scientific
experts. The project core consortium includes 11 research institutes and 3 universities
active in the field of marine science and innovation, hydrology, rural development,
agriculture and integrated systems modelling; 3 NGOs active in the field of regional
development and economics, agriculture, tourism and coastal development; 2 farming advisory organizations; 4 administrations involved in regional and rural development, port development and environmental management; 2 SMEs with expertise
1 Introduction to the Oceans of Tomorrow: The Transition to Sustainability
15
Climate Change
Natural and cultural heritage represents a key socio-economic capital and offers
many different benefits to citizens. Extreme weather conditions and the adverse
effects of climate change are able to significantly damage cultural and natural
heritage. If we do not act immediately, the damage may be irreversible. A Greek
emblematic initiative for the protection of monuments of cultural heritage from
anthropogenic climate change was launched in 2019 at “Climate Change Impacts
on Cultural Heritage: Facing the Challenge” international conference. The aim of
this initiative is to track the effects of climate change on these monuments, as well as
to assess the social and economic values at stake. It will also address critical
challenges to be faced by decision-makers, who are managing these monuments.
1.5 Sustainable Coastal and Rural Areas
1.5.1 The COASTAL Project
Rural development in the EU is affected by several environmental, economic and
social pressures, such as changing market developments, decreasing population
densities, lack of employment, desertification and others. However, coastal areas
provide appealing business opportunities while they are influenced by economic
activities in the hinterland (European Commission 2017b). To analyse the environmental, economic and social interactions of rural and coastal areas, multi-actor
approaches need to be combined with System Dynamics in a holistic manner.
The COASTAL (Collaborative Land-Sea Integration Platform) H2020 project
aims to improve the rural-coastal synergies in strategic business and policy decisionmaking and collaboration between coastal and rural actors. A generic toolset and
performance indicators are being developed, demonstrated and applied by combining a multi-actor approach with system dynamics modelling, which enables the
understanding of the interactions with market, demographic, environmental and
climate forecasts and the quantification of the positive and negative externalities
(COASTAL 2020).
COASTAL is a unique collaboration of 29 partners from 8 EU Member States,
representing coastal and rural business entrepreneurs, administrations and scientific
experts. The project core consortium includes 11 research institutes and 3 universities
active in the field of marine science and innovation, hydrology, rural development,
agriculture and integrated systems modelling; 3 NGOs active in the field of regional
development and economics, agriculture, tourism and coastal development; 2 farming advisory organizations; 4 administrations involved in regional and rural development, port development and environmental management; 2 SMEs with expertise
1 Introduction to the Oceans of Tomorrow: The Transition to Sustainability
15