Highlights:

• FEC Workshop on Assessing the Sustainability of Coastal Lagoons (Poland, 22 June)
• Future Earth Coasts - PACPATH Open Day Activity at SRI 2023 (Panama, 28 June)
• Future Earth Coasts - IES Joint Webinar on 30 June
• Anthropocene Coasts, FEC Official Journal, Soars in CiteScore 2022 Rankings
• Fishing Closed Season in Ghana
• FEC Dialogue with Academy Members: Prof. Shu Gao
• FEC Dialogue with Female Scientists: Prof. Lin Yuan
• FEC Academician's Pick: Prof. Alice Newton
• Marine Ecosystem Services and Integrated Management: “There's a crack, a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in”!
• Updates from FEC Affiliated Projects: Novara One Planet, Resilient Lagoon Network
• Updates from FEC Supported Networks: Ocean Acidification Africa

The Future Earth Coasts (FEC) Workshop on the Assessment of Coastal Lagoons and Their Sustainability took place on Thursday, June 22nd, at the Eurolag10 conference held in Gdynia, Poland. With participation from 20 experts representing Europe, Latin America, and Africa, the workshop aimed to enhance our understanding of the sustainability of social-ecological coastal lagoon systems.

Coastal lagoons are intricate, social-ecological systems that offer a wide range of ecosystem services crucial for human welfare and well-being. Their sustainability hinges upon several key factors, including achieving good environmental and ecological status, ensuring responsible economic exploitation with minimal negative externalities, promoting social equity and community-based management of natural resources, and implementing effective governance practices spanning from local to transnational scales.

The FEC workshop at Eurolag10 provided a valuable platform for collaboration, learning, and knowledge exchange, underscoring the significance of interdisciplinary cooperation in addressing the complex sustainability issues faced by coastal lagoon systems.

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For more background information: Circles of Coastal Sustainability: A Framework for Coastal Management,

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Future Earth Coasts (FEC) and PACPATH (Pacific Ocean Pathways in Support of Sustainable Development: an Integrated Approach) project have successfully launched their collaborative open day activity 'Get the Grade,' at the Sustainability Research & Innovation Congress 2023 (SRI 2023) on June 28 in Panama.

'Get the Grade' at SRI 2023 provided participants with a unique opportunity to explore the complexities of natural resources and water management, fostering collaboration among diverse stakeholders. Through role-playing, negotiations, and partnership formation, the teams aimed to improve their report card grades for a fictitious basin. These grades were based on six fundamental river basin values, including ecological factors, water quality and quantity, social and cultural aspects, health and nutrition considerations, management and governance practices, and economic dimensions.

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Future Earth Coasts (FEC) and the Institution of Environmental Sciences (IES) joined forces to organize a webinar on coastal wetland restoration. The webinar, held on June 30th, featured expert speakers from China and Australia who shared their research and case studies.

Professor Chen Xuechu from East China Normal University presented a case study on Chinese coastal wetland restoration and carbon sequestration. His findings revealed that restored wetlands act as larger carbon sinks compared to natural marshes. This restoration not only helps combat climate change but also provides vital habitats for diverse wildlife. Dr. James Sippo, a Research Fellow at Southern Cross University, discussed the Australian Blue Carbon Method, which offers carbon credits for coastal wetland restoration. He explained the carbon cycling in mangrove ecosystems and highlighted the potential for using blue carbon sequestration as a natural mitigation strategy for climate change. After the presentations, a Q & A session allowed the audience to engage with the speakers and further explore the topics discussed.

The joint webinar served as an informative platform, emphasizing the need for concerted efforts in coastal wetland restoration to combat climate change and safeguard biodiversity. The insights shared by Prof. Chen Xuechu and Dr. James Sippo shed light on the importance of restoring and protecting these vital ecosystems for a sustainable future.

Recently, the official release of CiteScore 2022, an important indicator of academic journal impact, has hightlighted the impressive performance of Anthropocene Coasts, the official journal of FEC. This year Anthropocene Coasts achieved a remarkable CiteScore of 4.9, demonstrating significant progress compared to its previous score of 3.9 in 2021.

According to the CiteScore 2022 ranking, Anthropocene Coasts has advanced from the top 28% to the top 23% among journals in environmental science – nature and landscape conservation, securing its position in the highly regarded Q1 journal category.

Anthropocene Coasts has not only excelled in the field of environmental science but has also made notable strides in ocean engineering. It has climbed from the 32nd position to the 28th position, placing it in the top 28% and maintaining its standing in the Q2 category. Similarly, in the field of oceanography, it has improved from the 53rd position to the 40th position, ranking within the top 30% and continuing to be recognized in the Q2 category.

The ocean is filled with numerous resources, ranging from food to energy. As such, countries sharing boundaries with seas boast of a vibrant blue economy. In this light, all these countries together with others not bound by the sea rely on these resources to boost their economies, with one of the most exploited resources being fish.

However, many countries are experiencing a drastic decline in fisheries, and Ghana, which shares a boundary with the Gulf of Guinea is no different, with fishermen reporting reduced fish catch. In finding solutions to mitigate depleted fish stocks, Ghana found the need to adopt the closed fishing season in 2016 based on scientific recommendations, aimed at fish stock recovery. This was indicated as a way of protecting fish stock and increasing fish population with the objectives of curbing overfishing, reducing fishing pressure, restoring overexploited fish stocks, and replenishing dwindling fish populations.

The closed season also known as the biological rest period or no harvesting period is when fishing activities are put on pause during the spawning or reproduction period of fish.

During this period the fish spawn (lay their eggs) in the hope that these eggs will mature into fish to replenish the depleted or reduced stock. This is some sort of rejuvenation of the lost population in the case of afforestation in plants.

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This interview series ‘FEC Dialogue with Academy Members’ celebrates careers and life accomplishments of FEC Academy Members. They have been generously passing on knowledge and experience to the next generation of young coastal scientists to empower them with not only professional development opportunities but also life advice on ways to succeed despite challenges and difficulties. By featuring these dedicated and remarkable scholars in coastal sciences, we want to inspire young scientists to enter science careers, and recognize role models of successful researchers.

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Future Earth Coasts celebrate these days by launching the interview series ‘FEC Dialogue with Female Scientists’. We invited female scientists at different career stages around the globe to share their stories and reflect on challenges and opportunities they encountered in their career paths. Stories from the interviewees are a snapshot of the current situation. We learnt not only their passion and dedication to coastal research, but also realized existing barriers in promoting gender equity and the necessary to make women’s voices heard in the world.



Their scientific work paved the way for young girls who want to engage in STEM to build a fairer and more equal future. We want to inspire young women to bravely pursue their professional career paths.

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FEC Dialogue with Female Scientists

FEC Academician's Pick

Marine Ecosystem Services and Integrated Management: “There's a crack, a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in”!

Introduction

There have been many recent developments and discussions regarding marine science for policy, governance and management in the pages of Marine Pollution Bulletin and elsewhere and especially the movement towards systems analysis to cope with the complexity of marine natural and human systems (for example, Elliott et al., 2017, Elliott et al., 2020a, Elliott et al., 2020b; Cormier et al., 2022, and references therein). It is emphasised that the marine system has to be viewed through both eco-centric and anthropocentric lenses but both aspects are needed to consider the whole ecosystem. Because of this, it is now especially appropriate to reappraise an integrative model linking the natural and social sciences, governance and management. If such a model can be agreed then it would enable a recipe for assessing and managing human activities in the sea. Such a model would need to merge the natural and social sciences, not least to include concepts regarding the ecosystem services and societal goods and benefits provided by our oceans. Despite this, and perhaps as expected, there continues to be discussion and even argument relating to the meaning, interpretation and use of the relevant terms, especially regarding the concepts relating to ecosystem services. This article attempts to clarify the ecosystem services concept while also proposing such an integrative model.

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Updates from FEC Affiliated Projects

Updates from FEC Suported Networks

Elliott M. (2023). Marine Ecosystem Services and Integrated Management: "There's a crack, a crack in everything, that's how the light gets in"!. Marine pollution bulletin, 193, 115177. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.115177

Bezerra, Moisés & Goyanna, Felipe & Lacerda, Luiz. (2023). Risk assessment of human Hg exposure through consumption of fishery products in Ceará state, northeastern Brazil. Marine Pollution Bulletin. 189. 114713. 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2023.114713. 

Celliers, Louis & Manez Costa, Maria & Rölfer, Lena & Aswani Canela, Shankar & Ferse, Sebastian. (2023). Social innovation that connects people to coasts in the Anthropocene. Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures. 1. 1-22. 10.1017/cft.2023.12. 

Pauli, Natasha & Clifton, Julian & Elrick-Barr, Carmen. (2023). Evaluating marine areas in Fiji. Nature Sustainability. 10.1038/s41893-023-01136-2. 

Gallo Velez, David & Restrepo, Juan & Newton, Alice. (2023). Assessment of the Magdalena River delta socio-ecological system through the Circles of Coastal Sustainability framework. Frontiers in Earth Science. 11. 10.3389/feart.2023.1058122. 

Chen, Y., Deng, B., Zhang, G., Zhang, W., & Gao, S. (2023). Response of Shallow Gas‐Charged Holocene Deposits in the Yangtze Delta to Meter‐Scale Erosion Induced by Diminished Sediment Supply: Increasing Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 128(1), e2022JF006631.

Day, J. W., Twilley, R. R., Freeman, A., Couvillion, B., Quirk, T., Jafari, N., ... & Meselhe, E. (2023). The Concept of Land Bridge Marshes in the Mississippi River Delta and Implications for Coastal Restoration. Nature-Based Solutions, 100061.

Lange, M., Cabana, D., Ebeling, A., Ebinghaus, R., Joerss, H., Rölfer, L., & Celliers, L. (2023). Climate-smart socially innovative tools and approaches for marine pollution science in support of sustainable development. Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures, 1, E23.

Pickering K, Pearce T, Manuel L, Doran B & Smith T, 2023, ‘Socio-ecological challenges and food security in the ‘salad bowl’ of Fiji, Sigatoka Valley’. Regional Environmental Change, 23, 61. 

Harvey N & Smith TF, 2023, ‘Key lessons from new perspectives on Australian coastal management’, Ocean & Coastal Management, Volume 239, 15 May 2023, 106581

Sengupta, D., Choi, Y. R., Tian, B., Brown, S., Meadows, M., Hackney, C. R., ... & Zhou, Y. (2023). Mapping 21st century global coastal land reclamation. Earth's Future, 11(2), e2022EF002927.

Elrick-Barr CE, Clifton J, Cuttler M, Perry C & Rogers AA (2023). Understanding coastal social values through citizen science: The example of Coastsnap in Western Australia. Ocean & Coastal Management, 238, 106563. 

Lange, M., Cabana, D., Ebeling, A., Ebinghaus, R., Joerss, H., Rölfer, L., & Celliers, L. (2023). Climate-smart socially innovative tools and approaches for marine pollution science in support of sustainable development. Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures, 1-20.

Alice Newton, Michele Mistri, Angel Pérez-Ruzafa and Sofia Reizopoulou. (2023). Editorial: Ecosystem services, biodiversity, and water quality in transitional ecosystems, Front. Ecol. Evol., Volume 11.

Huddleston, P., Smith, T. F., White, I., & Elrick-Barr, C. (2023). What influences the adaptive capacity of coastal critical infrastructure providers?. Urban Climate, 48, 101416.

Elegbede, I., Lawal-Are, A., Favour, O., Jolaosho, T., & Goussanou, A. (2023). Chemical compositions of bivalves shells: Anadara senilis, Crassostrea gasar, and Mytilus edulis and their potential for a sustainable circular economy. SN Applied Sciences, 5(1), 44.

Wolff M, Ferse SCA, Govan H (eds) (2023) Challenges in Tropical Coastal Zone Management - Experiences and Lessons Learned. Springer International Publishing, Cham, Switzerland. 

Datta, Satabdi, Roy Joyashree (2022) Exploring Adaptive Capacity: Observations from the vulnerable human coastal environmental system of the Bay of Bengal in India. Frontiers in Climate. Vol 4.

Smith, T., Elrick-Barr, C., Thomsen, D., Celliers, L., & Le Tissier, M. (2023). Impacts of tourism on coastal areas. Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures, 1, E5.

Laubenstein T, Smith TF, Hobday AJ, Pecl GT, Evans K, Fulton EA & O’Donnell T, 2023, ‘Threats to Australia's oceans and coasts: a systematic review’, Ocean & Coastal Management, 231 (published online 29 Oct 2022)

Li, Y., Robinson, S.V.J., Nguyen, L.H., Liu, J., 2023. Satellite prediction of coastal hypoxia in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Remote Sensing of Environment 284, 113346. 

Pereira, C.I.; Botero, C.M.; Ricaurte-Villota, C.; Coca, O.; Morales, D.; Cuker, B.; Milanes, C.B. Grounding the SHIELD Model for Tropical Coastal Environments. Sustainability 2022, 14, 12317.

Mabon L and Kawabe M (2022) 'Bring Voices from the Coast into the Fukushima Treated Water Debate' PNAS 119 (45) e2205431119.

Rölfer, L., Abson, D. J., Costa, M. M., Rosendo, S., Smith, T. F., & Celliers, L. (2022). Leveraging governance performance to enhance climate resilience. Earth's Future, 10. 

AM Foley, S Moncada, M Mycoo, P Nunn, V Tandrayen‐Ragoobur, ...Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Climate Change 13 (3), e769

Peng, Y., Sengupta, D., Duan, Y., Chen, C., & Tian, B. (2022). Accurate mapping of Chinese coastal aquaculture ponds using biophysical parameters based on Sentinel-2 time series images. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 181, 113901.

Rölfer, L., Celliers, L., & Abson, D. J. (2022). Resilience and coastal governance: knowledge and navigation between stability and transformation. Ecology and Society, 27(2), 40.

Brendel, A.S., Ferrelli, F., Piccolo, M.C., Perillo, G.M.E., 2022. Procesamiento de datos satelitales ópticos y de radar para la detección de cambios morfométricos: el caso de la desembocadura del río Sauce Grande (Argentina). Caminhos de Geografia 23:85-94. DOI 10.14393/RCG238658189. ISSN 1678-6343.

Castiglioni, E., Gaucher, C., Perillo, G.M.E., Sial, A.N., 2022. Marine deposits of the Chuy Formation (Late Pleistocene) and isostatic readjustments in the area of Laguna de Rocha (Uruguay). Agrociencias 26:e799. doi:10.31285/AGRO.26.799.

FERREIRA, Alexander Cesar; LACERDA, Luiz Drude de. Mangrove restoration in ne brazil: a unified contribution to adapting to global climate change. Arquivo de Ciências do Mar, Fortaleza, v. 55, p. 219-230, 2022. Especial Labomar 60 anos.

Ferreira, A. C., Borges, R., & de Lacerda, L. D. (2022). Can Sustainable Development Save Mangroves?. Sustainability, 14(3), 1263.

Rölfer, L., Elias Ilosvay, X. E., Ferse, S., Jung, J., Karcher, D. B., Kriegl, M., ... & Walker, E. Z. (2022). Disentangling Obstacles to Knowledge Co-Production for Early-Career Researchers in the Marine Sciences. Frontiers in Marine Science, 9.

de Lacerda, L. D., Ward, R. D., Borges, R., & Ferreira, A. C. (2022). Mangrove Trace Metal Biogeochemistry Response to Global Climate Change. Frontiers in Forests and Global Change, 47.

Raikes, J., Smith, T. F., Baldwin, C., & Henstra, D. (2022). Disaster risk reduction and climate policy implementation challenges in Canada and Australia. Climate Policy, 1-15.

Elrick-Barr, C. E., & Smith, T. F. (2022). Current Information Provision Rarely Helps Coastal Households Adapt to Climate Change. Sustainability, 14(5), 2904.

Anthropocene Coasts

special column

Special Issue: Coastal hazard risk in the Anthropocene

GUEST EDITORS: 

Bruce Glavovic, Massey University, New Zealand

Robert J. Nicholls, University of East Anglia, UK

For this Special Issue, Anthropocene Coasts invites manuscripts that focus on coastal hazard risk in the Anthropocene, including ecological, cultural, social, economic, and governance (including political, administrative, policy and legal) considerations.

MILESTONES

• Dec. 1st 2022: Open call for abstracts Opens
• Jun. 30th 2023: Open call for abstracts closes; submit MS for 2x independent review
• Dec. 30th 2023: Manuscript submission deadline

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Special Issue: Material transport and eco-environmental dynamics across the river-estuary-coast shelf continuum under changing climate and human activities

GUEST EDITORS: 

Aijun Wang, Third Institute of Oceanography, China

Bong Chui Wei, Universiti Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

SM Sharifuzzaman, University of Chittagong, Chattogram, Bangladesh

Cherdvong Saengsupavanich, Kasetsart University, Chonburi, Thailan

For this Special Issue, Anthropocene Coasts invites manuscripts that focus on material transport across the river-estuary-coastal shelf continuum under changing climate and human activities from a range of disciplines (e.g., biology, ecology, geomorphology, hydrology, oceanography, sedimentology, coastal zone management, and multidisciplinary topic).

Milestones

• Nov.10th 2022: Decision to proceed / not proceed with SI
• Dec. 1st 2022: Open call for abstracts Opens
• Jun. 30th 2023: Open call for abstracts closes; submit MS for 2x independent review
• Oct. 30th 2023: Manuscript submission deadline

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Most of our subscribers are coasts-related researchers. If you would like to put some recruitment information or share some latest news about coastal research in FEC monthly newsletter, please feel free to contact us through [email protected].