Highlights:

• Invitation to Future Earth Coasts 'Just Transitions' Sub-Working Group for Coastal Sustainability
• Upcoming: Just Transitions Webinar: Community-based coastal hazard risk reduction and climate resilient development (23 October)
• Join Future Earth Coasts CYBER-COAST Working Group for Ecosystem Sustainability
• Inaugural Meeting of the CYBER-COAST Working Group: Advancing Coastal Cybernetics for Ecosystem Sustainability
• Upcoming: FEC Cyber-Coasts Webinar: A CYBERnetic perspective on COASTal environments (20 October)
• 2nd International Mega–Delta Meeting
• The International Sandy Beaches Symposium
• FEC Academician's Pick: The coming perfect storm: Diminishing sustainability of coastal human–natural systems in the Anthropocene
• Socio-ecological analysis of the eutrophication in Chesapeake Bay, USA
• Updates from FEC Suported Networks：Commission on Coastal Systems
• Call for Papers | Special Issue: Coastal hazard risk in the Anthropocene

Are you passionate about creating a more equitable and sustainable future for coastal regions? Are you interested in exploring the concept of ‘Just Transitions’ in the context of coastal communities and ecosystems? If so, we invite you to become a part of the 'Just Transitions' Sub-Working Group, a FEC initiative aimed at fostering meaningful discussions, research, and actions towards a more just and sustainable coastal transition.



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Variation in fitness affects the abundance and activity of engineers, thus their ability to modify the environment, thereby establishing amplifying or stabilizing biophysical feedback loops. This phenomenon is akin to a cybernetic system where adaptive management is employed to maintain desired outcomes. Human-induced feedback disruptions in such a cybernetic system can lead to instability or even collapse.

As a remarkable case of cybernetic loop, aquatic bioturbators, bioconstructors and bioirrigators are deemed ecosystem engineers because of the physical changes they cause to the benthic environment and to the water column. This has a strong impact on many important ecosystem features and processes which are all relevant for the fitness of engineers themselves on a larger scale, benthic ecosystems engineers are expected to influence and be influenced by the Earth system stoichiometry, seascape, landscape and climate. Global changes are currently having an impact on benthic ecosystem engineers and the biophysical feedback loops they are enmeshed in, which could trigger abrupt changes in aquatic and coastal ecosystems on a planetary scale.

Through the sharing of ideas and knowledge, CYBER-COAST will develop a conceptual scheme to frame coastal environmental changes under the perspective of cybernetics and ecological energetics. The key partners include CNR-IRET Lecce, a research institute of the Italian National Research Council, specializing in the structure and functioning of ecosystems in the context of global changes and human impact. The University of Salento - DiSTeBA adds its extensive research facilities and expertise in biological and environmental sciences, while LifeWatch ERIC, a European Research Infrastructure Centre, provides a platform to enhance understanding of biodiversity and ecosystem functionality for environmental protection. The State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University (SKLEC), contributes its valuable research streams in estuarine and coastal dynamics. With additional participation from NIOZ - Yerseke, Sun Yat-Sen University and University of Caen, this partnership forms a robust and diverse consortium aimed at addressing crucial challenges in ecosystem conservation and sustainable coastal development on a global scale. This working group also intends to serve as a platform for preparing funding proposals.

To join the working group or for further information, please contact Francesco Cozzoli: [email protected] or Xiaoyu Fang: [email protected].

Following the launch of the Future Earth Coasts Cyber-Coast (A CYBERnetic perspective on COASTal environments) working group, the kickoff meeting was held on September 12, 2023, drawing together coastal researchers from prestigious institutions worldwide. Participants included experts from CNR-IRET Lecce, University of Salento, DiSTeBA, LifeWatch ERIC, SKLEC, NIOZ – Yerseke, Sun Yat-Sen University, University of Caen, University of Hull, and the Argentine Institute of Oceanography, among others.

The CYBER-COAST working group, co-founded by Dr. Francesco Cozzoli and Dr. Xiaoyu Fang, aims to explore the intricate realm of Coastal Cybernetics, which encompasses the intricate interactions and feedback loops between living (biotic) and non-living (abiotic) components of coastal environments, including human activities, infrastructure, resource extraction, and waste generation. These feedback mechanisms play a pivotal role in shaping the structure, function, and resilience of coastal ecosystems.

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Event Details

Date: 20 October

Time: 11am UTC

Registration

We look forward to your presence at this important event. Feel free to invite colleagues and friends who share an interest in this critical topic. If you have any questions or need further information, please contact us at [email protected]. Thank you for considering our invitation, and we hope to see you at the webinar.

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River deltas are critical coastal habitats. However, they are facing continuous threats such as increased erosion, flooding risk, and shrinking salt marshes and mangroves. This has become a global problem which requires international cooperation to find solutions. The Mega-Delta Programme was listed as one of the first round of the actions endorsed under the UN Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development. It aims to provide solutions to the problems faced by different types of deltas in different regions with different levels of social-economic development. All the deltas are faced with challenges caused by climate change and human activities. Thus, combined efforts from different organizations and multi-disciplines are required to fulfil the task.

The theme of this meeting is “Mega deltas - seeking solutions to the problem of sustainability”, during which, we will discuss about protection and restoration of ecosystems and biodiversity; community resilience to ocean hazards; and skills, knowledge and technology for all.

Sessions 

- Coastal hazards: erosion, sedimentation and flooding

- Resources of land and water: quality and quantity

- Wetlands restoration, biodiversity and blue carbon

- Multi-stake holders, capacity building, and potential solutions to challenges

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IX INTERNATIONAL SANDY BEACHES SYMPOSIUM: sustaining sandy beach systems’ functionality with quality data, integrated research, multi-targeted communication.

The International Sandy Beaches Symposium will be held in Lecce in 2024. The Symposium welcomes sandy beach researchers, students and managers at all levels are invited to participate and share their research, making this symposium a platform to interact, establish links and identify synergies across disciplines.

The IX ISBS is resuming the series after a 6-years break, during which we gathered data, drafted concepts, carried out meta-analyses and likely integrated aspects brought up as emergencies along with the pandemic.

Two workshops are planned as occasions to harmonize the research performed by the “sandy beach community”, aligning with emerging needs of multi-disciplinarity and representativeness, highlighting gaps and raise questions to be addressed with forthcoming research -applied to the context of sandy beaches as a way to populate theoretical compounds with first-hand experiences.

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FEC Academician's Pick

Prof. Dr. Alice Newton

Abstract

This study is a social-ecological analysis of eutrophication in the Chesapeake Bay, United States of America (USA). It uses an expanded DPSIR framework (Drivers/Pressures/State/ Impacts/Responses) methodology to analyze the issue. In addition, a typology of the social actors and stakeholders in the socio-economic part of the system is identified. These stakeholders include residents, agriculturists, fishers, real estate developers, tourism operators, scientific researchers, and state and federal regulators. The framework results found that the Drivers are food security, housing, economic development, recreation pursuits, a sense of belonging, and population growth. These result in human Activities such as land and coastal change for development, coastline changes for fisheries, urban or suburban development, burning fossil fuels, and agricultural fertilization. The activities exert Pressures such as wastewater discharge, runoff from cleared land, atmospheric deposition (NOx), nutrient input, decreased tidal vegetation, and overfishing of filter feeders. These alterations change the State of the environment and its resilience by increasing the duration and areal extent of hypoxia, turbidity, and change in nutrient ratios. This also causes ecosystem changes, such as a decrease in wildlife diversity, and affects ecosystem services, such as decreasing nutrient buffering. The health of Chesapeake Bay benefits all stakeholders and wildlife, so the reduction of ecosystem services results in Impacts on society’s welfare and well-being, the economy, and environmental justice. Examples are decreased fishery yields and poorer water quality, affecting aesthetics, tourism, and ultimately human health. The governance Response to the degradation of the Chesapeake Bay and main management Measures has been the formation of the Chesapeake Bay Program, which has developed several agreements to improve water quality. The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, Chesapeake Progress, and Report Cards are accountability tools to observe and communicate the management project results or enforce state laws. The current management shows promising results, but further efforts are required to improve the water quality. Using various management options may bridge this gap to benefit all stakeholders. The main conclusion is that, although eutrophication is a complex problem, there is a scientific knowledge-base and a range of management options to restore the Chesapeake Bay.

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Updates from FEC Suported Networks

Day, J. W., Hall, C. A., Klitgaard, K., Gunn, J. D., Ko, J. Y., & Burger, J. R. (2023). The coming perfect storm: Diminishing sustainability of coastal human–natural systems in the Anthropocene. Cambridge Prisms: Coastal Futures, 1, e35.

Ollivier, M. E. L., Newton, A., & Kelsey, H. (2023). Social-Ecological analysis of the eutrophication in Chesapeake Bay, United States of America. Frontiers in Marine Science.

Brempong, E. K., Almar, R., Angnuureng, D. B., Mattah, P. A. D., Jayson-Quashigah, P.-N., Antwi-Agyakwa, K. T., & Charuka, B. (2023). Coastal Flooding Caused by Extreme Coastal Water Level at the World Heritage Historic Keta City (Ghana, West Africa). Journal of Marine Science and Engineering, 11(6), 1144. MDPI AG. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/jmse11061144.

Charuka, B., Angnuureng, D. B., Brempong, E. K., Agblorti, S. K., & Agyakwa, K. T. A. (2023). Assessment of the integrated coastal vulnerability index of Ghana toward future coastal infrastructure investment plans. Ocean & Coastal Management, 244, 106804.

Elegbede, I. O., Lawal-Are, A., Oloyede, R., Sanni, R. O., Jolaosho, T. L., Goussanou, A., & Ngo-Massou, V. M. (2023). Proximate, minerals, carotenoid and trypsin inhibitor composition in the exoskeletons of seafood gastropods and their potentials for sustainable circular utilisation. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 13064.

Elegbede, I., Zurba, M., Hameed, A., & Campbell, C. (2023). Gaps and Challenges in Harnessing the Benefits and Opportunities of Indigenous Certification for a Sustainable Communal Commercial Lobster Fishery. Environmental Management, 1-20.

Hawkins, S. J., Todd, P. A., Russell, B. D., Lemasson, A. J., Allcock, A. L., Byrne, M., ... & Swearer, S. E. (2023). Review of the Central and South Atlantic Shelf and Deep-Sea Benthos: Science, Policy, and Management. Oceanography and Marine Biology: An annual review. Volume 61, 61, 127-218.

Valenzuela, V. P. B., Esteban, M., & Onuki, M. (2023). Middle-class risk perception of disasters and land reclamation in Metro Manila, Philippines. Anthropocene Coasts, 6(1), 13.

Guzmán, D. H., Mier, R. L., Vergara, A., & Milanes, C. B. (2023). Marine protected areas in Colombia: A historical review of legal marine protection since the late 1960 s to 2023. Marine Policy, 155, 105726.

Mestanza-Ramón, C., Monar-Nuñez, J., Guala-Alulema, P., Montenegro-Zambrano, Y., Herrera-Chávez, R., Milanes, C. B., ... & Toledo-Villacís, M. (2023). A Review to Update the Protected Areas in Ecuador and an Analysis of Their Main Impacts and Conservation Strategies. Environments, 10(5), 79.

Botero, C. M., Palacios, M. A., Souza Filho, J. R., & Milanes, C. B. (2023). Beach litter in three South American countries: A baseline for restarting monitoring and cleaning after COVID-19 closure. Marine Pollution Bulletin, 191, 114915.

Alarcón Borges, R. Y., Pérez Montero, O., Tejera, R. G., Silveira, M. T. D., Montoya, J. C., Hernández Mestre, D., ... & Milanes, C. B. (2023). Legal Risk in the Management of Forest Cover in a River Basin San Juan, Cuba. Land, 12(4), 842.

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.

van Belzen, J., Fivash, G. S., Hu, Z., Bouma, T. J., & Herman, P. M. (2022). A probabilistic framework for windows of opportunity: the role of temporal variability in critical transitions. Journal of the Royal Society Interface, 19(190), 20220041.

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.

UPDATED MILESTONES

• Dec. 1st 2023: Open call for abstracts closes; submit MS for 2x independent review
• June 30th 2024: 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].