Science for the Land-Sea Interface: Informing Coastal and Nearshore Marine Policy

The meeting place of land and sea is a geographic area of high sensitivity and vulnerability, especially in the face of global climate change and local threats and stresses, such as overfishing. Twenty-three percent of the world's population -- about 1.2 billion people -- live within 100 kilometers of the coast; this is likely to increase to 50 percent by 2030. The welfare of these populations is intricately linked to resource management within the land-sea interface and to policies that are up-to-date, context appropriate, and science-based. Coastal and marine policymakers face myriad challenges: fragmented governance, competing stakeholder needs, and difficulty implementing decisions that will affect people's livelihoods and the physical and social structures of their communities. How can research inform policies to improve coastal and nearshore marine governance? This session addresses three areas of concern: coastal development, response to tidal flooding and inundation, and small fisheries management. Emphasizing aspects of integrated coastal zone management and marine policy that influence governance of nearshore resource use, this interdisciplinary session highlights the contributions of science to coastal adaptation and development policy in the United States, as well as environmentally responsible fishing practices for poverty reduction and food security in coastal communities in Ghana.