Sustaining Coastal Zone Systems - Softcover

9781906716271: Sustaining Coastal Zone Systems

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1906716277 ISBN 13: 9781906716271

Publisher: Liverpool University Press, 2011

The 'Coastal Zone' is the long narrow interface between land and ocean that is a dynamic area of natural change and increasing human use. These areas contain more than half the planet's population. They also contain natural and man-made wealth in the form of: a) buildings, infrastructure, and machinery; b) human social capital; and c) the natural ecosystems that provide food, shelter, waste disposal, and other services to people. These assets are threatened by increasing human demands on natural resources and by global changes in climate, elemental cycling, and economic systems. Protecting them requires policies and procedures aimed at sustainability, but environmental protection is only part of the answer. The human factor must also be addressed. This book introduces a 'systems approach' to understanding and managing the complex interactions between the natural ecosystems and the human economies and societies in the coastal zone. It draws examples from a successful European research project to show how 'communicative rationality' and the construction of models of 'socio-ecosystems' can be used to help stakeholders choose between alternative solutions to coastal zone problems. It brings together key ideas about environmental management from the natural, social, and economic sciences. Written in non-specialized language so as to best communicate across a range of disciplines, the book will inform academics and professionals about this new approach in coastal zone management. It will enrich the study of ecology, geography, resource economics, environmental science and management, and the sociology of environmental conflict and risk. [Subject: Environmental Studies, Natural Science, Ecology, Geography]

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From the Author

Seven senior researchers from the natural and social sciences who are members of the EU research project Science and Policy Integration for Coastal System Assessments" (SPICOSA). The team is: Denis Bailly, University of Brest, France; Marta Estrada, CSIC, Barcelona, Spain; Thomas Sawyer Hopkins, IAMC, Naples, Italy; Anne Mette, KMGNE, Berlin, Germany; Maurizio Ribera d'Alcala, Zoological Station of Naples, Italy; and Audun Sandberg, BodA University College, Norway.

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