Innovative solutions for resilient and climate-adapted coastal communities in the Atlantic

In line with the European Green Deal, notably the EU climate adaptation strategy, the 2030 biodiversity strategy, the European Ocean Pact and EU policies to protect Europe’s ocean, seas and coasts, a successful proposal will contribute to the impacts of this Destination related to coastal communities.

Project results are expected to contribute to all of the following expected outcomes:

• deliver tangible benefits and support to Atlantic^[1] coastal communities, managing authorities, and citizens, aimed at increasing their resilience to climate change and other environmental challenges, including those affecting coastal ecosystems;
• enhance the capacities of coastal communities for adaptation to environmental change by fostering innovation, and professional skills and competences within an intergenerational context. Building community climate change literacy through creating inclusive learning spaces that also take into account the local cultural heritage and traditional knowledge and are sustainable in the long-term;
• contribute to the implementation of the All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance (AAORIA) Declaration^[2] and particularly the recently agreed area of action^[3] on increasing resilience of coastal communities.

Approximately 1 billion people around the globe inhabit vulnerable low-lying coastal areas facing multiple environmental threats, such as extreme weather events, sea-level rise, saltwater intrusion into coastal ecosystems, increased water temperatures and ocean acidification. The latest IPCC report warns of further intensification of these threats, projecting a tenfold increase in coastal flood damage by the end of the 21^st century and potential damage to coastal ecosystems, infrastructure, economic sectors, livelihoods, and human health. An urgent, coordinated effort to increase coastal resilience^[4] has therefore become imperative.

The need to develop outcome-oriented science to enhance the resilience of coastal communities was recently prioritised by AAORIA, a science diplomacy initiative focusing on ocean research and innovation. AAORIA partners^[5] have a wealth of already existing innovative ideas, knowledge and solutions for enhanced coastal resilience which could be used by coastal communities to create tangible change.

The European Commission, together with an AAORIA’s coordination and support action OKEANO, has started to collect this knowledge and make it available to communities around the Atlantic. But considerable effort is still needed to further develop and expand the range of solutions and services to be made accessible to and co-created with the communities.

This topic contributes to the implementation of the updated Action Plan for a sustainable, resilient and competitive blue economy in the European Union Atlantic area.

Proposals should address all of the following:

• engage with Atlantic coastal communities to understand their unique challenges, concerns, current strategies for adaptation to climate change, and traditional environmental knowledge, and to gather valuable insights into the specific needs and priorities of these communities in the context of coastal resilience;
• work towards enhancing coastal resilience in the Atlantic by building and testing a comprehensive toolbox^[6] of scientific outputs and traditional knowledge addressing the community needs for increased coastal resilience, building on the work undertaken by OKEANO project. The toolbox should include knowledge and solutions for various aspects of coastal resilience, including measures to protect and restore coastal ecosystems as nature-based solutions. As part of the toolbox, the proposals should consider and, where needed, develop methods and tools that would allow the communities to anticipate the diverse impacts of adaptation actions and measures, including on their most vulnerable members, and thus to avoid climate maladaptation^[7] risks. In this context, proposals should consider the gender dimension and other social categories^[8] and their intersections in disaster preparedness and capacity-building. A dynamic system for regular updates and refinement of the toolbox should be designed, based on emerging research and feedback from communities. An ongoing collaboration between scientists, policymakers, and community representatives should be fostered to ensure the relevance and effectiveness of the solutions included in the toolbox;
• to improve the production, access, and use of the knowledge responding to local community needs, and to support and complement the activities of the living labs, proposals should develop an interface^[9] enabling communities to choose a tailor-made mix of coastal resilience solutions uniquely responding to their needs, in a way that increases societal buy-in and acceptance of the solutions while avoiding maladaptation risks;
• for the digital element of the interface, proposals should design an online platform connecting available coastal resilience knowledge and solutions with community needs in a user-friendly manner, and produce interoperable, tailor-made digital applications. Proposals should consider complementarities with other platforms that already exist, such as those of the Mission Restore our Ocean and Waters and Mission Adaptation to Climate Change. The platform should allow for easy integration with existing digital decision-making, mapping and planning tools, for instance, by offering API (Application Programming Interfaces) integration which enables the platform to connect with existing digital tools and systems, allowing for the seamless exchange of data and functionality between systems;
• the toolbox and interface should be tested and piloted in living labs^[10] based on a systematic user co-creation approach in real life communities and settings. Proposals should create the living labs in a diverse set of Atlantic communities, such as coastal cities, regions and islands (including small island developing states), from different parts of the Atlantic, and other relevant communities living at the intersection of marine, coastal and freshwater areas, with a particular attention to those that are highly vulnerable to the risks of climate change. These living labs could also serve as centres for knowledge dissemination, training, community engagement, and collaborative problem-solving. Using the results of relevant projects^[11], proposals should select appropriate participatory processes or develop new ones that would involve a broad range of stakeholders from the local communities where the toolbox and interface would be used;
• To empower local coastal communities to make evidence-based decisions in response to environmental change within their territories, proposals should promote innovation and enhance human capacity through the establishment of learning spaces, knowledge exchange, training, participatory process of visioning and skills development, based on the contents of the toolbox. Attention should be given to securing the long-term sustainability of these activities.

Proposals must implement the multi-actor approach, to ensure an adequate involvement of researchers and relevant stakeholders (e.g. regional and local authorities, citizens, youth, NGOs, local businesses, private investors, social innovators, etc) from the target communities. They should also integrate SSH disciplines, including gender studies and citizen social science where relevant.

International cooperation is strongly encouraged, especially with AAORIA partner countries and other Atlantic countries.

To ensure complementarities and avoid overlaps, the proposals should foresee to work closely with relevant ongoing Horizon Europe projects, particularly the OKEANO project, and, where relevant, the projects funded under the topic HORIZON-MISS-2025 01-CLIMA-03, and relevant projects of the Mission ‘Restore our Ocean and Waters by 2030’ and its Atlantic and Arctic lighthouse (e.g. A-AAGORA and CLIMAREST), and the Mission Ocean Implementation Platform (MIP)^[12], notably on deployment and upscaling of solutions. Proposals should also consider results of other Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects such as TRIATLAS, the projects of the ADAPT4COAST cluster, ILIAD, DestinE, the EU Digital Twin of the Ocean and other relevant projects, programmes, and initiatives, including from AAORIA partner countries and other countries around the Atlantic, as well as relevant work under the OSPAR convention^[13].

[1] This encompasses coastal communities from all Atlantic countries, including those outside the EU, reflecting the pole-to-pole dimension of the All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance.

[2] SKM_80822071310280 (allatlanticocean.org)

[3] See of AAORIA 2023 Forum listing the two current priority areas of action of AAORIA

[4] For this action, the definition of coastal resilience proposed by the European Marine Board position paper “Building Coastal Resilience in Europe” applies: the capacity of coastal natural and socio-economic systems to persist, adapt or transform when faced with disturbances induced by factors such as sea-level rise, extreme events and human impacts, whilst maintaining their essential functions (Folke, 2006; Masselink & Lazarus, 2019).

[5] See partners at All-Atlantic Ocean Research and Innovation Alliance (allatlanticocean.org).

[6] For this action, the toolbox is intended as a repository of available knowledge, and practices aimed at enhancing coastal resilience; this could include case studies, examples of what has worked in various environments for various aspects of coastal resilience, methodology, description of technological solutions, etc outputs of existing research projects and initiatives.

[7] Climate maladaptation has been highlighted in the sixth Assessment Report of the IPCC and refers to a situation when climate change adaptation actions backfire, further deepening existing social inequities and leading to adverse outcomes.

[8] Such as disability, age, socioeconomic status, ethnic and/or cultural origins, sexual orientation, etc.

[9] For this action, the interface is intended as a combination of digital means, participatory approaches and guidelines that would allow coastal communities to access the repository (toolbox) of coastal resilience related knowledge, and practices, and to select the right mix of solutions for their unique resilience needs.

[10] What are Living Labs - European Network of Living Labs (enoll.org)

[11] Such as those from the ADAPT4COAST project cluster and EmpowerUs project.

[12] Mission Ocean, Seas and Waters Implementation Support Platform | Ecologic Institute

[13] OSPAR Commission | Protecting and conserving the North-East Atlantic and its resources