SUSTAIN: SUSTAIN: developing a universal tool to help deliver sustainability on Europe’s coasts

The increasing intensity of human activities along our coastline has a severe impact on coastal communities and natural habitats. The EC has adopted a renewed EU Sustainable Development Strategy. It aims at bringing about a high level of environmental protection, social equity and cohesion, economic prosperity and active promotion of sustainable development worldwide. There are multiple inter-linkages between the key challenges: for example between the use of renewable energy and climate change.
Objectives: The key objective of SUSTAIN is to have in place, at the end of three years, a fully implementable policy  tool, applicable for all 22 coastal states of the EU, which will ensure that the integrated management of coastal issues will be sustainable. This entails the agreement within the project, of a set of criteria which are readily measurable and which cover both the threats of an unsustainable development and the opportunities provided by a sustainable future which faces all coastal authorities and communities throughout Europe.

 There will be 6 workshops to explore and discuss sustainability topics and criteria and methodologies for measurement of the indicators.

There will also be 6 inter-regional exchange visits which will complement the workshops by enabling partners to exchange their own experiences on sustainability issues allowing transfers of best practice where applicable.

Finally, all the partners will come together for a final international event in the UK in Autumn 2012. The results from the project will be disseminated at this event and an international audience of coastal stakeholders, politicians, decision makers will be invited.