Human activities and climate change are making tidal rivers and estuaries saltier. These salinity changes threaten drinking water supply, coastal infrastructure, agriculture, industry, and ecosystems. Currently, most people do not have the information they need to plan for and mitigate these potential impacts.

Project Summary … PacPath is a Belmont Forum Collaborative Research Action (CRA) funded by national funding agencies in France, Germany, and the USA. The project is a partnership among 13 institutions and researchers in France, Germany, Fiji, and New Caledonia to generate common understanding of Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG 14, Life Below Water) in the South Pacific region.

Addressing many of the challenges society faces, including climate change, food and water insecurity, and biodiversity loss, requires a better understanding of the interactions between people and their environment. Important interactions depend on scale (e.g., individuals, communities, government) and environmental conditions, suggesting the value in a landscape perspective.

The Coastal Ocean Assessment for Sustainability and Transformation (COAST) Card is a transnational and transdisciplinary research program funded through the Belmont Forum, a consortium of research funders that have targeted funds towards research that engages stakeholders into a co-design and co-development process, to foster solutions to global sustainability challenges. The project brings together researchers from the United States, Philippines, Norway, India, and Japan.

The goal of OysterFutures is to develop recommendations for oyster policies and management that meet the needs of industry, citizen, and government stakeholders in the Choptank and Little Choptank Rivers. Cover photo by Chesapeake Bay Program/Willl Parson.

IAN is part of a successful National Science Foundation project underway in New York Harbor as part of the Billion Oyster Project (BOP), aimed at delivering environmental restoration education to New York City public schools.

COSEE Coastal Trends increases public awareness about ocean science, empowers educators by developing interactive online modules, and fosters partnerships between researchers and educators in order to make current scientific knowledge and data available in the classroom.