About the Project

The COAST project seeks to establish the NPA region as a demonstration of how to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for the coast . COAST will take a new approach to these challenges with a focus on local authorities as a target audience.

The project brings together five partners and six associate partners from Iceland, Finland, Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland. It came about in response to the shared challenges faced by our coastal communities, including climate change, loss of biodiversity and cultural heritage, and the sustainable exploitation of natural resources such as fisheries.

The project aligns with, extends and operationalizes Our Coastal Futures the open source method designed by Future Earth Coasts to facilitate coastal resilience and capability building. The approach will be applied to four demonstration cases across the partner regions and will address specific challenges associated with sparsely populated, remote coastal communities.

The project will deliver a Sustainable Resilient Coasts Toolbox to aid local authorities to build capacity towards sustainable coastal development. This will include a suite of tools designed to assist local authorities in the region to plan for, and manage, SMART Blue Growth. Specific tools will include guidance on stakeholder mapping, scenario building, and practical uses of innovative technologies, including drones, for sustainable development.

COAST Partners include the Agricultural University of Iceland (lead partner), Oulu University of Applied Sciences, MaREI, the SFI Research Centre for Energy, Climate and Marine at University College Cork, Mayo County Council, and the Causeway Coast and Glens Heritage Trust.