Today, coastal residents and economies are exposed to huge risks—perhaps more so than any other part of the planet — and the ability of coasts to provide goods and service is being challenged. Progress is inexorably linked to good governance, a process that requires building constituencies with communities and businesses; national, state and local government agencies; nongovernmental organizations; and research and academic institutions. Only together can we define the future of our coasts and select strategies that can help lead us into that future.
As the approach once called integrated coastal management has expanded, broadened and deepened, CRC has incorporated new environmental, social and economic considerations into the planning for and use of these natural resources. This includes looking at issues related to climate change, poverty, population growth, health and sanitation, food security, options for clean energy, and gender equity. This is part of CRC’s attempt to align people and their environment, including coasts, in a more holistic way — one that recognizes the complex and rapidly shifting situation within which pieces of the ecosystem co-exist.
CRC — a small actor by world standards — has shown it can take on challenges of growing breadth and depth is casting its net wider and wider, working with people around the world to build the skills they need to strategically address the emerging, but vital, issues facing their coasts.