A PROactive approach for COmmunities to enAble Societal Transformation

PRO-COAST will develop, apply and validate a cutting-edge operational framework in the study of coastal ecosystem dynamics for the benefit of the population most exposed to risk deriving from biodiversity loss. Such a framework needs to tackle the complex social-ecological issues at hand, particularly so because these issues involve a dynamic perspective on the social as well as its interaction with the ecological system. Hence, the PRO-COAST framework will be based on the integrative Social Ecological Systems framework (SESF), based on the seminal work of the late Nobel Laureate Elinor Ostrom. PRO-COAST will apply and validate its holistic framework for identifying the interactions and dynamics of the different subsystems in a set of nine representative case studies located on the European continent, both in EU and non-EU areas, covering all five European coastal regions. The coastal ecosystem is the common thread running through all the case studies, but each one presents a specific issue and framework. In each case study we will co-create together with local stakeholders a set of tools and policies for the successful implementation of biodiversity conservation projects. Two approaches (the Bristol Approach & the Extreme Citizen Science (ECS) framework) to co-creation will be used to develop and establish a participative approach, which is, by virtue, responsive to local contexts. In line with PRO-COAST’s overall objective to increase capacity and resilience within the transformative communities a change process will be initiated, taking into account technical and social capacity. While the technical side of the change comprises new technologies and services regarding biodiversity, the social side of the change focuses on the human’s openness and readiness for change. To achieve its goals, PRO-COAST brings together 20 organisations across 14 different countries, selected on criteria of experience, expertise and most of all complementarity and interdisciplinarity.