Center for Coastal & Marine Studies
Dynamic Dunescapes Sand Dune Manager's Handbook
The Dynamic Dunescapes partners have developed a comprehensive handbook discussing the wide range of dune management options available to address the issues faced by coastal sand dune systems, including overstabilisation and invasive species. Management interventions detailed include notches, grazing, turf-stripping and scrub clearance. This handbook is designed to be a useful, in-depth resource for sand dune site managers, and aims to keep our management techniques up to date for the needs of dune conservation in a variety of situations.
UKCEH, UK Sand Dune and Shingle Network and Dynamic Dunescapes partners (2021). The Sand Dune Managers Handbook. Version 1, June 2021. Produced for the Dynamic Dunescapes (DuneLIFE) project: LIFE17 NAT/UK/000570; HG-16-08643
Sustainable sea planning for the future: EU supports maritime spatial planning in the Black Sea
If you look at the sea, it appears to be an expanse without borders or limits, where everybody could roam boundlessly. But then, if you think about all the activities taking place there (fishing, transport, fish farming, tourism etc.), you realise that they each occupy a bit of that expanse, and that there are plenty of activities taking place at the same time, with the risk of some disrupting the others. For those activities to coexist there is a process, called maritime spatial planning (MSP), which analyses and plans the distribution of human activities in marine areas to achieve ecological, economic and social objectives. Its goal is to develop spatial plans, which define the effective use of marine areas for different maritime activities and sustainable use of marine and coastal resources. At the same time, MSP creates a framework for coordinated, transparent and sustainable decision making on the basis of reliable data and cooperation across borders.
Now, focus on the Black Sea. That sea is the EU’s eastern gate, a junction between Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East, an important transport and energy hub, a crossroad of different cultures, a region with significant political, social and economic fragmentation. The Black Sea is among the most endangered ones in Europe, with a “closed” and unique ecosystem under threat by the continental pressures and conflicting coastal and maritime activities.
The World Bank featured a Story Map: “Bulgaria: Toward Blue Economy Development”
The Story Map communicates the evidence from the diagnostic analysis and key policy messages of the full report, “Bulgaria: Toward Blue Economy Development” for the opportunities that each sector brings to the blue economy in order to better understand the development risks and chart a way forward that factors in future challenges. The GIS Story Map is an excellent tool to empower and involve all relevant stakeholders and provides a dynamic platform for increased transparency, accountability, and public engagement.
The CCMS Director, Dr. Margarita Stancheva has been involved in the diagnostic analysis of the Blue Economy in Bulgaria and has actively contributed to the GIS Story Map.
Follow the published Story Map on the World Bank website:
https://arcg.is/0Lqymv
CCMS presented MARSPLAN-BS II results at the 34th International Geographical Congress
The 34th International Geographical Congress was held 16-20 August 2021, convened by Istanbul University, Turkey. In view of the continuing disruption due to Covid19, this was a virtual Congress. More than 600 delegates from 75 countries were part of the event.
The First International Geographical Congress was held in Antwerp in 1871, and it passed a motion in favour of the use of the Greenwich Meridian as a global standard. And 150 years later, IGC remains the greatest periodic international event for the world geographic community; the various plenary presentations and parallel sessions were scheduled according to GMT.
The Commission on Coastal Systems (CCS) to the International Geographical Union (IGU) (http://igu-coast.org/) convened three parallel sessions at the Congress, chaired by Margarita Stancheva (CCS Secretary) and Colin Woodroffe (CCS Chair), and focused on the theme ‘sustaining coastal and marine environments in the Anthropocene’.
In the context of the MARSPLAN-BS II project, (funded by the EMFF via the European Commission` DG MARE and CINEA) as partner in the project, CCMS leads two important activities on addressing the Multi-Use (MU) Concept with MSP and integration of Land-Sea Interactions (LSI) in MSP. In her presentation, Dr. Margarita Stancheva (CCMS project coordinator) presented the results of elaborated MU case study in Bulgarian maritime space: exploring the potential for development of one MU combination: Tourism, Underwater Cultural Heritage (UCH) & Environmental Protection (municipalities of Shabla, Kavarna and Balchik) and the identified key drivers and barriers, as well as key recommendations to overcome these barriers.
