Coastal environments are the nexus of land and sea. Land-based activities have a huge influence on the state and sustainability of coastal and nearshore environments. This webinar will explore the impact that land-based activities are having on marine environments, from both Global South and Global North perspectives. 

We will be joined by two expert speakers presenting on the following topics:

• Land use and ocean impacts - perspectives from the Global South
  Professor Sian Davies-Vollum,  University of Northampton

Drawing primarily on examples from West Africa, this talk will give an overview of how land use and activities are impacting the coastal and nearshore environment and the lives of people who live and work there.

• Land-sea interactions: the role of systems thinking in tackling ‘the triple whammy’
  Professor Mike Elliott, International Estuarine & Coastal Specialists (IECS) Ltd. and the School of Environmental Sciences, University of Hull

This brief overview will use information from recent publications and projects to indicate the direction of systems thinking which encompasses both natural and social sciences in land-sea interactions. It will reflect on the need for multidisciplinary approaches in tackling the causes and consequences of ‘the triple whammy’ – that coasts are threatened by increasing industrialisation and urbanisation, the increased use of resources (water, space, fisheries, etc.), and the decreasing resistance and resilience to wide changes such as climate change effects.

Hence, there is the need for systems analysis which can be used to tackle coastal and marine problems and allow the wise and sustainable use of marine areas. This includes monitoring and assessment developments, including cumulative effects, maritime spatial planning and other conservation designations, socio-ecological systems, the valuation of biodiversity in ecological and socio-economic terms, and the breadth of management and governance mechanisms and measures.   
 

This event is being organised as part of our Turning the Tide: systems thinking for a sustainable ocean project. Join our dedicated mailing list to stay up to date on future project activities and hear about ways to collaborate.  

Our speakers

Professor Sian Davies-Vollum is Deputy Dean in the Faculty of Arts, Science and Technology at the University of Northampton. She is a geoscientist who has developed and led university courses in environmental science and geoscience. Her research experience is broad and she has worked on a variety of international, multi-disciplinary environment-focused projects. Her current research focuses on the sustainability of coastal environments and communities, with an emphasis in West Africa, and she co-leads the Resilient Lagoon Network. She is the Vice Chair of Universities Geoscience UK and chaired the recent review of the QAA benchmark statement that underpins Earth and Environmental Science/Studies degrees in the UK. 

Professor Mike Elliott is the Director of International Estuarine & Coastal Specialists (IECS) Ltd and also the Emeritus Professor of Estuarine and Coastal Sciences at the University of Hull, UK. He was Director of the former Institute of Estuarine & Coastal Studies (IECS) at the university from 1996-2017. He is a marine biologist with a wide experience and interests and his teaching, research, advisory and consultancy includes estuarine and marine ecology, policy, governance and management.

Mike has published widely, co-authoring/co-editing 20 books/proceedings and >350 scientific publications. This includes co-authoring 'The Estuarine Ecosystem: ecology, threats and management' (with DS McLusky, OUP, 2004), 'Ecology of Marine Sediments: science to management' (with JS Gray, OUP, 2009), and ‘Estuarine Ecohydrology: an introduction’ (with E Wolanski, Elsevier, 2015). He was an editor and contributor to the ‘Coasts and Estuaries: the Future’ (Wolanski, Day, Elliott and Ramachandran; Elsevier, 2019), Fish and Fisheries in Estuaries (Whitfield, Able, Blaber & Elliott; Wiley, 2022) and the Treatise on Estuarine & Coastal Science (Eds.-In-Chief - E Wolanski & DS McLusky, Elsevier).

He has advised on many environmental matters for academia, industry, government and statutory bodies worldwide. Mike is a past-President of the international Estuarine & Coastal Sciences Association (ECSA) and is now Vice-Chair of Future Earth Coasts and a Co-Editor-in-Chief of the international journal Estuarine, Coastal & Shelf Science; he currently is or has had Adjunct Professor and Research positions at Murdoch University (Perth), Klaipeda University (Lithuania), the University of Palermo (Italy), Xiamen University (China) and the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity. He was awarded Laureate of the Honorary Winberg Medal 2014 of the Russian Hydrobiological Academic Society and awarded Lifetime Achievement Award of ECSA, September 2022. He is also a member of many national and international committees linking marine science to policy.