Inclusive and adaptive solution to support coastal management and policy development

How do value systems interact with ecosystem services trade-offs to influence acceptance of policies & interventions?

Background information 

The adoption of green technologies is fragmented and too unresponsive to reach the global sustainability goals. Interactions with regional and local parties have made clear that the following factors are to blame: 

• Current coastal management support methods are not comprehensive enough
• Uncertainties and risks are not appropriately addressed. 
• Public opinion is not under the major consideration.

Location 

I am fascinated with the biodiversity of intertidal areas and have a strong passion to get to know more about such habitats. Here are some of the possible research sites in Hong Kong.

• Shui Huo
• Lai Chi Wo
• Ha Pak Lai

Importance

Intertidal areas such as mud flats, mangrove forests, and peatlands are vital ecosystems that provide a range of ecological, economic, and cultural benefits. It is important to protect and conserve these areas through sustainable management practices and conservation efforts to ensure the continued provision of these benefits for future generations.

Context 

A wide range of stakeholders must have access to, comprehend, and apply scientific data and evidence for sustainable coast management. Land, rivers, oceans, the sea bed, the atmosphere, and humans all meet in coastal environments. Therefore, there are requirements for coastal data from a variety of environmental fields and disciplines. Shoreline Management Plans, for instance, frequently rely on data regarding human health and population; earth's history and geology; air and weather; water; the beauty and character of the landscape; environmental history, land use, infrastructure, and physical assets. More and more aspects are becoming readily available, hence more and more stakeholders are getting involved in the discussion of development. New challenges and opportunities arise from this evolution and the complexity brought on by the diversity of environmental domains and disciplines. However, these are poorly researched and necessitate interdisciplinary and environmental domain-specific discussion. Hence, this research aims to combine ideas from multiple disciplines and review the current progress of conservation. Meanwhile, initiate conversation between different parties to generate better understanding and come up with more comprehensive development proposals in the future.

Outcome

After summarizing the integrated data, the study will provide insights regarding the creation of comprehensive cost-benefit analyses and recommendations for action plans in the event that preferred policy changes. By backing more cross-disciplinary characterisation of the complicated coastal human-environment system, the research will further benefit the broad base of coastal science. It aims to enhance the understanding between different stakeholders' opinions and concerns in terms of the development of the region. The multi-aspect analysis provides a more holistic feedback on the current conservation policy, hence developing better solutions of the shoreline.

Limitation

In terms of the physical limitations of the research, it may not be comprehensive enough as the research only lasts for six weeks. It may not cover the full picture of the issue. It may not be representable or conclusive but rather serve as a basis for further research. The target group may not be big enough which may not be comprehensive enough to include all stakeholders opinions. Since a wide range of audience is involved, the summary is difficult and may fail to include all data into analysis. 

As for challenges derived from human factors are as follows. Conduction research overseas, researchers may not be familiar with the habitat and ecosystem abroad. It slows down the research progress. The prejudice of researchers to certain parties may make the result unfair. 

Methodology 

This research is a primary research. A wide range of stakeholders must have access to, comprehend, and apply scientific data and evidence for sustainable coast management. There are two possible ways to conduct the survey. 

• Questionnaires can be distributed to the public and various parties to have a general understanding of local conservation and development. 
• Interviewing major stakeholders provides in-depth and interdisciplinary coastal data. Discussions on the complex of coastal data, challenges and possible solutions can be held. It will talk about the complicated and variety of coastal data, the difficulties and potential solutions for using coastal data across disciplines, and how stakeholders access, interpret, and use data and evidence.  

The data collected will be analyzed based on established methods or that developed by the group to draw meaningful conclusions.

Timeline