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Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research

Asia-Pacific Network for Global Change Research

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Project • ARCP2012-12NMY-Roy, ARCP2013-07CMY-Roy

Coastal Ecosystem and Changing Economic Activities: Challenges for Sustainability Transition

Alteration in coastal ecosystems at any degree, resulting out of either natural forces or human interventions poses threats to the resilience of human and environmental coastal systems (Klein et al 1998; Turner et al 1998; Turner and Daily 2008). In this context the concept of ‘sustainability transition’, which can be characterized as a long term, multi-dimensional and fundamental transformation processes through which systems shift to a more sustainable state (Markard et al 2012) becomes a relevant yardstick for managing the coastal ecosystem. More than a third of the world’s populations live in coastal areas and small islands that comprise 4% of the Earth’s total land area (UNEP, 2006). According to (UNEP 2005) Report, at the global level, coastal population densities are 2.6 times larger than that of inland areas and well-being level of coastal communities is on average much higher than their inland counterparts. Coastal zones yield 90% of global fisheries (Coastal Fluxes in the Anthropocene) and approximately 38 million people are directly engaged in fisheries and trading of fish products (UNEP, 2006). Tourism a flourishing sector provides employment and income earning opportunities to a substantial number of people residing in these areas.