This field-based study documents the changing pattern of economic activities along selected coastal stretches in South Asia in Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and China. Economic activities vary with coastal ecosystem types and service flows. In the first phase, field study sites were identified based on multiple meetings and discussions with policy makers in each of the countries and they continued to be part of scientific discussions within an ecology-economy framework through the project lifetime. In the second phase, for Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka, further in-depth enquiry and analyses were carried out to understand the perception of various economic stakeholder groups of natural and anthropogenic threats in the coastal regions and the resultant vulnerability and risks. Possible future climate scenarios for the study sites were developed to assess the nature of future climate risks to various ecosystem-based economic activity groups.