Hello, 

Tomorrow, the European Commission is set to release its new Coastal Communities Development and Resilience Strategy, alongside its strategy for islands.  

This is a critical moment. These areas are unique. They represent an invaluable feature of identity offering a multitude of essential services —from carbon sequestration and biodiversity support, recreation to coastal protection and resilience against climate change, which coastal communities depend for their livelihood and well being. In a word, without healthy coastal ecosystems, there can’t be thriving coastal communities. 

And yet, coastal ecosystems face unprecedented impacts due to climate change and mounting pressures from human activities – including pollution, artificialization and coastal development 

Priorising and improving the resilience of coastal ecosystems while addressing the root causes of their degradation are therefore of uttermost urgency and the primary lens through which Surfrider Europe assesses the strategy upon its publication.  

Ahead of tomorrow’s release, we called for this strategy to  :  

1.  Priorise EU action to protect and restore coastal health  
2. Increase coastal resilience by scaling up protection and restoration efforts, including that of blue carbon ecosystems, while moving away from the use of private finance mechanisms 
3. Favour the deployment of Nature-Based-Solution (NBS) to adapt our coasts to climate change 
4. Require the adoption of Integrated coastal management plans in every coastal Member State 
5. Address the root causes of the degradation of coastal areas, including by setting an EU objective on costal land-use  

Surfrider is waiting for this plan to show concrete ambition for reaching healthy coastal areas. We look forrward to sending you our reaction tomorrow. 

Best, 

Julie Gabriel 

Media Relation Assistant 

Mail. [email protected] 

Tel. +33 6 08 10 58 02 

Surfrider Foundation – Act Positive. Protect the Ocean.