Coastweb news
End of Project Events
Recently, the CoastWEB project closed with two interdisciplinary exhibitions exploring the values of wetlands that were open to the public:
1. “Reclaiming Wetland Values: Marsh, Mud and Wonder” (in collaboration with the WetlandLIFE project in celebration of World Wetlands day) the last week of January at The Royal Geographical Society.
2. “Understanding Wales’ Saltmarshes”/ “Deall Morfeydd Heli Cymru” held on 11-12th of February at The Norwegian Church, Cardiff bay (supported by the Severn Estuary Partnership).
There was a very good turn-out for both the stakeholder days, which included presentations, and public access days. Visitors provided excellent feedback on the exhibitions.
Please explore our presentations below to get a feel for our results and email any of us if you have any questions. Our contact details can be found on the Project team page
1. CoastWEB Intro NB – Nicola Beaumont
2. The place that saltmarsh occupies in the popular psyche – Angus Garbutt (WP1)
3. Having an artist in the mix – Simon Read (WP1)
4. The Role of Saltmarsh Plants for Flood Mitigation in Welsh Estuaries – Tom Fairchild, William Bennett, Harshinie Karunarathna and John Griffin (WP2)
5. Science to Economics: The value of saltmarsh flood mitigation – Brett Day and Greg Smith (WP4)
6. The multiple values and preferences for saltmarshes – Olivia Rendon, Lizzi Gabe-Thomas, Karen Henwood, Nick Pidgeon, Merryn Thomas and Erin Roberts (WP3)
7. The governance challenges & opportunities of working with nature to protect against floods and coastal erosion – Meghan Alexander, Emma McKinley and Rhoda Ballinger (WP4)
8. Engaging the public with the values and benefits of saltmarshes – Emma McKinley and #TeamSaltmarsh
Latest CoastWEB publication
Take a look at our newest paper from some of the CoastWEB team led by Emma McKinely. The paper, published in Ocean & Coastal Management, explores public awareness and attitudes towards saltmarsh.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2020.105117
Come to our end-of-project exhibitions!
As we reach the final months of our project we are holding two art exhibition style stakeholder events. The events will showcase some of the work that has been undertaken as part of the CoastWEB project, focusing around the values (economic or otherwise) that saltmarshes can provide society.
The first event ‘Reclaiming Wetland Values: Marsh, Mud and Wonder’ will be held at the Royal Geographical Society in London in collaboration with the WetlandLIFE project in celebration of world wetland day 2020. The exhibition will run from the 28th January to the 2nd of February 2020 and will explore some of the wonderful ways wetlands shape our environment, society, culture, history and more!
The second event ‘Understanding Wales’ Saltmarshes’ will be held at the Norwegian church in Cardiff bay on the 12th February 2020 and will feature only outputs from the CoastWEB project. For more details and to register: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/understanding-wales-saltmarshes-an-exhibition-from-the-coastweb-project-registration-86486004969
Our governance reports on the analysis of Flood & Coastal Erosion Risk Management and the Well-being
Rising sea levels and climate change projections mean difficult decisions need to be made about how best to manage our coastlines – this entails balancing the need for sustainable Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management (FCERM) and the preservation of well-being in at-risk communities. In Wales (UK), this is further reinforced by the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 and the associated commitment to seven national Well-Being Goals, reflecting the economic, social, environmental and cultural facets of well-being.
Focusing on the relationship between FCERM and well-being, this report evaluates the strengths and weaknesses in current FCERM governance, and the synergies and conflicts between FCERM and the national well-being goals. Drawing from in-depth policy and legal analysis of approximately 200 documents, and 47 interviews with key policymakers and practitioners, the research identifies 34 recommendations for policy and practice.
Lead researcher: Dr Meghan Alexander (m.alexander@uea.ac.uk).
Download them now from our project outputs and reports page
New paper from CoastWEB team
The latest paper from our interdisciplinary team has just been published in People and Nature. Led by Olivia Rendon, the paper presents a novel framework for linking ecosystem services with human health and wellbeing with an application to saltmarsh. https://doi.org/10.1002/pan3.10050
CoastWEB conference presentations
It’s a busy conference season for our CoastWEB researchers. Three of our social scientists, Emma McKinley, Meghan Alexander & Erin Roberts, attended the MARE conference in Amsterdam 24-28th June 2019. Olivia Rendon will present at the International Congress on Conservation Biology is in Kuala Lumpur at the end of July and Lizzi Gabe-Thomas will present her work at the International Conference on Environmental Psychology in Plymouth in September. See our outputs page or contact us for more info.
Stakeholder workshop
On the 10th of July CoastWEB will be holding a stakeholder workshop to understand how we can better integrate Flood & Coastal Erosion Risk Management with the national well-being goals and help inform recommendations for policy and practice in Wales. It will be held at the Water Research Institute at Cardiff University. See here for further details: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/integrating-flood-coastal-erosion-risk-management-well-being-in-wales-tickets-61789292437
Webinar to NRW
Cardiff University will be giving a webinar to Natural Resources Wales on Thursday 18th July to present the “An evaluation of current Flood & Coastal Erosion Risk Management in Wales – Opportunities and challenges for the pursuit of well-being”. This presentation will provide an overview of the key findings to-date and preliminary recommendations for policy, practice and future research needs.