Intervention Area: Resilient Coastal Communities and Businesses

Background and rationale 
 

Coastal communities across Europe, notably those located in rural or peripheral areas and lacking large-scale or heavy industry, face a range of challenges, some common and others specific to their local geographical, economic, social, and cultural conditions. Many of these communities rely on seasonal business opportunities provided by coastal and marine tourism and its value chain activities. While tourism represents an important economic activity and source of income for many coastal dwellers, an over-reliance on the sector presents specific challenges, including low wages, seasonality and higher housing costs for locals due to high touristic demand. According to the 2025 EU Blue Economy Report, remuneration for those employed in the tourism sector is lower on average than in other blue economy sectors (just 50% of those working in ports, for example).

Technology, working patterns and demographic shifts (including remote working) are enabling many workers to live or relocate to rural coastal areas, bringing new economic opportunities. However, such demographic changes bring their own challenges (e.g. cost of housing), and the lack of diversity in the economic ecosystem undermines economic and community resilience to exogenous shocks.

Coastal economic activities, including tourism, aquaculture, and small-scale fisheries, are highly dependent on the quality of marine and coastal environments but can also negatively impact them. Such commercial activities depend too on coastal infrastructure, including, for example, small harbours, marinas, and coastal protection infrastructure that provide an interface between the land and the sea but are in themselves exposed to risks from climate change and extreme weather impacts.

All of these elements, physical, economic, technological, social, cultural, ecological and climatic, interact with and impact upon coastal communities and businesses in complex and interconnected ways. Enabling the development of economic and social sustainability in coastal community settings through evidence-informed policy interventions, nature-based solutions and related concepts is a key downstream impact for this intervention area. 

Key thematic areas 

1. Resilient small-scale coastal businesses

Small-scale coastal businesses operate in a continually evolving socio-economic context where seasonality, limited access to high-skilled and flexible labour markets and low productivity and ‘innovation’ are commonplace. These businesses are also highly dependent on the quality of the marine and coastal environment and are in the front line of climate and weather impacts. An improved understanding of the challenges for existing small-scale businesses and the barriers for ‘start-up’ businesses to locate in coastal regions needs to be investigated. Also relevant is to understand how social innovation, hardly funded by European or National funds, can support the identification, investment in, and sustain small-scale coastal businesses. Policy interventions to encourage more diverse business ecosystems require a strong evidence base to be more effective in supporting planning and product development. Local, national, and EU public policy requires the development of multi-level strategies to foster resilience in small-scale coastal communities and businesses and to support the diversification of coastal and marine-based enterprises.

Activities should address the following aspects:

• Understand risks posed to coastal business and communities by climate change impacts (ocean warming, sea-level rise, biodiversity loss, etc.) and extreme weather events.
• Understand the social and economic disruptions arising as a consequence of rapid change in economic sectors experienced by coastal communities, in particular those with ‘cultural’ significance and the tourism sector.
• Assess the impacts of diverse coastal activities on marine and coastal environments, ecosystem health and the interdependencies with establishing resilient business ecosystems.
• Examine the impact of technologies on major societal changes caused by long-term and seasonal migration flows, which contribute to socio-political tensions.
• Explore how social innovation can help to enable diversification of coastal and marine-based enterprises.
• Define strategies for strengthening resilience and preparedness against natural and man-made shocks to coastal businesses, including through social innovation.
• Examine approaches to enable meaningful community participation and stakeholder ‘consent’ for significant policy and planning initiatives in coastal settings, including deployment of NbS.
• Improve understanding of the social and cultural costs and benefits as the coastal community transitions from traditional economic activity into a more diverse, low-impact, regenerative business ecosystem.
• Improve understanding of financing instruments and incentives for innovation, including social innovation, that support job creation in coastal communities.

2. Resilient coastal infrastructures

Coastal businesses (e.g., small-scale fisheries, aquaculture, and marine tourism) rely in large part on built infrastructure such as small harbours, piers, coastal protection, marinas, accommodation, restaurants, and other related infrastructure. These infrastructures are by nature of their location, highly exposed to the impacts of climate change (e.g. sea-level rise), geological hazards, coastal erosion and extreme weather events. Understanding the risks to existing infrastructure and advancing innovative approaches to the design and adaptation of coastal structures are key components underpinning sectoral resilience. 

• Analysis of risks posed to coastal infrastructures by climate change and extreme weather events, and strategies to protect /re-design built structures (including Nature-based Solutions) and mitigate against risks that potential damages to such structures may pose to the safety and security of coastal communities and businesses.
• Advance opportunities to embed technologies in coastal infrastructures that can monitor environmental conditions, deliver early warning of risks/hazards and support long-term data on coastal conditions and environmental change.
• Enabling diversification on the use of coastal infrastructures by working with existing and emerging maritime sectors to foster an integrated ”business ecosystem”
• Mapping accurately specific public policies around water provisions, desalination and marine-based infrastructure management.
• Access the diversity of the demand per region of the necessary infrastructures (stable or mobile ones) and provide feedback to policy makers in approaching coastal development for local economic activities.
• Investigate options for a coastal economy ‘industrial strategy’ to identify effective policy interventions to encourage both private and public investment or subsidies to accelerate sustainable business start-up and relocation to coastal regions, particularly regarding coastal infrastructure.
• Compare regulatory frameworks across different European regions to stimulate and support coastal infrastructures; identify and better understand the successful ‘enabling regulation’ that minimises system frictions, costs and participation.

Implementation, enablers, and synergies 

Interdisciplinary approaches, including technology, data, digitalisation, social science and humanities, can provide solutions to enable coastal and marine businesses, not only to transition to more sustainable, regenerative business models, but to create new integrated economic ecosystems to support new business sector development. In a European context, marine environmental data portals such as EMODNet and Copernicus provide users with access to a major source of information that can be used to improve decision-making and product development. Data and technological innovation are also critical enablers to inform the design and maintenance of coastal infrastructures. 

Technology also underpins the possibilities promised by greater innovation, but this needs to be aligned with a better, comparative understanding of the social and cultural factors affected, which can reduce the positive impact of technology-supported interventions. It can also enable a range of activities in support of business development such as, building skilled and flexible labour markets and responsive/enabling regulatory frameworks.

A transition towards Nature-based Solutions (NbS) and related concepts (see definition see 2020-020-En.pdf) is an important opportunity to reduce the carbon footprint of activities linked to coastal businesses. NbS can, for example, promote the development of sustainable blue tourism in coastal areas, including strategies to combat coastal erosion, control the spread of harmful alien species, and potentially ensure the quality of bathing waters.

Outcomes and Impacts

The R&I investments in this Intervention Area are expected to yield tangible outcomes and impacts across environmental, social, and economic dimensions.

• Knowledge and guidance for public authorities and development agencies (national, local), to inform policy and planning to enable a just and efficient transition for coastal and marine businesses to a sustainable and regenerative business model.
• Greater understanding of the social and cultural context underpinning coastal businesses and strategies to ensure that the transition to a new sustainable business model safeguards the tangible and intangible cultural heritage of local communities.
• Greater understanding for key stakeholders (coastal businesses, community leaders, local authorities, etc.) of the risks posed by climate change impacts, extreme weather and geological hazards on small-scale businesses and coastal infrastructures, with the aim to develop strategies to foster greater resilience for coastal businesses and coastal infrastructures.
• Greater understanding of the role nature-based solutions or related concepts can have in strengthening coastal community resilience against risks posed by climate change impacts, extreme weather, and ecosystem degradation
• Greater deployment of innovative technologies, and use of data and digital products to strengthen resilience in small-scale coastal businesses and coastal infrastructures.
• Identification of effective models for ‘business ecosystems’, entrepreneurship ecosystem and innovation policies, including social innovation ones.