Exploring the Future of Seas and Coasts

Scenarios within the Joint Research Project 'Zukunft Küste - Coastal Futures'

authored by: Andreas Kannen, Kai Ahrendt, Antje Bruns, Benjamin Burkhard, Doris Diembeck, Kira Gee, Bernhard Glaeser, Katharina Licht-Eggert, Tanja Michler, Ophelia Meyer-Engelhard, Corinna Nunneri, Sebastian Stragies, Wilhelm Windhorst
Abstract: Driven by a range of global developments, marine and coastal areas are faced with profound change. In Germany, the emergence of offshore wind farms is a new permanent large-scale activity which is much debated as a symbol for the increasing 'industrialisation' of coastal and marine waters.Within the research project 'Zukunft Küste - Coastal Futures', the development of scenarios is used to describe different development pathways that could emerge over the next 50 years. The storylines of these scenarios are built around five different patterns of sea use, each describing a different mix of driver settings and therefore resulting in different priorities of spatial use. The five patterns of use describe sea and coast (1) as a natural area, (2) as leisure and tourism area, (3) as a source for renewable energies, (4) as an industrial area and (5) as a transport area. It is suggested that scenario-based assessment of potential 'futures' could be a useful tool in integrated coastal zone management (ICZM). Scenarios as used within 'Zukunft Küste - Coastal Futures' can serve as a tool for visualising complex relationships between system elements and variables, providing an analytical context for subsequent system analysis.
External Organisation(s): Helmholtz Zentrum Geesthacht Centre for Materials and Coastal Research
Büro für Umwelt und Küste (BFUK)
Kiel University
Berlin Social Science Center (WZB)
Alfred Wegener Institute (AWI) Helmholtz Centre for Polar and Marine Research
Type: Contribution to book/anthology
Pages: 207-218
No. of pages: 12
Publication date: 31.07.2009
Publication status: Published
Peer reviewed: Yes
ASJC Scopus subject areas: General Agricultural and Biological Sciences, General Engineering
Sustainable Development Goals: SDG 7 - Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 14 - Life Below Water
Electronic version(s): https://doi.org/10.1002/9781444316285.ch16 (Access: Unknown)