The UN SDSN 4 Seas Initiative was launched in cooperation with SDSN Greece and SDSN Black Sea at the 3rd Sustainability Summit for South-East Europe and the Mediterranean. The new initiative bring together the Mediterranean Sea, the Black Sea, the Caspian Sea and the Aral Sea in order to Mobilize Science-Driven Sustainable Blue Growth in the 4 seas region and facing the challenge of protecting the future state of global oceans by providing a Sustainability Transition Plan, which will eliminate degradation and raise awareness on the benefits of the Oceans. It aims at
- developing and support sustainable growth pathways in coastal and marine sectors from source to sea,
- creating an open-access database with relevant research and innovation projects, policies and stakeholders,
- incentivizing innovation to facilitate the sustainability transition in the region through the collaboration with the Innovation Community and EIT Climate KIC,
- and developing links between EU WFD, MSFD, Blue Growth Initiative, Agenda 2030 and other Policy Initiatives, by developing policy alternatives to support land-sea synergies in the implementation of the sustainability transition in the 4-seas project region.
The COASTAL project is fully integrated in this new initiative by contributing to integrate coastal-rural planning and coastal-rural synergies in case studies in the Mediterranean and the Black seas.