INTERCOAST

The In­ter­na­tional Re­search Train­ing Group IN­TER­COAST – ‘In­teg­rated Coastal Zone and Shelf-Sea Re­search’ has in­ves­ti­ga­ted ques­ti­ons of so­cie­tal re­le­van­ce re­la­ting to the co­as­tal and shelf re­gi­ons of the Bay of Ple­nty-Co­ro­man­del in New Ze­a­land and of the North Sea in Ger­ma­ny.

The re­se­arch pro­gram­me fo­cu­sed on co­asts and shel­ves in both are­as, as they have si­mi­lar co­as­tal pro­blems, de­s­pi­te their wide geo­gra­phic lo­ca­ti­on dis­pa­ri­ty. Both co­as­tal and shelf zo­nes have much in com­mon, in­clu­ding exis­ting and ex­pan­ding set­t­le­ment, in­ten­si­fy­ing har­bour de­ve­lop­ment and ship traf­fic, co­as­tal land use con­ver­si­on for hou­sing and in­dus­try, fis­he­ries and aqua­cul­tu­re in­dus­tries, tou­rism and, par­ti­cu­lar­ly im­portant for the fu­ture – en­er­gy pro­duc­tion from the ma­ri­ne re­alm and wind parks. The­se ac­tivi­ties and their im­pacts ne­ces­si­ta­te en­vi­ron­men­tal in­ter­ven­ti­on: dred­ging for ship­ping chan­nels and whar­ves, land re­cla­ma­ti­on, and in­fra­struc­tu­re de­ve­lop­ment for ho­mes, fac­to­ries, and po­pu­la­ti­on mo­bi­li­ty, se­wa­ge tre­at­ment, etc. Over­ri­ding such in­ten­si­fy­ing de­ve­lop­ment, glo­bal chan­ge ex­erts strong im­pacts on both the Ger­man North Sea and the Bay of Ple­nty re­gi­ons. In both are­as this ra­pid po­pu­la­ti­on in­crea­se, com­mer­ci­al de­ve­lop­ment, and re­crea­tio­nal usa­ge re­qui­re long-term and ca­re­ful plan­ning, pay­ing spe­cial at­ten­ti­on to the prin­ci­ples of sustainable and pre­cau­tio­na­ry, en­vi­ron­men­tal­ly sound, and con­ser­va­ti­on-ori­en­ted eco­no­mic prac­tices.

This trai­ning group has educated young, high­ly mo­ti­va­ted, in­ter­di­sci­pli­na­ry qua­li­fied and in­ter­na­tio­nal­ly vi­si­ble sci­en­tists in the fiel­ds of Ma­ri­ne Geo­sci­en­ces, Ma­ri­ne Bio­lo­gy, So­ci­al sci­en­ces and Law.