Towards a green and inclusive post-pandemic recovery of the Blue Economy and coastal communities (RRR-Coast)

This project will provide science-based guidance for post COVID recovery of coastal communities through a trans-national comparative study across coastal areas in Costa Rica, Germany, Scotland (UK), and the USA. Coastal regions are important because they are typically densely populated and have a significant contribution to the economy, often referred to as Blue Economy. Coastal regions experienced significant drops in numbers of tourists and economic losses for other industries, which all impacted coastal communities. Impacts, responses and their consequences on vulnerabilities and equity in coastal communities, and potential for recovery, are so far under-studied.

Despite the slim knowledge base, governments are determining how recovery can be socially inclusive, sustainable, and resilient. Through our five objectives, we will understand: (1) the socio-economic impacts brought by both COVID-19 and the implemented response measures such as movement restrictions, (2) preferred short-term and long-term COVID-19 recovery strategies for each sector of the Blue Economy, (3) the main barriers to coastal green and inclusive recovery policies and programs, (4) elements of resilience in the recovery strategies that could successfully contribute to a sustainable and inclusive development, benchmarked against the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement and (5) lessons and best practices transferrable across risks and locations to efficiently respond to/prevent future crises. This will be achieved by using multi-method approaches, including large-scale surveys with coastal regional authorities and businesses, discrete choice experiments to value future recovery scenarios, focus groups, and expert interviews. We will determine key enabling factors across all regions that lead to response performance so as to inform the development of future strategies for a green and inclusive coastal recovery. We will facilitate meaningful interactions between the academic institutions, partners, and key stakeholders in each country to exchange information on experiences in addressing the consequences of the pandemic and ways forward.