Shaping a new deal for coastal communities.
| Author | Balata, Fernanda |
Britain's coastal communities need fresh ideas to tackle the complex social, economic and environmental issues they face. The Blue New Deal initiative, launched in 2015 and led by NEF, is pioneering a new approach: exploring what solutions are already working, drawing on people's experiences, and helping them identify the strengths of the places in which they live. (1)
The Blue New Deal action plan, to be launched in autumn 2016, will bring together this wealth of local experience and expertise, to demonstrate how our wealth of coastal and marine assets, if better protected and well managed, can work for coastal communities. This is not only delivering new policies for these communities, but a new approach to policy development.
Unstable coastal economies and fragile communities
Many coastal communities in the UK have suffered from years of relative economic and social decline, leaving people disenchanted, and fuelling alienation, social despair and political dislocation. (2) A collective failure, over the years, to plan, rethink and transform the coastal economy has left coastal areas vulnerable to increasing economic and environmental challenges. Coastal communities tend to fare worse than other UK regions on a range of issues. They see higher deprivation levels; higher outward migration; have an older population; and high levels of underemployment and educational underachievement.
Climate change is also likely to harm coastal communities the most because of the vulnerable socio-economic state of many residents. More severe heat waves particularly affect the elderly and those with pre-existing health problems. Extreme weather affects coastal infrastructure, posing challenges to isolated areas and those with older populations who are reliant on public services such as transport and health. More frequent flooding would be likely to bring down house prices and discourage further investment.
Over the years, the lack of social and environmental planning in key sectors of our coastal economy has helped shape an unsustainable economy that fails to deliver its human wellbeing potential. The decline of traditional coastal industries--such as fisheries, energy and tourism--and the subsequent loss of jobs are fundamentally linked to the depletion and destruction of our valuable coastal and marine ecosystems.
Deeper still lies an identity struggle. The UK's seas were once the source of prosperity for many coastal communities--producing fish, oil, shipbuilding, seaside resorts. But they are now linked to a past they 'must' forget in order to move ahead.
No mainstream political, social or environmental movement has properly addressed this complex relationship.
Reconciling employment opportunities with marine conservation
The UK coast currently supports more than 750,000 direct jobs in coastal areas (2013 data), in...
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