Observational Needs for Sustainable Coastal Prediction and Management

Abstract

The urgency of actions needed for avoiding the tipping points in the functioning of the Earth System is now becoming more and more obvious (Lovelock, 2009). The main objective here is to highlight the observational needs for regional Earth System predictions and projections, where such predictions and projections are assumed a priori as the main decision-making tools for sustainable management of the Earth System. This is especially so in the context of coastal zones since ever increasing migrations to the coastal zone are having unique and unprecedented impacts on the Earth System. Prediction in this context carries a closer correspondence to reality than projection with an intrinsically larger uncertainty in the latter. I will focus on regional Earth System prediction keeping in mind that coastal zones are but a specific application of this concept. I will thus use the sustainable coastal management and adaptive management of a regional Earth System interchangeably.