Water, Coasts and Ocean

The importance of water cannot be overstated – no life is possible without it. But both freshwater and the ocean face growing and unsustainable pressure from climate change and human activities. The Water, Coasts and Ocean team focuses on how these challenges can be addressed, exploring integrated planning of water, coasts, and marine areas. Our research improves the understanding of ocean governance, climate adaptation, the blue economy, energy production and many other complex issues.

The team’s current priorities fall into three main areas:

One water. How can we foster effective water governance that reflects the connection between surface water, groundwater, coasts, and the ocean?
Blue economy. How can we build a sustainable blue economy in an era of environmental degradation and growing competition for resources?
Resilient infrastructure. How can we ensure that societies and infrastructure can cope with water-related risks triggered by climate change?

The diverse and multidisciplinary nature of the team allows us to tackle a range of issues from the source to the sea. Here you can learn more about the team’s members, areas of expertise and current projects. Don’t hesitate to contact us if you want to know more or discuss potential collaboration.

The One Water approach recognizes that there is only one water cycle, connecting surface water, groundwater, coasts and the ocean. The team has studied how water can be governed and managed more holistically, beyond traditional sectoral boundaries. This includes a broad range of approaches, including climate change adaptation, nature-based solutions, biodiversity conservation, and resource circularity.

Solutions are developed through research as well as co-creation and innovation, for example in projects like Resilient Coasts – Caribbean Sea, Beatles, Water Reuse in Moldova (Green Agenda for Georgia, Ukraine, Moldova and Armenia), Water Wise Societies and Communication SDGs 6, 13 and 14 on Wikipedia.

Many innovative ideas and technologies developed by coastal regions and islands should be scaled up to tackle emerging risks from sea-level rise and environmental degradation.

Around the world, interest is growing in the Blue Economy, where the ocean, coasts and water offer services and resources. Traditional sectors like fishing and shipping are complemented by a rise in marine energy production and novel uses where scarcity of land can make it attractive to move previously land-based activities off-shore. Yet these many competing interests create new risks, ranging from human conflicts to declining ocean health which endangers critical ecosystem services.

The Water, Coasts and Ocean team helps further our understanding of this fast-growing challenge, including new ways to address it. Focus areas include how to create a business model for nature-based solutions, the role of the ocean for energy production, and how multifunctionality and gridless solutions can enhance coastal resilience.

Together with local partners, we test ideas and solutions in living labs and co-creation projects like Resilient Coasts – Caribbean Sea, Innovacuba, Mistra Co-Creating Better Blue, Mistra Geopolitics, the SEI Initiative on Gridless Solutions, Sustainable Fisheries in Thailand, and our collaboration with the China Council.

Critical infrastructure is at risk when climate change triggers sea level rise, storms, and floods. The Water, Coasts and Ocean team studies emerging threats and cascading impacts on societies and different social groups, not least in coastal areas. Our research shows the consequences of aging and insufficient infrastructure but also how decision-makers can assess different kinds of vulnerabilities.

The HydroHazard project contributes to Sweden’s efforts to reduce disaster risks by providing a better understanding of multiple water hazards and dangerous domino effects. The RISKSEC project studies how four different European municipalities approach climate change adaptation. The Gridless Initiative follows the development of new forms of technology like marine multiuse platforms and gridless solutions, which can be used to create more diverse and resilient services. The project Hydro-climatic hazard, risk, and crisis management in Sweden (CrisAct) provides a comprehensive science-based framework to protect society against droughts, floods, and heat waves.