Coastal zones are areas of particular ecological, social, and economic value where many conflicting interests need to be resolved in order to ensure a sustainable development of this highly complex environment. Humanity has always shown a special interest in the coastal zone and a large fraction of the human population traditionally settles in or close to the coastal zone. Recent increases in coastal urban population and changes in land-use practices have led to rapid and large changes in sediment supplies and increases in nutrient, pollutant and pathogen loadings to coastal waters. Climate-induced changes in sea level are likely to increase the risk of inundation in many parts of the coastal zone. The on-going and anticipated changes pose serious risks to human health and the capacity of ecosystems to support products and services critical to the survival and well being of human populations, in developed and developing nations alike.

The Coastal Zone Community of Practice (CZCP) supports the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) in its goal to provide observations required for informed decisions concerning the coastal zone. High and immediate priorities for GEOSS are improved forecasts of sea-level rise and associated increases in coastal inundation that may be exacerbated by increases in the frequency of extreme weather.

The IGOS-P Coastal Zone Theme Report: The Theme Report provides the basis for the work of the GEO Coastal Zone Community of Practice.

If you are new to the CZCP and are considering to join, start by reading the Theme Report ...

More about the CZCP, who we are, what we do, and why we do it, is available here.

If you have questions, want to express your interest, become a member/contributor, or have relevant information, please go to "You & the CZCP" or contact the Co-Chairs.


Position Announcements:

There are currently no open positions.

Important Links:

The CZCP is engaged in the GEO Initiative GI-07 “Oceans and Society — Blue Planet.” Main focus of the CZCP contribution is on “Services for the Coastal Zone.” For more information, see the description in the GEO Work Programme or the Blue Planet home page.

The CZCP is engaged in the RCN Ocean Obs.

The CZCP works with the Partnership for Observations of the Global Oceans (POGO).

The CZCP commends the activities related to SeaOrbiter.


Latest News:

[30 May 2016] Announcement of the 3rd Blue Planet Symposium now available: The 3rd Blue Planet Symposium will take place at the NOAA Center for Weather and Climate Prediction in College Park, MD, USA. For more information see the announcement.

[29 April 2016] The 3rd Blue Planet Symposium will take place in the U.S>: The 3rd Blue Planet Symposium has been scheduled for June 6-8, 2017 and will take place in the U.S. in the Washington, D.C., area.

[12 November 2015] GEO GI-08 Oceans and Society: Blue Planet included in the 2016 GEO Work Programme: The GEO Plenary held on November 11-12, 2015 in Mexico City endorsed the 2016 GEO Work Programme, which includes the GEO Initiative GI-07 “Oceans and Society: Blue Planet”. This Initiative evolved out of the thematic tasks SB-01 “Oceans and Society: Blue Planet” in the 2011-2015 GEO Work Plan.

[18 September 2015] USGS releases new tool for water quality: USGS has released a new tool usefull to predict pesticides in streams and rivers and to address the question where water quality might be at risk. See the press release and the Watershed Regression for Pesticides (WARP).

[29 May 2015] CZCP contributed to 2nd Blue Planet Symposium: The co-chairs of the CZCP chaired several sessions at the 2nd Blue Planet Symposium held on May 27-29, 2015 in Cairns, Australia, where progress, status, and future plans for several of the priority activities in Task Components 2 (for the CZCP, specifically, a mangrove monitoring service) and Component 4 (for the CZCP, specifically, interannual to decadal sea level forecasting, coastal water quality, and a global coastal zone information system) were discussed. The presentations given by the co-chairs are available for CZCP overview (keynotes, powerpoint), interannual to decadal sea level forecasting (keynotes, powerpoint), global coastal zone information system (keynotes, powerpoint), mangrove monitoring (keynotes, powerpoint), and Research Coordination Network OceanObs (keynotes, powerpoint).

[30 April 2014] Joint meeting of CZCP, SB-01, and RCN Ocean Obs: A joint meeting of the The CZCP, the GEO Task SB-01 “Oceans and Society: Blue Planet”, and the RCN Ocean Obs was held during the EGU Meeting in Vienna. For more deatils, see workshop page ...

[17 January 2014] CZCP Supports Component of GEO Task SB-01: The CZCP proposed a new Task Component for the GEO Task SB-01 “Oceans and Society: Blue Planet” focusing on services for the coastal zone. The new component was accepted by the GEO Plenary held in Geneva and is now part of the GEO Work Plan. For more information, see the Work Plan and the Task Sheet ...

[15 January 2014] Joint Meeting of CZCP and GEO Task SB-01 took place: A joint meeting of the CZCP and the GEO Task SB-01 “Oceans and Society: Blue Planet” was held in conjunction with the GEO Plenary in Geneva, Switerland, on January 13, 2014. For more information, see the Meeting Page ...

[15 November 2013] CZCP presented at Conference in Nigeria: The recent developments of the CZCP, including the new contributions to the GEO Task SB-01 “Oceans and Society: Blue Planet” were presented at the International Conference on Oceanography, held at the University of Calabar, Nigeria, 12 - 14 NOVEMBER 2013. See the ppt or read the abstract ...

[11 October 2013] Sea Level Rise Community of Practice established: A Sea Level Rise Community of Practice (SLRCoP) has been established and it has been proposed that the SLRCoP is included in the list of the GEO Communities of Practice. For details see the SLRCoP web page ...


Last edited 02 December 2016.