Abstract

Coastal ecosystems are vital to the health of our planet. They provide essential services such as food, protection from storms, and carbon sequestration, while also serving as valuable habitats for a diverse range of marine species. However, coastal areas face numerous threats from human activities, including overfishing, habitat destruction, pollution, and climate change. To address these challenges effectively, it is crucial to adopt a holistic approach that considers both the ecological and human dimensions of coastal systems. This is where Coastal Human Ecology (CHE) comes into play, offering a valuable perspective for marine conservation. Coastal human ecology (CHE) is a mixture of different theoretical and thematic approaches straddling between the humanities and social and natural sciences which studies human and coastal/marine interactions at the local-scale and through intense fieldwork. Topics of interest include human coastal adaptations past and present; the historical ecology of fisheries and future implications; local forms of marine governance and economic systems; local food security and livelihoods, and indigenous/local ecological knowledge systems among many research themes.