The 2021 report of the United Nation’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change stressed the urgency of drastically reducing human impact on the environment, including the goal of moving towards Net Zero. It draws specific attention to the effects of climate change and anthropogenic activities in marine and coastal environments. The Belgian coastline is the most densely populated, built-up and economically developed of the whole North Sea area, and as such presents a complex case for the variety of sustainability challenges that it faces.

That is why Flanders Innovation and Entrepreneurship (VLAIO), through its Blue Cluster programme, has recently funded the transdisciplinary BLUE BALANCE project (2022-2025) in which Ghent University takes the lead. BLUE BALANCE aims to enlarge public engagement and participation in the sustainability transition at the Belgian coast, now and in the future. The project focusses on analysing, understanding and advancing social licence to operate for sustainability actions, related to climate change, human-sea interaction and various sectors of the blue economy, including on- and offshore energy, blue food, development for sustainable living, coastal defence and tourism. BLUE BALANCE is an unprecedented collaboration of sciences on this topic, bringing together marine biologists, archaeologists, historians, environmental psychologists and communication specialists. It is a truly transdisciplinary match of knowledge institutions, leading businesses and policy makers.

More information: https://www.ugent.be/marine/en/partnerships/bluebalance