COAST-SCAPES researchers will work alongside local authorities and residents to future-proof vulnerable coastal communities worldwide.
RMIT researchers are part of COAST-SCAPES, a new four-year European funded project aiming to make coasts and cities more resilient against the negative impacts of climate change.
The global research team will apply a transdisciplinary approach to co-design a range of data-driven nature-based-solutions to reduce climatic risks in land-sea environments.
COAST-SCAPES will study three core pilot sites, including Mar Menor in the south-east of Spain, where interactions between the land, coast and sea are subject to biodiversity loss and pressures of human population and infrastructure burdens.
Researchers will examine water management techniques to identify examples of state-of-the-art practices and governance methods that can be replicated and scaled to improve resilience elsewhere.
There will also be a focus on how to mobilise public and private stakeholders early on to proactively mitigate climate risks in vulnerable coastal areas.
Resilience solutions will be monitored, and new standards and business models created, to counter unfavourable climate and human stressors at the target sites.
Professor Vincent Pettigrove and Dr Jackie Myers from RMIT's School of Science will lead tasks on water quality analysis and evaluation, the co-design of resilience solutions, and contribute to the creation of training modules.
RMIT will also lead the network pilot in Western Port Bay, a large semi-enclosed body of water in southern Victoria, to trial options that improve resilience against erratic weather patterns.
One of the project's replicating pilots will be the delta region of the Ebro River in Catalonia in Spain - a zone facing water management challenges due to complicated governance systems and pressures related to agricultural activities.
In this region, the RMIT team will look at water contamination and how to maximise the reuse of water for multiple purposes, according to Pettigrove.
"Besides improving water quality, being able to reuse water is a major focus, both in Victoria and Catalonia," he said.
"Our unique role in COAST-SCAPES will involve using new technologies to receive water samples from around the world and analyse them in the one lab."
"We are looking forward to collaborating with partners across Europe, Africa, Asia and South America to enhance the preparedness of coastal authorities and local communities to face current and future climatic changes," Pettigrove said.
RMIT Europe has been awarded €251,650 to participate in COAST-SCAPES, with a postdoctoral fellow to be appointed in early 2026 to carry out work on toxicants and managing water reuse.
RMIT and RMIT Europe join an international consortium coordinated by BarcelonaTech (Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya).
The rethinking COASTal landSCAPES with climate-resilient interventions: systemic land-to-sea solutions (COAST-SCAPES) project is funded by Horizon Europe and kicks off in October 2025.
Partners: BarcelonaTech (Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya) (coordinator), RMIT Europe, Eurecat, Fundación Nueva Cultura del Agua, Medidas Adaptación Costera Sostenible, GeoEcoMar, Consortium for coordination research activities Venice lagoon system, National Institute of Oceanography and Applied Geophysics, Euro-Mediterranean Center on Climate Change, Scottish Association for Marine Science, University of Aveiro, Pensoft Publishers, Ludwig-Maximilians-University of Munich, NLWKN- Coastal Research Center, Universiade Save, Universidad del Norte, Mohammed I University, Universite Assane Seck de Ziguinchor, Global Climate Forum, Helmholtz-Zentrum Hereon, Odesa I.I. Mechnikov National University, International Center of Coastal Resources Research, Can Tho University, Provveditorato Interreg. Opere Pubbliche, Min. delle Infrastr. e Transp, Institute of Marine Science, CSIC, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, World Wide Fund for Nature (Romania), World Wide Fund for Nature (Spain)
Associate partners: RMIT University, Ministry of Ecological Transition and Demographic Challenge, Portuguese Environmental Agency
