Land Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone Project

Since 1993, the IGBP project "Land-Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone (LOICZ)" has studied Earth's heterogeneous, relatively small but highly productive, dynamic and sensitive coastal zone. During its first decade of research, LOICZ focused on the measurement of biogeochemical fluctuations into, and within, the coastal zone. Now in its third year as a joint IGBP/IHDP core project, LOICZ has evolved into an interdisciplinary collaborative effort of several hundred coastal zone scientists and managers within a wide spectrum of Earth System Sciences, from biochemical and geophysical to social and economic dimensions. With its primary objective "to provide the knowledge, understanding and prediction needed to allow coastal communities to assess, anticipate and respond to the interaction of global and local pressures which determine coastal change", LOICZ is an important promoter of interdisciplinary coastal zone research around the globe.

Value added by LOICZ to the multiple globally executed individual scientific activities and the scientific community in general is largely in its interdisciplinary capacity. By bringing together leading scientists of a variety of areas in coastal research as part of a regular implementation strategy LOICZ fulfills its mandate to mainstream future scientific directions and to provide a forum for development of cutting edge research questions. This is orchestrated in a way that disciplinary experts are explicitly encouraged to cross traditional boundaries and foster integrative research on coastal change and human dimensions. As a result of this continued scientific discourse, LOICZ enables and harmonizes research that aims to provide the answers to the key questions as part of its implementation.

Aiming to overcome traditional disciplinary fragmentation, in particular between natural and social sciences, LOICZ organizes the biochemical, geophysical and human dimensions of coastal change around five scientific themes and three priority topics and cross-cutting activities.

LOICZ Scientific Themes

• Vulnerability of Coastal Systems and Hazards to Society
• Implications of Global Change for Coastal Ecosystems and Sustainable Development
• Human Influences on the River Basin Coastal Zone Interactions
• Biogeochemical Cycles in Coastal and Shelf
• Towards Coastal system Sustainability by Managing Land-Ocean Interaction

LOICZ has set up Priority Topics in order to improve the process of information synthesis as well as to keep LOICZ flexible in its scientific focus. Currently, the three Priority Topics are:

• Linking Social and Ecological Systems in the Coastal Zone
• Assessing and Predicting Impact of Environmental Change on Coastal Ecosystems
• Linking Governance and Science in Coastal Regions
More information can be found at the LOICZ website at www.loicz.org

Project Goals The main goal of LOICZ is to provide te knowledge, understanding and prediction needed to allow coastal communities to assess, anticipate and respond to the interaction of global change and local pressures which determine coastal change

Science Plan: Land Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone Download English Version More Information

Project Website

www.loicz.org

Land Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone

International Project Office
GKSS Research
Center, Institute
for Coastal Research
Max-Plank-Str. 1
D-21502 Geesthacht
Germany
Tel: +49 (0)4152 87 2009
Fax: +49 (0)4152 87 2040

Executive Officer

Hartwig Kremer
loicz.ipo@loicz.org

Senoir Science Coordinator

Juergen Weichselgartner
loicz.ipo@loicz.org