CoastWise is a two-year project funded under the GIZ MeerWissen initiative that brings together five partner institutions from Germany and South Africa to improve the integrated assessment of South Africa’s land-sea interface. Its specific aim is to enhance the available knowledge base for informed decision-making, filling important knowledge gaps, translating this knowledge into formats that can be used in spatial management and building capacity in South Africa and the region. CoastWise aims to generate new data and knowledge on coastal ecosystems such as rocky shores and estuaries. It will use new and innovative technology such as high resolution remote sensing, drones and visual surveys, but also include a social science component to identify socio-cultural knowledge and values. Scientific results will be translated into new spatial layers that can be fed into GIS-based databases and maps where they can be used in decision-making.

Funded through a joint Belmont Forum-BiodivERsA Call, Land2Sea is a three-year project dedicated to the integrated modelling of consequences of terrestrial activities and climate change for freshwater and coastal marine biodiersity and ecosystem services. One of the work packages is dedicated to the consequences of changing biodiversity and ecosystem functioning for ecosystem services and economic, social and cultural benefits. Drawing on case studies in Dublin Bay, the St Lawrence estuary, the tidal part of the Elbe river, and Bohuslän, the WP seeks to characterise the various flows and dependencies between socioeconomic and cultural values and biodiversity, and determine the impacts of changes in biodiversity on these values.

SeaUseTip is a three-year project funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) titled "Spatial and temporal analysis of tipping points of the socio-ecological system of the German North Sea under different management scenarios". The work package "socio-ecological interaction" is concerned with the interrelations between ecological and economic tipping points and the socio-cultural sub-system. Focusing on North Sea fisheries and associated fishing cultures, the WP investigates the nature of socio-cultural tipping points: their points of origin, their scale and reversibility and how they could be avoided or mitigated, e.g. by means of management measures. The core of the WP is a transdisciplinary socio-cultural vulnerability analysis of German North Sea fisheries in the context of the wider marine (spatial) management framework.

The Marine Spatial Management and Governance Programme (MARISMA) focuses on implementing marine spatial planning (MSP) to promote sustainable ocean use in the Benguela Current region. The project is funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Building and Nuclear Safety (BMUB), BCC and its member states Namibia, Angola and South Africa, and implemented by the German Development Cooperation (GIZ) in partnership with the BCC. Expert support to promote the development of MSP at a national and regional level is provided through s.Pro-sustainable projects.

I have worked with s.Pro GmbH – sustainable projects as a project expert and consultant for more than 10 years. As a consultant, I have been involved in numerous MSP projects including PlanCoast, BaltSeaPlan, and PartiSEApate and have co-authored a number of key guiding documents such as the PlanCoast MSP handbook, the BaltSeaPlan Vision 2030 and the PartiSEApate recommendations on transboundary MSP governance.

Research as part of SeaUseTip, Land2Sea and CoastWise. Formerly research as part of the Baltspace project (www.baltspace.eu) which dealt with integration challenges of MSP.

Freelance professional conference interpreter for German and EnglishOrganisation of interpreter teams

Transboundary planning in the European Atlantic (www.tpeamaritime.eu)PartiSEApate - Multi-level governance in Maritime Spatial Planning throughout the Baltic Sea Region (www.partiseapate.eu)Research on seascapes

Fields of interest:- marine spatial planning- ecosystem services- governance in the marine environment- place, landscape and the seascapeSpecific projects:- BMBF funded research project "Zukunft Küste - Coastal Futures" - EU FP7 project "KnowSeas"- BaltSeaPlan

BMBF funded project "Zukunft Küste - Coastal Futures"National ICZM strategy for Germany