Coastal communities both benefit from and are threatened by the marine environment. Coastal flooding was one of the highest on the UK government’s risk register in 2017. Over 1.8 million homes are at risk of coastal flooding and erosion in England alone.

Extreme events already have very significant impacts at the coast, with the damage due to coastal flooding. Coastal hazards will be increasing over the next century primarily driven by unavoidable sea level rise. At the same time, the UK is committed to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Co-Opt is a £1.6M research collaboration between the NOC, Cranfield University, the University of Liverpool and the University of St Andrews that focuses on scalable and adaptive approaches to support coastal and shoreline management in partnership with regional, national, and local stakeholders. The project is part of the Sustainable Management of UK Marine Resources (SMMR) programme.

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