It's our 4th Birthday today and what a 4 years it has been! 9 of March 2018 was the day the Center for Coastal and Marine Studies (CCMS) was officially established. We have accomplished so much, but the best is yet to come!
CCMS was born with the fundamental goal of developing and promoting science, research, knowledge transfer, and innovation technologies in the Black Sea and in the World Ocean by bringing together science, environment, expertise, stakeholders and policy making.
Our activities comprise a vast range of coastal and marine research (studies and surveys in the field of modern coastal and marine processes), as well as support to the implementation of the EU coastal and maritime Strategies and Directives (MSP, ICZM, Blue and Circular Economy, Blue Growth, European Green Deal, etc.), by developing scientific basis and providing knowledge and expertise, project participation, networking and consultancy.
CCMS is directly advised by Advisory Committee (AC), which involves seventeen distinguished and outstanding scientists and experts from different institutes, universities and organizations all around the globe (Australia, Belgium, Greece, Columbia, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Poland, Romania, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom and USA). For more information on AC members explore the section for AC on our webpage: http://www.ccms.bg/en/about-ccms/advisory-committee.
We have started just four years ago with working on coastal and marine science and research, and we have contributed a lot to several project consortiums for developing large EU project proposals under different programmes and frameworks (one of these is soon to start and more info will come in the next months).
CCMS has been a partner in the European Commission` DG MARE MARSPLAN-BS II Project (funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund) and coordinated by the Bulgarian Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works. The project supports the coherent, cross-sectoral Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) in Bulgaria and Romania under the framework of MSP Directive 2014/89/EU towards a long-lasting mechanism for the Black Sea cross-border cooperation on MSP. The CCMS`s role in the project is leading the implementation of activities on integration of Land-Sea Interactions (LSI) into MSP and addressing the Multi Use (MU) concept with MSP, reports on best practices and recommendations for LSI, and a case study on MU in the cross-border region. We have taken active participation at all MARSPLAN-BS II Steering Committee Meetings and Advisory Board Meetings, seminars and thematic workshops, and at the Final MARSPLAN-BS II conference.
Find our project deliverables, results, reports and events presentations on the MARSPLAN-BS II webpage: http://www.marsplan.ro/en/
CCMS experts were involved in developing baseline analysis (diagnostic) and policy recommendations for Integrated Blue Economy Development Framework for Bulgaria in the context of the Common Maritime Agenda for the Black Sea, developed by the World Bank in Bulgaria. CCMS expert was involved as a key ecology expert leading a project team charged with the implementation of the environmental part in the Maritime Spatial Plan of Bulgaria under the coordination of the Bulgarian Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works (Competent MSP Authority) and the National Centre for Regional Development.
Follow the published policy note in English and Bulgarian, as well as the Story Map on the World Bank website:
https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/750341608100452940/main-report
https://arcg.is/0Lqymv
Although the second disruptive year we have been through due to the Covid-19 pandemic, we have organized, participated and undertaken a lot of online outreach activities. This included organization of EGU2021 Geomorphology Session (online format): Coastal Zone Geomorphological Interactions: Natural versus Human-Induced Driving Factors (sponsored by the Commission on Coastal Systems to the International Geographical Union) by CCMS Director Dr. Margarita Stancheva together with our AC members: Dr. Andreas Baas, Prof. Giorgio Anfuso, Dr. Hannes Tonisson and Dr. Guillaume Brunier.
And organization of a session convened by the Commission on Coastal Systems (CCS) of the International Geographical Union (IGU), chairing by Prof. Colin Woodrofe and Dr. Margarita Stancheva: "Sustaining Coastal and Marine Environments in the Anthropocene" at the 34th International Geographical Congress with a theme "Geography: bridging the continents", that took place between 16-20 August 2021 in Istanbul, Turkey.
And compiling and editing the July 2021 and January 2022 Newsletters of the CCS-IGU by CCMS Director Dr. Margarita Stancheva (CCS Secretary and Newsletter Editor) and CCMS AC member Prof. Norbert Psuty (Newsletter Co-editor, Rutgers University, US).
A coastal field trip was carried out in June 2021 along the 432 km Bulgarian Black Sea coast focused to determine scenic sensitivity to natural processes and human pressure. In total, 16 sites respectively located in Burgas (9), Varna (3) and Dobrich (4) districts were field-tested during May and June (2021). The study was performed in collaboration between University of Cadiz and Center for Coastal and Marine Studies under a Ph.D. project: “Sensitive coastal beauty: an innovative approach to assess scenic sensibility to human and natural processes, in a Climate Change context, at very attractive sites along the coasts of Italy, Balearic Islands (Spain), Northern France and Bulgaria”.
We have published several new peer reviewed research papers:
• Coastal erosion driven Land-Sea Interactions in Maritime Spatial Planning - a case of Bulgaria (Journal of Coastal Conservation), in collaboration with Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines (PSDS), Western Carolina University, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11852-021-00841-4
• Supporting multi-use of the sea with Maritime Spatial Planning. The case of a multi-use opportunity development - Bulgaria, Black Sea, (Marine Policy Journal), in collaboration with University of Gdansk, Poland; National Research Council (CNR), Institute of Marine Sciences (ISMAR), Venice, Italy; and Marine Scotland - Marine Planning and Policy, Scottish Government, Scotland, UK, https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0308597X21005388
• Most Attractive Scenic Sites of the Bulgarian Black Sea Coast: Characterization and Sensitivity to Natural and Human Factors (Land Journal, Special Issue: Land Modifications and Impacts on Coastal Areas), in collaboration with: Department of Science and Technology (DiST), Parthenope University, Naples, Italy; Faculty of Marine and Environmental Sciences, University of Cádiz, Spain; and Department of Architecture, Computing and Engineering, University of Wales, Swansea, UK, https://www.mdpi.com/2073-445X/11/1/70
Follows us on:
Social media: https://web.facebook.com/ccms.bg/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/CCMSBG
At the end, in celebrating our Fourth Birthday we take the moment to warmly thank all our AC members, colleagues and friends for their help and courage to join us along the way, and for their continuing support and great collaboration during the past four years!
LET`S WISH US A VERY HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND MANY MORE YEARS OF SUCCESS AHEAD!