The Ocean and Coastal Policy Center at UCSB Email Formats

About The Ocean and Coastal Policy Center at UCSB

The coast is a place of profound beauty, complex ecology, and immense social value. It is also a place where we struggle to contain the impacts of increasing human use, pollution, and development. And with the threat of global climate change, our desire to protect the coast now frames a more fundamental, existential question: how can we live sustainably, and equitably, in the face of unprecedented environmental change? UC Santa Barbara’s Ocean and Coastal Policy Center (OCPC) is tackling this question by engaging some of our most pressing coastal policy challenges: adapting to sea level rise, assuring universal shoreline access, and protecting the coast's unique ecology. Working at the intersection of coastal stewardship, governance, and justice, OCPC provides expert science and policy analysis to governments, NGOs, and citizens working for sustainability and equity along our coasts. The OCPC is part of UCSB’s Marine Science Institute, where it seeks to leverage the extensive expertise of the University’s marine and coastal science faculty and programs, as well as the adjacent Bren School of Environmental Management and UCSB’s Environmental Studies Program, one of the nation’s first undergraduate programs in interdisciplinary environmental studies. With the recent appointment of Dr. Charles Lester as OCPC Director, the Center is developing projects addressing coastal resilience, the protection of public trust lands, and examining the legacy of California coastal protection. Dr. Lester is also advising conservationists and working with faculty at Catholic University in Santiago, Chile, as part of the Chile California Conservation Exchange, bringing knowledge and experience from California coastal management to the mission to promote sound coastal management of Chile's coast.

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