There is now an abundance of evidence of the importance of coastal systems as the land-sea interface, creating specific habitats and ecosystems and as a favoured location for human settlement, taking advantage of the many system services available (ecological, land/seascape, access, etc.). This has created complex socio-eco-geomorphological interactions and a high demand to adapt human activity to improve the inherent resilience of the collective system, especially in-the-face of the challenges that arise from climate change. As we pointed out in our Editorial to launch Anthropocene Coasts (Gao and Townend, 2018), human activities dominate over many of the natural processes that used to exclusively shape our coastal regions. Coastal development and especially major infrastructure, create fixed points on the coast, urban areas discharge large volumes of waste into the sea, coastal ecosystems are squeezed out of existence, or have to compete with invasive species, and coastal communities are facing hazards of increasing severity. These are just some of the pressures and, taking a broader, long-term view in the face of global changes to the climate, there is now a well-defined need to develop methods of adaptation that increase the resilience of these systems. Such adaptation may need to develop the capacity to cope, incrementally change activities and usage, or be more transformative, radically rethinking how a community exists at, or close to, the coast.

The pace of mitigation to reduce the impacts of climate change continues to be derailed by events and competing interests around the world. The likelihood of meeting proposed targets, agreed by World leaders, continues to diminish. There is therefore now a widely accepted need to plan and implement adaptation plans, in parallel with attempts to accelerate reductions in CO2 emissions. Such changes are needed on a decadal timescale, which is extremely short, with many large-scale developments, especially major infrastructure, having timelines to implementation of at least one or two decades. This is made more challenging by the “lock-in” that the existing built environment can impose (or be perceived to impose).

For these issues to be addressed constructively, and thereby not simply embedding new problems for future generations to solve, there is a need for a continued focus on the science, engineering, management, legal and policy that can support beneficial adaptation. As originally stated, the focus of launch Anthropocene Coasts is on studies across this broad spectrum of research that is needed to underpin positive change and avoid mal-adaptation. We envisage that much of the research needed will be multidisciplinary, bringing together a better understanding of the processes within the complex and highly dynamic coastal system and the implications for the 5 Capitals (Natural, Social, Human, Financial, Manufactured). The research needed may be in the form of new insights, improved understanding, new or better procedures and data sets that can underpin better decision making.

We therefore continue to seek submissions that report high-quality data sets, whether local, regional or global; new methods and techniques; lessons learned from past initiatives; and developments in coastal policy, planning and management. We especially welcome submissions that examine the links between the natural sciences, coastal communities and socio-economic activity.

As the editors of the journal, we encourage coastal researchers to publish their findings in Anthropocene Coasts. We are especially keen to receive submissions that contribute to the development of a new theoretical framework, or methods, for examining Anthropocene dynamics in terms of a set of governing equations that combine natural and anthropogenic processes. We anticipate that advanced techniques will also be needed to maintain or enhance the ecological and environmental conditions for future human societies, in terms of the space and material resources, clean water, air and soil, healthy ecosystems, green coastal defence engineering and the many forms of nature based solutions.

The goals outlined above imply a number of challenges. Firstly, the traditional theory of dynamics based on the continuity and momentum equations are insufficient to quantify the effect of human activities. There is a need to characterize and formally represent these effects in terms of the generation and transfer of information and/or energy, incorporating important feedbacks and thresholds of the dynamic components. Artificial intelligence and data driven methods are likely to play an important role in any such modeling systems. Secondly, the system behaviour of the future coastal areas will be different as the natural world and human needs adapt. For instance, sea dykes against storm surges represent a significant engineering achievement under the present conditions, but they may have to be modified into “green sea dykes” to cope with future climate and sea level changes, for both economic and environmental reasons. Therefore, the scientific basis of these new solutions, especially those characterized as Nature Based Solutions, should be improved. Finally, any scientific understanding needs to be transformed into management policies and adaptation actions. For the increasingly squeezed coastal areas, due to population growth, concentration of economic activity and climate change, exemplary cases become urgent. They demonstrate how the resources for further development can be used to best effect, whilst also securing ecosystem health, which is essential if, globally, we are to work towards living in greater harmony with the natural world.

We are looking forward to receiving your reports on the progress in these new research fields for publication in Anthropocene Coasts.