The coast is filled with profound beauty, complex ecology, and immense social value. But it is also a place where we struggle with the impacts of increasing human use, pollution, and development. And with global climate change upon us, our desires to protect the coast now frame 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 engaging this question by tackling 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, the OCPC provides expert policy science and analysis to government, NGOs, and citizens working for sustainability and equity along our coasts.
The OCPC is part of UCSB’s Marine Science Institute, where it leverages the extensive expertise of the University’s marine and coastal science faculty and programs, the 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 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 an effort to promote the sound coastal management of Chile's coast.
