The Mediterranean coast is not simply a line separating land from sea. It is a connected system of wetlands, forests, rivers, aquifers, agricultural landscapes, cities, islands and marine ecosystems. What happens in a river basin or the wider coastal territory can eventually affect the coastline and the sea. This leads to an important principle: a coastal problem does not necessarily have a coastal solution.

Building coastal resilience therefore requires us to look beyond the shoreline.

This thinking is central to the ecosystem approach and Integrated Coastal Zone Management. The Mediterranean ICZM Protocol provides the legal foundation for putting it into practice, from protecting coastal ecosystems to developing integrated strategies and plans, and addressing natural hazards.

It is also the starting point of PAP/RAC’s publication, Nature-based Solutions for Adaptation to Climate Change in Different Coastal Typologies of the Mediterranean. The Mediterranean does not have one uniform coast, and Nature-based Solutions cannot be one-size-fits-all. Each intervention must respond to the ecosystem, the challenge and the local context, while recognising trade-offs and providing for long-term management.

Planning with nature from the start

Too often, Nature-based Solutions remain isolated pilot projects or enter the process only after the main development and investment decisions have already been made.

This needs to change.

If we want Nature-based Solutions to become mainstream, we need to bring them upstream—into the decisions where development is actually shaped.

When governments and municipalities plan responses to flooding, erosion, heat, water scarcity or wildfire, Nature-based Solutions should be considered from the beginning, alongside engineering and hybrid solutions.

Instead of asking: Where can we add a Nature-based Solution?

we should ask: How do we want this territory to develop—and what role can nature play in making it resilient?

This also requires stronger coordination. Coastal management, water management, spatial planning, biodiversity, agriculture, tourism and disaster-risk reduction are still too often addressed separately, although ecosystems and climate risks do not follow sectoral or administrative boundaries.

Investment decisions must also recognise nature’s wider value. Comparing a concrete wall with an ecosystem-based solution only through construction costs or a single protective function misses benefits such as biodiversity, water regulation, recreation, climate adaptation and livelihoods, as well as the need for long-term management.

Planning with nature does not mean replacing engineering with nature. It means asking from the start what natural, technical or combined measures can provide the most resilient response.

Wildfire: a test of integrated resilience

Wildfires show why this shift is urgent.

In coastal territories, their impacts extend far beyond the area burned. Fires can simultaneously threaten lives, settlements, infrastructure, tourism, agriculture, water resources and biodiversity. Afterwards, exposed slopes become vulnerable to erosion and landslides, while runoff carries ash, sediment, and pollutants toward rivers, beaches, and the sea.

One event can cascade through an entire coastal system.

We therefore need to invest not only in emergency response, but in prevention, preparedness and long-term landscape resilience. UNEP’s Fire Ready Formula calls for two-thirds of wildfire expenditure to go towards planning, prevention, preparedness and recovery, with one-third reserved for response.

Nature-based and landscape-management measures—from managed grazing and diverse landscape mosaics to healthy wetlands and well-managed vegetation—can contribute to more fire-resilient territories.

But working with nature also means understanding nature. More vegetation does not automatically mean greater resilience. Measures must reflect local conditions and natural fire regimes and avoid unintentionally increasing fuel loads or landscape flammability.

The direction is clear: we need to move from reacting to disasters towards managing risk and planning for resilience.

Resilient ecosystems, resilient communities

But resilience cannot be built through technical planning alone.

People who live and work in coastal territories hold knowledge, relationships, resources and capacities that are themselves part of resilience. Municipalities, scientists, businesses, landowners, civil society and local communities all hold part of what is needed to understand risks, navigate trade-offs and implement solutions.

Participation must therefore begin early enough to influence decisions—not after the main choices have already been made.

And resilience has an even more human dimension. History repeatedly teaches us that communities find their footing again not only individually, but by coming together. Shared natural and public spaces allow people to meet, exchange knowledge and resources, rebuild relationships and strengthen their capacity to respond.

Resilient territories need both healthy ecosystems and connected communities.

Nature. Connection. Action.

Coast Day 2026 is an opportunity to celebrate the potential of Nature-based Solutions—but also to ask how we move them from isolated interventions into the mainstream of Mediterranean coastal planning.

Three words capture the direction:

Nature—because it is not only something we need to protect. It is an essential part of the response to the challenges we face.

Connection—because our ecosystems are connected, our risks are connected, and resilience is not built in isolation, but together.

Action—because we have no more time to lose. And effective action begins with smart planning.

This Coast Day, let us move from repairing yesterday’s damage towards planning tomorrow’s resilience.

Let us plan earlier. Plan wider. Plan together. And above all, let us plan with nature.