| Emerald Growth (EG) is a conceptual framework for the sustainable development of coastal transitional ecosystems, in ecological, social, economic and management terms. EG encompasses the concepts of Green Growth, Blue Growth and sustainable development and the ecosystem approach to the management of transitional waters, e.g. lagoons, fjords, estuaries, rias, etc.
EG is defined as an overarching concept to address these issues within a broader river basin, coastal and marine interacting framework. It relies on the ability to deliver coherence and equivalence in environmental management of transitional waters between areas and across boundaries. Hence it considers the benefits from both socio-economy and the natural structure and functioning dependent on the connectivity between the transitional waterbody and its adjoining catchment and marine/coastal areas.
It reflects the fact that such transitional system functioning relies on their connectivity with the marine and coastal system on the one hand and the catchment and river basin on the other. It also encompasses the concepts of unbounded boundaries, in which ecological features relate to large spatial scales, and moving baselines, thereby considering climate change of medium and long time-scales.
These in turn support the Emerald economy as the sum total and outcome of managing the production and consumption processes by natural and socio-economic systems and assets throughout the catchment-transitional waters-coasts-seas continuum.
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