DAI to Lead COAST Program to Improve Coastal Communities’ Climate Resilience

November 26, 2024

DAI is delighted to partner with the U.K. Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office on the Climate and Ocean Adaptation and Sustainable Transition (COAST) program to assist coastal communities to build resilience to climate change. The five-year program, which consists of several components, will focus on protecting and restoring coastal habitats, improving small-scale fisheries, scaling climate-smart aquaculture, and strengthening coastal planning and governance.

DAI will focus specifically on reforming policy and planning in key countries—initially Indonesia, Mozambique, the Philippines, and Vietnam—including supporting marine protection areas, scaling sustainable coastal tourism, and developing sustainable aquaculture. COAST will also oversee a grants program to help local organizations strengthen coastal stewardship and livelihoods, and it will provide demand-led support to other eligible countries to improve responsive coastal governance.

Marianne Teoh, Head of Marine Management (Global), at the United Kingdom’s Marine Management Organisation, will serve as COAST’s team lead. Teoh, a coastal and marine specialist, has more than a decade of international experience working as a researcher, senior manager, and program director at some of the world’s leading NGOs and research institutes, and within government.

In collaboration with consortium partners Blue Green Advisors, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Wildlife Conservation Society, and DEVLEARN, Teoh will lead DAI’s pioneering approach to coastal ecosystem management, combining local community empowerment with national reform and global advocacy.

COAST will advocate for systemic changes that enhance social equity, economic security, and environmental conservation—especially reforms that support vulnerable and excluded groups—by championing private sector initiatives, addressing regulatory constraints, incentivizing community ownership, and protecting important habitats such as mangroves, seagrasses, and coral reefs.

“Although the impacts of climate change are global, resilience starts with local communities,” said Teoh. “We’ll be working with some exceptional partners and an in-country team that brings to the project vital technical expertise and grounded, local knowledge. Championing a bottom-up approach to coastal resilience will lead to significant community impact while fostering more sustainable economic prosperity and coastal resilience.”