Urban Ocean and island ecosystems are complex socio-ecological systems where ocean processes and human activities interface in ways that make them particularly vulnerable to environmental change and disconnected or inadequate governance frameworks. Increasing urbanization, climate change and other anthropogenically enhanced pressures from land and sea, and global economic and energy demands, have significantly altered these coastal systems at various scales: modified water and sediment management; rigid coastal structures; habitat degradation from increased nutrients, plastic, and light pollution, rising sea levels, contaminants, and invasive species. The time-integrated effect of these combined threats on our coastal ecosystems, and the people that depend on it for their well-being is unknown. Aligned with the Ocean Decade's vision of "the science we need for the ocean we want", this session aims to catalyze transformative approaches by convening researchers and practitioners across oceanography, marine ecology, economics, anthropology, and governance that consider physical, social, and ecological urban ocean and island settings, dynamics, and impacts from land, river and sea; explore related issues of social and environmental justice, economics, and energy; and bring together perspectives that break down long-embedded barriers between the sciences and societal actors to design sustainable multi-jurisdictional governance systems suited for current and future challenges.

• Climate and Ocean Change -
• Education, Public Engagement, and Arts -
• Physical-Biological Interactions -