Marine litter is a worldwide issue affecting local communities with increasing environmental and economic impacts, with Single-Use-Plastic (SUP) pollution being of specific concern. The tourism industry has been identified as one of the major sector contributing to marine plastic pollution therefor in need to take urgent actions. Small islands are particularly vulnerable and need locally adapted strategies to effectively tackle this issue. This study proposes the use of a participative system-based approach to co-design, with local stakeholders, a roadmap tackling Single-Use-Plastic (SUP) in the hospitality industry of small Greek touristic islands. Policy, industry, civil society and academia representatives were involved in a participative co-creation process to co-identify the best mix of policy instruments and innovations (social and technological) adapted to the local island context, capable of reducing plastic consumption and littering in the island while fostering behavioural change (from consumers and local businesses perspective). Results show the lack of knowledge and awareness, the limited financial resources and expertise, and the low efficiency of the waste management system as the main challenges. A roadmap of short and mid-term actions, based on the Circular Economy reduce, reuse, recycle principles was co-developed, including raising awareness campaigns across stakeholder groups, positive economic incentives, development of capacity building and partnerships within the quadruple helix (academia, business, public authorities and civil society representatives), forming the basis of the municipal island free SUP strategy. The active involvement of public and private actors as well as the civil society, empowering local actors and developing trust across stakeholder groups are key factors to develop a successful strategy able to tackle plastic pollution locally. Pilot experiments also proved to be a determinant for the adoption of sustainable solutions in the context of small islands.

Evidence on the efficacy of impacts from real-world experiments in triggering transformative processes is still scarce. This study evaluates multi-actor labs to provide examples of direct impacts of real-world experiments in tackling long-standing, local, sustainability challenges. Multi-actor labs (MALs), a form of real-world social experiments, were implemented in three coastal-rural regions in France (Charente River Basin), Spain (Mar Menor), and Greece (South-West Messinia) to better assess and tackle coastal-rural interactions that govern local sustainability challenges, such as water use conflicts and biodiversity degradation. The MALs used participative methodologies based on systems thinking and transition management. Stakeholders were continuously engaged in a series of workshops to co-produce knowledge, reach a common understanding of the sustainability challenges and issues at stake, and co-design solutions in the form of a roadmap for sustainable transitions in coastal-rural regions. This paper evaluates MALs to provide examples of successful sustainability transition experiments based on the outputs produced, outcomes achieved, and processes used in the three coastal, rural regions.

The Black Sea is often regarded as one of the most degraded large marine ecosystems (LMEs) in the world. It faces numerous challenges, including eutrophication, overfishing, pollution, habitat destruction, and the introduction of invasive species. This already vulnerable ecosystem is under further pressure from the ongoing military conflict in the region. The Black Sea is also characterized by low environmental data availability, resulting in limited options to quantitatively study stressor-response dynamics and increased need for methods that can draw from qualitative systems understanding. Resilience research is growing globally but remains underrepresented in the Black Sea region, especially with regards to qualitative assessments.The focus of this research is to advance the ecosystem service (ES) resilience assessment approach, within the context of multiple simultaneously acting social and ecological stressors as relevant in the Black Sea. We identify if specific ES are resilient or not and reveal regional characteristics and mechanisms that either contribute towards resilience or against it. We also contribute towards methodological development by combining qualitative (e.g., expert knowledge) and quantitative data in resilience assessments. Such new approaches are especially valuable in the Black Sea region, where little monitoring data is available for several study locations and ecosystem services. A key component of the research is the application of Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA), a method that uses Boolean algebra and fuzzy set theory to identify configurations of conditions linked to specific outcomes.The findings have positive implications for the region and beyond, providing insights into ES resilience in other marine ecosystems. This study is conducted in cooperation with local stakeholders, fostering sustainable practices through community engagement. By identifying features that enhance or hinder ES resilience, this research can inform future marine spatial planning efforts. This research also underscores the value of continuous collaboration with experts from Black Sea riparian countries and leveraging local knowledge to address environmental challenges particularly in cases where data availability is low.

The Ocean, with its distinctive habitats and bountiful resources serves as a crucial asset for coastal communities. However, it faces mounting threats from various anthropogenic stressors, including pollution, eutrophication, overfishing, invasive species, biodiversity decline. Concurrently, national strategies are being implemented to boot the Blue Economy, which relies heavily on the proper functioning of marine ecosystem services which depend on the good environmental status of marine biodiversity. This underscores the pressing need to prioritize actions aimed at nurturing healthy, resilient, and productive marine ecosystems. In response to these challenges, the BRIDGE-BS project engaged local stakeholders at the science-policy-society interface, including public and private representatives of blue economy sectors, academia and NGOs, from the coastal Black Sea regions in a collaborative effort to develop transformative pathways for fostering a sustainable blue economy. Employing a goal-oriented, interactive system-wide approach, the project facilitated the co-production of knowledge and co-design of interventions geared towards catalyzing transformative change within unsustainable maritime systems (i.e. fishery, coastal tourism, shipping and ports). The objective was to support the well-being of local communities socially and economically, while ensuring a good environmental status of marine ecosystems. The outcome is a comprehensive portfolio of short, mid, and long term actions intended to achieve sustainable objectives formulated through a future vision collaboratively developed with local stakeholders. Those actions range from ambitious environmental management measures to innovative solutions, including technological, social and institutional innovations. Furthermore, this research endeavors to evaluate the stakeholder-driven approach's efficacy in delivering sustainable outcomes by assessing its capacity to support the resilience of key ocean ecosystem services and mitigate the tendency to prioritize economic development over environmental conservation. To accomplish this, a qualitative framework was devised to address fundamental inquiries such as: the specific components of the system affected by proposed actions and their impacts on ecosystems; the ecosystem services (ES) to which these actions pertain and whether priority ES (i.e. provisioning of food, delivery of cultural recreational services; regulating and maintaining habitats functioning), deemed less resilient, are targeted; the identification of potentially lost or overlooked ES, and elucidation of any latent ecosystem services. Through such analysis, this research aims to explore the potential of stakeholder engagement co-production processes in nurturing resilient marine and coastal ecosystems while safeguarding against the undue prioritization of economic interests over environmental sustainability.