Aquaculture is an important source of income and employment for European coastal territories and communities. It also contributes to maintain important ecosystem services when providing new ones such as water purification. But while addressing technical challenges, the sector is coping important issues questioning its sustainability: environmental pressures, use conflicts, unsuitable management frameworks, poor marketing vision, and lack of holistic approach in a complex socio-ecosystem dynamics. The present AQUA-MOD proposal aims at addressing these issues through building a response to the EU Framework Programme for Research and Innovation, Horizon 2020 (H2020). The purpose is then to prepare and build a research network together with a shared methodology at the EU level, to be ready to submit and coordinate a proposal to the H2020 Sustainable Food Security societal challenge in 2015. The H2020 targeted topic is the SFS11 about the "Implementation of an Ecosystem-based approach for the European aquaculture" and its 2015 call: "Consolidating the environmental sustainability of European aquaculture" (deadline February 2015). It is proposed to build on the ecosystem approach to propose an analytical framework to drive back aquaculture on a sustainable path and accompany new developments in the Blue Growth strategy context. Supported by different policies and regulations at national and international levels, this approach opposed to sector-based policies requires more integration of ecological, economic and social processes as well as science and policy integration. The ANR's Research Networks funding scheme will be used to support and implement such approach among a relevant partnership to be improved and selected. An international core group team is built in order to run a series of workshops about key issues to be tested, shared and finally implemented in the H2020 proposal. It will mainly consist in: - Developing an ecosystem approach based on a common approach for exploring the sustainability of coastal and marine areas specialized in aquaculture, through a problem oriented approach. - Supporting this ecosystem based approach by introducing innovative tools in the field of integrated modeling, participation and governance. - Identifying and selecting application sites regarding aquaculture issues and local partnership relevance to implement the approach. - Targeting the diversity of European aquaculture both in terms of sectors, species and geographical scopes. - Setting up the writing process of the H2020 proposal. The main output will be the submission and coordination of a project proposal to the SFS11-B topic of the H2020 call by February 2015 and a detailed proposal on June 2015 if the first stage is successful. In case of success, the project is expected to start by the beginning of 2016 under the IFREMER coordination. Aside the proposal's writing process, outputs from workshops will be valued through publications so that experience gained from the workshops can continue to serve the approach developed for the H2020 proposal and feed other potential calls for proposals at national and international levels.

Coral reefs provide critical ecosystem services but evolve under specific disturbance regimes exceeding the system’s adaptive capacity. In contrast to the Caribbean, some Pacific Island communities exhibit higher levels of local social-ecological resilience. Such societies appear to be able to confine the impact of ecological disturbances to manageable levels and enhance the regenerative capacity of the ecosystems. Which human activities contribute to the recovery of socially and ecologically desirable and productive states? Which behaviors and social structures are most important for maintaining the resilience of these systems? How is resilience likely to change as social conditions change? The overarching goal of ACRoSS is to develop better system modeling methods for quantitative integration of ecology and social science.