For example, the funding agencies of the Belmont Forum have established joint calls that will bring together new international partnerships of social and natural scientists working on specific themes, such as freshwater security and coastal vulnerability.

UNESCO: Future Earth: Global platform for sustainability research launched at Rio+20 | United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization

"That is the future, " said Gavin Smith, executive director of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Coastal Hazards Center of Excellence.

WSJ: Shore Shifted by Storm

Ecosystem services provided by coastal and marine habitats are of crucial importance for food security and poverty eradication, as well as many of the sectors currently driving the economies of coastal nations.

UNESCO: EDUCATION

Cairo (CNN) -- Egypt deployed troops to the coastal city of Suez on Saturday after a security chief declared the area "out of control" following deadly clashes on the second anniversary of the uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

Security forces clashed with the clan members in the coastal area of Lahad Datu on Friday, leaving 12 Filipinos and two Malaysian police commandos dead.

NPR: 5 Police, 2 Assailants Killed Amid Malaysian Siege

Ecosystem shifts will impact countries dependent on coastal fishing, fish-processing industries and tourism causing economic hardship as well as destabilizing food security for the 1 billion people who depend on fisheries for most of their protein diet.

UNESCO: Biodiversity Initiative

The global decrease of coastal marine resources and decline in marine biodiversity will impact countries dependent on coastal fishing, fish-processing industries and tourism causing economic hardship as well as destabilising food security for the 1 billion people who depend on fisheries for most of their protein diet.

UNESCO: THEMES