Dealing with Expertise and non Expertise Knowledge about Coastal Risk

The Portuguese coastal zone is of major importance to the level of national economy and to the environment, and supports a huge biodiversity and landscape. However, there has been a significant population increase within the coastal zone generating strong pressures on the environment; which thus becomes progressively weaker.To prevent and anticipate potential problems due to a lack of knowledge, or the inability to intervene and minimize impacts, this work makes a survey of three perspectives for the coastal zone of the Portuguese central region: scientific, technical and political, and another one emerging from citizens and communities.