Sulan Kolatan, CSU board member and VP of Youth+UN, attended the Preparatory Meeting for the 2025 UN Ocean Conference at the UN Headquarters in NYC on July 2, 2024. She spoke about Urban Shorelines as  places where the economic and ecosystemic viability of the ocean directly intersects with that of the city. Shorelines are home to large global populations and assets, as well as some of the world’s richest biodiversity. She noted the importance of accelerated action to protect, restore, and renew coastal communities, biological habitats, and physical assets, and proposed the leveraging of interlinkages between Goals 14 and 11, as well as Goals 9, 15, 3, and 4 —especially, between oceans, cities, infrastructure, and innovation for most effective action.

Kolatan called attention to the urgent need to develop resilient interfaces between oceans and cities by prioritizing the innovation and piloting of coastal infrastructure designs. She concluded by inviting event participants and colleagues to get involved in CSU’s effort to accelerate action toward piloting and scaling nature-based coastal infrastructure projects and mobilize all relevant actors.  In February 2025, Kolatan is convening a pledge-based stakeholder event in New York City for CSU with support from the Rockefeller Foundation.