The historical Coastlines Project, or, what do scientists really want?

One measure of the relevance and utility of environmental history is the degree to which environmental management agencies incorporate it into their practice. Most of these are science driven and science-led, so to a large extent the utilisation of history in their programs depends on what natural scientists think history might contribute. This brief discussion draws on the experience of historians who participated in Historical Coastlines, a five year project of the Cooperative Research Centre for Coastal Zone, Estuary and Waterway Management (Coastal CRC), established by the Commonwealth in 1999 to produce knowledge and decision-making tools for the effective, integrated environmental management of the coastal zone. It poses the question: when it comes to history, what do scientists really want?