Coastal Landscapes and Change EQ4 Flashcards
What is the definition of economic losses?
Anything that has a finial cost on an individual or a community includes loss of (or damage to) property in the form of homes, businesses, agriculture lands and infrastructure.
Agriculture lands valued at £21,000 per ha
Why are economic losses from erosion localised?
- erosion is incremental with only a small number of properties affected over a long period of time
-properties at risk loose theur value long before they are destroyed - areas with a highly dense population tend to be protected by coastal defences
What are the economic losses from coastal recession?
- economic losses to business if areas become unattractive and depopulated
- a whole village can lost
- falling property prices and inability to sell property
- loss of major assets and the cost of buying a new home
- an inability to insure against the loss
E.g. the collapse of the section of coast supporting the South Devon Main Line railways (feb 2014) cost £35 million to repair.
E.g. Yorkshire laid £1.2 million for funding relocations and demolition for 43 homes
What are the economic losses in Holderness?
- increased costs to the owners of cliff top caravan parks who face moving locations.
- loss of access to roads, paths and steps down the beach affecting tourism
- loss of amenity value as the coastline is visually scarred by collapsing roads, abandoned property and warning signs
What is the definition of social consequences?
Social coasts are the impact on people, such as the coats of relocation and loss of jobs (which can be quantified) but also includes impacts on health such as stress and worry which are hard to quantify.
What a are examples of social coast due to coastal recession?
- relocation coats
- break up of communities and loss of friends
- impacts well-being and mental health (stress)
- loss of livelihoods (jobs, buinsesses and source of income (tourism))
- financial problems and job searching inmoacting well-being may lead to stress and divorce
- losses in amenity values
What is the definition of amenity value?
The value in cultural, human well-being and economic in terms of an attractive environment people enjoy being in.
What is an example of losses due to coastal recession being compensated?
East Riding of Yorkshire:
Here the coastline is rapidly eroding, learning to massive social, economic and environmental losses.
Between 2010-2012 DEFRA provided the local council with £1.2 million. The money was spend assisting the 43 homes owners wiht relocation and demolitions expenses. (£1000 in relocation expenses do £200 in hardship expenses)
C > it is very limited and very little money
Why does coastal flooding and storm surges led to losses?
- flooding and storm surges are one off events being the communities are unprepared and very vulnerable
- Flooding tends to be larger in areal extent and therefore involve greater loss
- storm surges are stronger and so create more damage and destruction
What are the losses form the North Sea flood in Netherlands in 1953? (Developed world)
A mid latitude depression moving souht through the North Sea generating a 5m storm surge
- 10% of Dutch farmland flooded
- 40,000 buildings damaged and 10,000 destroyed
- 1800 deaths
C > led to one of the largest coastal engineering projects ever, the Delta Works (Deltawerken) in order to reduce the risk of future storm surges
What were the losses from UK 2013-2014 winter storms? (Developed world)
Coastal and other flooding caused by the succession of depressions and their heavy rain and storm surges
- £1 billion in damages over the winter
- 17 deaths
What are the losses from Typhoon Haiyan, Philippines 2013? (Developing world)
One of the most powerful tropical storms ever with a 4-5 metre storms surge
- $2 billion in damages centred in Tacloban
- 6300 deaths and 30,000 injuries
What is an example of a hard engineering mega project?
Deltawerken:
This is a series of dams and sluice gates that were constructed between the islands that make up Eastern Schelt to control the flow of water. During a storm surge this can be closed to shut the sea out.
- cost $5 billion
- aim was to reduce flood risk in low lying areas and control flow to rivers Rhine, Maas and Scheldt
What are environmental refugees?
Communities forced to leave their homes because of natural processes including sudden Ines such as landslide and long term ones such as erosion or rising sea levels.
Why will sea level rise create environmental refugees?
- flooding
- saltwater encroachment limiting water and offs supply
- coral bleaching removing natural sea defences and limiting economies (fishing)
What an example of environmental refugees?
Tuvalu:
- Tuvalu’s highest point is only 4.5m above sea level with 1-2m above sea level
- rising ocean temperatures bleached the coral reefs removing any natural defences against flooding
- water in limited and salt water encroachment is making farming difficult
- narrow economy based in tourism and fishing causes economic threats
- lack the funding to finance coastal defences.
The future for Tuvalu is that many people will be ice environmental refugees and will have to abandoned the islands
What is hard engineering?
Hard engineering involves the construction of man made structures that directly stop or interfer with physical processes to protect the coast.
What are different types of hard engineering?
- rock armour (riprap)
- groynes
- sea wall
- revetments
- offshore breakwaters
What are the overall advantages of hard engineering?
- it obvious to at risk-people that something is being done to protect them (reduce stress by reassurance)
- they are very durables and can protect the coastline for long periods of time
- normally very effective
What are the overall disadvantages to hard engineering?
- very expensive costs as well as ongoing maintenance costs
- prone to failure
- coastlines are made visually unattractive
- needs of coastal ecosystems normally overlooked
- frequently have consequences further down the coastlines due to interference with sediment cells.
What is a groyne?
Vertical stone or timber fences build at 90 degrees to the coast, spaced along a beach. There purpose is to prevent longshore movement of sediment as econourage depositions building a wider higher beach.
What are the impacts of groynes of physical processes?
- create areas of deposition and beach accretion
- prevention against longshore drift creates sediment starvation and increase erosion down the coastline.
What are rock armour (riprap) and their purpose?
This are large igneous or metamorphic rock boulders, weighing serval tones. They are along the base of coastlines to break up and dissipate wave energy and protect the coast from undercutting and scour.
What impacts to rock armour have on physical process?
- reduce wave energy
- sediment is deposited between rocks
- may become vegetated overtime
What is rock breakwater and its purpose?
Rock breakwater are large igneous or metamorphic rocks placed offshore. This forces the waves to break offshore rather than at the coast reducing wave energy and erosive force.
What impacts to rock breakwater have on physical process?
- deposition encouraged between breakwater and beach
- can interfere with longshore drift (sediment starvation)
What is a sea wall and its purpose?
A sea wall is a concrete wall containing steel reinforcements and deep piled fountains (can be steped). It acts as a physics barrier against erosion and they are designed to dissipate wave energy .
