Coastal Management

Question 1

Amenity Value

Answer 1

Amenity values are the characteristics that influence and enhance people’s appreciation of a particular area. These values are derived from the pleasantness, aesthetic coherence and cultural and recreational attributes of an area.

Question 2

Dune Stabilisation

Answer 2

Stabilizing dunes involves multiple actions. Planting vegetation reduces the impact of wind and water. Wooden sand fences can help retain sand and other material needed for a healthy sand dune ecosystem.

Question 3

Beach Nourishment

Answer 3

Pumping sand from elsewhere onto an eroding shoreline to create a new beach or to widen the existing beach.

Question 4

Cliff Drainage

Answer 4

Drains put into a cliff to intercept the water movement through the cliff which causes mass movement.

Question 5

Cliff Regrading

Answer 5

Restructuring a cliff face to take away the steep gradient. This reduces instability

Question 6

Cost Benefit Analysis

Answer 6

It is a systematic approach to estimating the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives. It is used to determine options that provide the best approach to achieve benefits while preserving savings

Question 7

Environmental Impact Assessment

Answer 7

A process of evaluating the likely environmental impacts of a proposed project or development, taking into account inter-related socio-economic, cultural and human-health impacts, both beneficial and adverse.

Question 8

Environmental Refugee

Answer 8

A person displaced owing to environmental causes, notably land loss and degradation, and natural disaster

Question 9

Groynes

Answer 9

A man-made barrier built across a beach. These trap sand which the waves have moved along the beach and prevent longshore drift

Question 10

Hard Engineering

Answer 10

Controlled disruption of natural processes by using man-made structure (e.g. sea wall)

Question 11

Integrated Coastal Management

Answer 11

A process for the management of the coast using an integrated approach, regarding all aspects of the coastal zone, including geographical and political boundaries, in an attempt to achieve sustainability.

Question 12

Managed Retreat

Answer 12

Areas of the coast are allowed to erode and flood naturally. Usually this will be areas considered to be of low value - eg places not being used for housing or farmland.

Question 13

Revetment

Answer 13

Revetments are concrete (or in some cases wooden) structures that are built along the base of a cliff. They’re slanted and act as a barrier against waves not too dissimilar to a sea wall. The revetments absorb the energy of the waves, preventing the cliffs from being eroded. Revetments can be modified so that they have rippled surfaces, which further help to dissipate the wave energy.

Question 14

Rip Rap

Answer 14

Riprap are rocks and stones that have been put against the base of a cliff.

Question 15

Breakwaters

Answer 15

Offshore concrete walls that break incoming waves out at sea so that their erosive power is reduced to next to none when they reach the coast.

Question 16

Soft Engineering

Answer 16

They are usually more long-term and sustainable, with less impact on the environment.

Question 17

Shoreline Management Policies

Answer 17

is a large-scale report, assessing the risks associated with coastal processes. It aims to help reduce these risks to people, property and the historic and natural environment. The main objective of a SMP is to identify sustainable long-term management policies for the coast.

Question 18

Sea Wall

Answer 18

Giant walls that span entire coastlines and attempt to reduce erosion and prevent flooding in the process.

Question 19

Gabions

Answer 19

Gabions are bundles of rocks in a metal mesh. They’re placed at the base of a cliff in an attempt to reduce the impact of waves on the cliff and prevent the cliff from being undercut.