Coasts Case Studies Flashcards
North Sea location
- north west Europe
- east coast of the uk
- west coast of netherlands
North Sea previous events
- 1953 storm caused a 3m surge at night
- killed 307 people along east coast of uk
- 2100 killed in Netherlands
- homes flooded and farmland destroyed
- no flood warning system and basic forecasts
North Sea recent event
- 2013 6.4m surge on some places in Yorkshire
- only 1400 homes flooded
- no deaths
- better monitoring and warning system
- improved sea defences
- thames barrier protected london
Bangladesh location
- South Asia
- east of india
- south of china
Bangladesh vulnerabilities
- flat and low lying land, vulnerable to eustatic sea level rise
Bangladesh impacts of flooding
- 1.5m rise in sea level would displace 15mil.
- salt water intrusion
- farmland lost
- mangroves lost, reducing protection against storm surges
Philippines location
- South east Asia
- east of Vietnam
- north of Indonesia
- east coast, tacloban city
Philippines risk increasing due to more extreme tropical storms
- typhoon haiyan 2013
- 7m high storm surge
- city airport destroyed
- government criticised for poor governance
- loss of schools and churches and fishing industry
- beach set to disappear
3 Human factors increasing coastal recession
- dredging (hallsands)
- coastal management (holderness coast)
- dams (river Nile)
Human factors increasing coastal recession (dredging)
- hallsands, North Somerset
- storm in 1917 destroyed village as shingle was dredged to create new navel dock in Plymouth
- nothing to dissipate wave energy
Human factors increasing coastal recession (coastal management)
- holderness coast, Yorkshire, east coast
- defences starve areas down drift of sediment so recession rates increase
Human factors increasing coastal recession (dams)
- river Nile, africa, north east Sudan
- relies on sediment being deposited at mouth to counteract erosion
- Aswan dam reduced discharge and sediment supply
- increasing erosion from 25m/yr to 200m/yr
Impacts of coastal recession and flooding (economic)
- Australia
- damage of infrastructure (roads, ports)
- loss of business due to damage to commercial buildings
Impacts of coastal recession and flooding (social and economic losses) UK
- UK
- loss livelihood, collapse of holberk hall hotel in Scarborough 1993 due to heavy rainfall, no compensation
- homes and relocation, Norfolk coastline housing worth £1, property insurance doesn’t cover loss from coastal erosion.
Impacts of coastal recession and flooding (social economic) Maldives/Tuvalu
- environmental refugees
- other nations need to rehouse, New Zealand accepted 3000 from Tuvalu as part of labour migration
- loss of services, livelihoods and value
- schools and churches lost as well as agricultural industry providing income
Sustainable coastal management Maldives
- conflict over adaptation
Govt prioritise capital city male and tourism industry over traditional industries
Mangroves for the future (MFF) helping the Maldives become sustainable by educating locals and providing small grants for organic farming
Sustainable coastal management Abbotts hall farm, Essex (managed realignment)
- sea wall breached
- opened land as a flood plain
- salt marsh sustainable coastal defence
- cost effective
Sustainable coastal management Namibia
- high value areas (wallis bay port) protected using hard engineering
- medium value areas, beach nourishment
- low value areas (skeleton coast), low cost strategies e.g. Restricting development, conserve ecosystems, reduce poverty.
Sustainable coastal management Chittagong
- Bangladesh major port
- coastal climate project to climate proof the area
- raising embankments to protect road infrastructure
- construct flood shelters
- reduce poverty by maintaining livelihoods and help adaptation after event
- displacement of people and removal of some natural vegetation
Reducing conflicts to be sustainable Happisburgh
- happisburgh, Norfolk, UK
- CBA balanced for hard engineering
- no intervention due to promontory effect (blocking LSD for down drift)
- no national compensation
- campaigning led to pathfinder project
- locals offered half the value of their homes to help relocate
- housing demolished to create buffer
