Coasts Case Studies

Question 1

North Sea location

Answer 1

• north west Europe
• east coast of the uk
• west coast of netherlands

Question 2

North Sea previous events

Answer 2

• 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

Question 3

North Sea recent event

Answer 3

• 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

Question 4

Bangladesh location

Answer 4

• South Asia
• east of india
• south of china

Question 5

Bangladesh vulnerabilities

Answer 5

• flat and low lying land, vulnerable to eustatic sea level rise

Question 6

Bangladesh impacts of flooding

Answer 6

• 1.5m rise in sea level would displace 15mil.
• salt water intrusion
• farmland lost
• mangroves lost, reducing protection against storm surges

Question 7

Philippines location

Answer 7

• South east Asia
• east of Vietnam
• north of Indonesia
• east coast, tacloban city

Question 8

Philippines risk increasing due to more extreme tropical storms

Answer 8

• 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

Question 9

3 Human factors increasing coastal recession

Answer 9

• dredging (hallsands)
• coastal management (holderness coast)
• dams (river Nile)

Question 10

Human factors increasing coastal recession (dredging)

Answer 10

• hallsands, North Somerset
• storm in 1917 destroyed village as shingle was dredged to create new navel dock in Plymouth
• nothing to dissipate wave energy

Question 11

Human factors increasing coastal recession (coastal management)

Answer 11

• holderness coast, Yorkshire, east coast

- defences starve areas down drift of sediment so recession rates increase

Question 12

Human factors increasing coastal recession (dams)

Answer 12

• 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

Question 13

Impacts of coastal recession and flooding (economic)

Answer 13

• Australia
• damage of infrastructure (roads, ports)
• loss of business due to damage to commercial buildings

Question 14

Impacts of coastal recession and flooding (social and economic losses) UK

Answer 14

• 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.

Question 15

Impacts of coastal recession and flooding (social economic) Maldives/Tuvalu

Answer 15

• 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

Question 16

Sustainable coastal management Maldives

Answer 16

• 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

Question 17

Sustainable coastal management Abbotts hall farm, Essex (managed realignment)

Answer 17

• sea wall breached
• opened land as a flood plain
• salt marsh sustainable coastal defence
• cost effective

Question 18

Sustainable coastal management Namibia

Answer 18

• 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.

Question 19

Sustainable coastal management Chittagong

Answer 19

• 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

Question 20

Reducing conflicts to be sustainable Happisburgh

Answer 20

• 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