Coasts Case Study Flashcards
What is the east coast of the USA dominated by?
Barrier islands
What happens on barrier islands?
They create lagoons behind them and shift around
What do barrier islands do (management)?
They act as a form of defence as they dissipate wave energy and leads to waves breaking early
What do barrier islands do during storms?
They act as a natural defence against storm surges
Why is Tuvalu vulnerable?
It’s low lying and is becoming increasingly vulnerable due to eustatic sea level change
What is the highest point in Tuvalu?
4.5 metres
What does the population of Tuvalu have to do?
They either have to mitigate or migrate
What are the problems in Tuvalu?
More tropical cyclones due to sea level temp rise
Flooding of low lying settlements
Salt water encroachment has led to crop failures and loss of local water sources
What are the mitigation solutions in Tuvalu
Residents must construct cyclone shelters to avoid injury
Farmers are forced to move inland
Residents grow staple crops in concrete plots.
Why is migration happening in Tuvalu?
People cannot afford to mitigate so they must move to New Zealand. Therefore, there is more environmental refugees
How does the migration in Tuvalu cause conflict?
Conflict between the local residents of New Zealand and the Tuvalu people.
Why is the Maldives at risk?
97% of inhabited islands are experiencing erosion as sea levels rise. Flooding is becoming a massively increasing risk
What happens to isolated islands in the Maldives?
They are ignored
What does the government in the Maldives overlook when deciding management?
They overlook traditional sources of income
Why have NGOS been more successful than the government in the Maldives?
Because they have involved and centred their efforts around the locals rather than tourists
What did the locals in the Maldives get educated about?
They got educated on the importance of coastal mangroves as a defence
What grants did the Maldives receive and why?
The global Environment facility provided small grants to help the locals with sustainable and organic farming
What year was the bad Netherlands storm surge?
1953
How many people died in the 1953 storm surge? Netherlands
1800
How many buildings were damaged and destroyed? Netherlands 1953
40,000 and 10,000 destroyed
What happened to the farmland? Netherlands 1953
10% of its farmland flooded
What was the name of the project after the 1953 storm surge in the Netherlands?
The deltawerken project
What was the scheme of the Deltawerken project?
A series of dams and gates constructed along rivers to control the flow of water during a storm surge.
Reduce the length of the coastline exposed to the sea
How did they make the Deltawerken a sustainable project?
The project cost £5 billion and £1billion spent to maintain it a year
It has allowed for 4 million people to live below sea level
New roads and transport connections
Some nature reserves replaced
