Lesson 13-How are coasts managed? Flashcards
What is coastalisation?
-The process where a coast is being developed and people are moving to the coast, increasing the number of people at risk from the marine related environmental activity
-by-product of urbanisation in which people move to cities as majority of large cities are coastal
Why might the risks from a storm surge be exacerbated?
-Removing Natural vegetation like Mangrove forests provide protection against extreme weather events but many are destroyed to make way for toursim services and housing
-Global Warming as the surface of oceans get warmer, it is predicted that the frequency and intensity of storms will increase
Impacts of sea level rise on coastal communities?
-house prices
-insurance companies
-environment damage
-destroyed depositional landforms
-loss of life, culture and homes
Impacts of sea level rise on coastal communities-House Prices
- Causing significantly reduced house pricing and land prices (as the area becomes known to be at significant risk) leading to economic loss for homeowners and local coastal economies
Impacts of sea level rise on coastal communities-Insurance companies
- In the UK, many insureers dont provide home insurance to people living coastlines that are at extreme risk of erosion or storm surges
Impacts of sea level rise on local communities-Environment damage
- Storm surges also damage the environment by destroying plant successions and damaging many coastal landforms.
Impacts of sea level rise on coastal communities-Destroyed deopsitional landforms
- Was seen in 2013, when the spit ‘Spurn Head’ was partially destroyed by a large storm surge. If depositional features are destroyed then erosion may occur more quickly closer to the cliff face, which can increase the risk of collapse of cliffs and threats to land owners.
Impacts of sea level rise on coastal communities-Loss of life, culture and homes
- Forced to migrate to avoid the rising sea levels and the rising risk of flooding. In low-lying countries such as Bangladesh where the coastline is made up of clay sands many people may be displaced due to the potential impacts of climate change on the coast.
Why do we want to manage the coastline?
- To defend human structures as theres potential for new economic loss to occur
How can we manage the coastline?
- Hard engineering- Sea/Rock walls
- Soft engineering- Dune regeneration
What are our options for managing the coastline?
- Hold the line- maintaining the position of the coastline using mostly hard engineering methods
- Advance the line-extending the coastline out to sea by building up the beach and land reclamation
- Do nothing-let nature take its course, this means that along these stretches there are few if any risks of erosion
- Managed realignment/ retreat-low-lying areas are recognised as being threatened by flooding are flooded in a controlled way deliberately
How do we decide which option to use to manage the coastline?
- A cost benefit analysis is carried out before a coastal management project is given the go ahead.
- Costs are forecast and then compared with the expected benefits.
How is a cost benefit analysis calculated?
- Costs are forecast based on known tangible costs of coastal defences such as how much 100m of sea wall will cost to build and maintain, and intangible costs such as the visual impact of the sea wall
- The costs are then weighed up against the benefits for the environment and population
Hard engineering strategies
- Groynes
- Sea walls
- Rip rap/Rock armour
- Revetments
- Offshore Breakwater
Hard engineering strategies-Groynes
- Built perpandoicular to the shore to trap sediment so the beach builds up to absorb wave energy
-Sediment starvation further down beach, Unattractive,Needs maintanence
+Not as expensive,Improves tourist potential with built up beach
Hard engineering strategies-Sea walls
- Walls with a curved surface that absorb and reflect wave energy
- £6000 per metre, ugly and intrusive to landscape
+Highly effective,Tourism benefits as walk ways are created
Hard engineering strategies- Riprap/Rock Armour
- Large concrete or granite boulders at the foot of the cliff. The spoaces between the boulders caused waves to bounce between many surfaces, reducing the energy of the wave
-Dangerous when people are on them,Rocks from elsewhere are intrusive to local geology
+Cheaper than sea walls, Used for recreation like fishing
Hard engineering strategies-Revetments
- A sloped or ramp-like structure that greaks up wave energy
-Need lots of maintenance,Unnatural looking,Slopes are dangerous
+Cost-effective compared to other hard engineering strategies
Hard engineering strategies-Offshore Breakwater
- Rock barrier a little out to sea from the shoreline. This breaks the waves and dissipates their energy before they reach the coast
-Can create navigation barrieer in harbour areas
+Effective, Away from the beach so does not disrupt tourism potential
Soft engineering-Managed retreat
- It involves abandoning existing coastal defences and allowing the sea to flood inland until it reaches higher land or a new line of coast defence.
- Allowing low-lying coastal areas to flood and develop into salt marshes produces a good natural defence against storms.
- It also increases the amount of salt marsh – a threatened ecosystem. It is a relatively cheap method of coastal defence.
- The main cost is one of compensating people for the loss of ‘drowned’ homes and livelihoods.
MAIN RESPONSE TO CLIMATE CHANGE RISING SEA LEVELS
Soft engineering strategies
- Beach nourishment
- Cliff Regrading and Drainage
- Dune rehabilitation
- Marsh Creation
Soft engineering strategies-Beach nourishment
- Adding sand or shingle to a beach to widen it as it creates more surface area to absorb wave energy
-Material subject to erosion and longshore drift so requires maintenance, Dredging the seabed can have bad consequences
+Looks very natural, Bigger beaches are better for tourism, Relatively cheap
Soft engineering strategies-Cliff Regrading and Drainage
- Reducing the angle of the cliff to stablise the slope. Drainage of water also stabilises the cliff against mass movement
-Can look unatural as cliff is flatter, creates cliff retreat, causes dried out cliffs which collapse
+Cost effective
Soft engineering strategies-Dune stabilisation
- Planting species like Marram grass so that the roots bind the dunes. The dunes absorb wave energy and protect the land behind them.
-People walk on dunes and damage them, planting is time-consuming and takes time for it to grow
+Cheap and sustainable, creates habitants for wildlife, maintains a natural environment
Soft engineering strategies-Marsh creation
- This is a form of do-nothing or managed retreat. The land is allowed to be flooded by the sea and then left to become a salt marsh. Absorbs energy and creates buffer for rising sea levels.
-Agriculture is lost which creates demand for compensation
+Cheap option, creates important and unique wildlife habitats
What is the shoreline management plan?
- In a Shoreline Management Plan (SMP), each of the 11 sediment cells in the UK have had a detailed document written to identify the natural processes, activities and risks in the area
3 main aspects of SMP sustainable approach
1) Management of natural resources at the coast like water and farmland;
2) Monitoring of any changes to inform new strategies and;
3) Education and inclusion of the local communities to support the strategies
Examples of SMP at the Holderness
- In Skipsea on the Holderness coast, erosion rates since 1989 have been 1.4m per year on average
- People in Skipsea feel that nothing has been done to protect their village with a population of 700 whilst money has been spent on coastal defences in neighbouring towns and villages
What is the ICZM?
- Whole sections of the coast are managed together
- They recognise that thesediment (littoral) cellsinteract with each other and that changes in one part of the coast impact other areas - such as the placement of groynes causingterminal groyne syndrome
- In the UK this can cross political and national boundaries which means different councils have to work together
What does the ICZM aim to do?
- Create sustainable economic and social activities
- Protect the coastal environment
- Manage flood and coastal erosion risk
- Resolve any conflicts that may occur
What does the ICZM assume?
- This type of management is also based on the principle that actions in one area of the coastline affect other places further along the coast
- This is due to sediment flows within the sediment cell
- Groynes are a good example of the opposite of this strategy as they cause the build up sediment on one area of the coast but then the starvation further down
Significance of ICZM?
- In 2013 the EU introduced an initiative to use ICZMs on all of Europe’s coastlines
- Any type of coastal management will create an impact elsewhere and this can create conflict
- Conflicts over coastal management often arise between those considering the economic outcomes of a strategy versus the environmental outcomes
- Homeowners and farmers often have strong attachments to a place so any change can cause a great loss
