The sustainable management of coasts Flashcards
what are the three aims of coastal management?
1) Protecting the coastline from erosion
2) Protecting the coastline from flooding
3) Conserving fragile coastal ecosystems
what three aspects does SUSTAINABLE coastal management consider?
1) Environmental sustainability- conserving ecosystems, reducing or preventing pollution and maintaining the aesthetic appeal of coastal areas.
2) Economic sustainability- Communities are able to maintain their standard of living eg. maintaining coastal fisheries or protecting valuable economic assets from destruction eg. Easingtion gas terminal
3) Social sustainability- maintaining the quality of life for the local community.
Why does coastal management have to be sustainable?
The management strategies should work in the future aswell as in the present, ideally with minimum maintenance costs.
Why is sustainable management complex and difficult to achieve?
There are a lot of factors which influence how sustainable the management is. Never going to be 100% sustainable.
What is the “holistic” approach to coastal management?
where both physical and human factors are taken into account when planning management strategies.
why are some people against coastal management?
They believe that the sea will always win in the end so there is no point building expensive defenses.
If you protect one place then it has a worse effect on other places down wind.
Therefore it cant be sustainable in the long term.
What are the four Shoreline Management Plans?
1) Hold the line
2) Advance the line
3) Managed realignment
4) Do nothing
What are the basic objectives of the Hold the line strategy?
Maintaining and repairing the current defenses so no coastal erosion can occur or the risk of flooding is not increased
what are the basic objectives of the Advance the line strategy?
Building new defenses on the seaward side of the original defenses often to reclaim land from the sea
what are the basic objectives of the Managed realignment strategy?
Allowing the shore to move forwards or backwards but with the use of management strategies to control this movement
what are the basic objectives of the Do nothing strategy?
No further investment in coastal defenses- popular with the taxpayer but not with the local communities.
What is the likely outcome if the value of the land is less than the defenses needed to save it?
Do Nothing strategy- no economic benefit involved
What two types of defenses can you use to prevent coastal erosion?
1) Hard engineering
2) Soft engineering
Which type of coastal erosion defense strategy is more popular?
Hard engineering
which coastal erosion defense strategy involves working with nature to protect the coast?
Soft engineering
