Coasts in Peril? A Shoreline Health Perspective

J A G Cooper,Derek W T Jackson

doi:10.3389/feart.2019.00260

J A G Cooper, Derek W T Jackson

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.3389/feart.2019.00260

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Abstract

Most assessments of coastal vulnerability are undertaken from the perspective of the risk posed to humans, their property and activities. This anthropocentric view is based on widespread public perception (a) that coastal change is primarily a hazard to property and infrastructure and (b) that sea defences (whether soft or hard) are required to mitigate and eliminate coastal hazards. From the perspective of coastal ecosystems such a view is both perverse and damaging. In this paper we present an alternative approach to coastal assessment that centres on the physical integrity of the coast and its associated ecosystems both now and in the near-future. The shoreline health approach represents a new paradigm for coastal management and is intended to provide a much-needed ecosystem perspective. Its premise is to categorize coasts on the degree to which their ability to function morphodynamically has been compromised by human intervention. We present an expert assessment approach involving five categories that range from “Good Heath” (with “Heath Warning” and “Minor Wounds” sub-divisions), through “Minor Injury”, “Major Injury”, “On Life Support” to “Deceased”. We illustrate the concept using tabulated examples of each category from cliffed, clastic and delta coasts and demonstrate its utility through two applications. This approach has the potential to quantify the degree to which coastal ecosystems have been damaged and to focus attention on the cumulative impact of human activities on coastal ecosystems.

Highlights

The earth’s most diverse and productive ecosystems occur at the coast (Ray, 1988)
Physical coastal change is viewed from an anthropocentric natural hazard or vulnerability perspective (McGranahan et al, 2007; Meur-Férec et al, 2008; Dawson et al, 2009; Serafim et al, 2019) based on societal concern about risks to infrastructure and property (Bonetti and Woodroffe, 2016; Bonetti et al, 2018)
The health of the physical coastal ecosystem, depends on its ability to adjust and respond to environmental changes and in the near-future, and this is routinely overlooked in ecosystem assessments

Summary

INTRODUCTION

The earth’s most diverse and productive ecosystems occur at the coast (Ray, 1988). They deliver a host of ecosystem services (Barbier et al, 2011; Jones et al, 2011) and are intensively inhabited by humans. We assess the health of the coastal system according to the degree to which the system’s integrity and functioning has been compromised by past and present human activities (and may be impacted in the future by structures or activities that inhibit its response to sea level rise) This approach is in direct contrast to the view (e.g., Lazarus et al, 2016) of coasts as coupled humannatural systems; we view human intervention as compromising coastal functioning. The health of the physical coastal ecosystem, depends on its ability to adjust and respond to environmental changes and in the near-future, and this is routinely overlooked in ecosystem assessments This distortion is likely a result of the dominance of the competing “hazard paradigm” that focusses on human risks from shoreline processes.

Good health

Deceased

DISCUSSION