Managed retreat: a natural analogue from the Medway estuary, UK

Abstract

A comparison between open marshes (un-reclaimed) and breached reclaimed land is made for sites within the Medway estuary, UK, in order to determine the effectiveness of these natural retreat sites in protecting the hinterland, and to use these findings as an analogue for modern managed retreat schemes. Two sites, who’s defences were breached at the turn of the century are studied to show rates of erosion experienced by the post-breach marsh, and compared to open marshes in the same system. This has shown that the rates of loss are greater in the open marshes over the same period of time, and that as an analogue for contemporary managed retreat sites, the breached sites have provided significant coastal protection to the hinterland for over 71 years, and, it could be argued, have survived natural erosive processes more effectively than open marshes.