Modern Conceptual and Technological Approaches to the Georgia Black Sea Coastline Protection

Abstract

Economic Economic development of the world's maritime nations, including Georgia, is directly related to the coastal environment and the ongoing natural or anthropogenic processes which determined its sustainability and exploitation opportunities. In the coastal zone are located the urbanized areas, agricultural lands, motorways and recreational complexes. Georgia's Black Sea resorts continue to attract tourists to the resort areas of the coast that required the expansion, restoration of eroded beaches and the development of appropriate infrastructure at international standards. Unfortunately, the prevalence of the parochial bureaucratic interests over environmental issues and ignorance of negative coastal process development, inefficiency of implemented coast protection measures and limited funding for carrying out necessary works, caused Georgian shoreline erosion. In this regard, coast may not be discussed as isolated body because it is part of one natural system and changes caused by natural phenomena or man-made impact will be reflected on the coast of neighboring countries. In whole, human intervention (withdrawal of beach sediments, river channel regulations, dam and reservoirs constructions and port structures assembling in coastal zone) in natural processes not only improved country economic state, but together with current natural events, due to sea level rise, causing storm phenomena activation and land inundation, shore subsiding, provoked the increase of coast erosion tendency, activation of beach disappearance and threatened to located there infrastructure with destruction and huge material losses. The recovery of latter requires several billion U.S. dollars worth of materials and works. In the presented article is discussed the problem of Georgia Black Sea coast erosion and necessary measures for its protection on the basis of conceptual approaches, which also imply the using of new technologies and methods of beach protection. In case of given proposal implementation in practice, the results of planned research can be widely applied both for sandy as well as pebbly-gravel beaches of any sea.