National policy and management responses to the hazard of coastal erosion in Britain and the United States

Abstract

Since national governments have become actively involved in environmental planning, and coastal management in particular, collective and individual responses to coastal erosion hazards have become increasingly influenced by public policy. This paper analyses and compares coastal erosion management policies in Britain and the United States. Both countries experience similar problems of population concentration along unstable coastlines, and yet they have developed quite different approaches to their solution. Coastal erosion management in Britain is dominated by the Coast Protection Act of 1949, which provides for a coherent and centrally organized approach, but is biased towards engineering responses, to the relative exclusion of alternative management techniques. In contrast, the United States has developed an elaborate framework for coastal erosion management. Traditional engineering responses continue under the auspices of the Corps of Engineers, but coastal zone management legislation has introduced a new philosophy into public policy whereby nonstructural measures are preferred. However, the US approach suffers from inconsistent implementation and the influence of private landowners, who favour cheap and often ineffective structural responses. Based on a comparison of the strengths and weaknesses of each system, a model for the development of coastal erosion management policies is proposed. In particular, the model emphasizes the need to consider all possible alternative solutions, giving priority to those which respect the geomorphological nature of coastal erosion. It is suggested that coastal erosion management should become an integral part of the planning process, promoting community needs over individual requirements and favouring the use of non-structural measures and appropriate land-use controls.