Socio-economic Impacts—Coastal Management and Governance

Abstract

Climate change will have important impacts on the North Sea coastal zones. Major threats include sea-level rise and the associated increase in flood risk, coastal erosion and wetland loss, and hazards arising from more frequent storm surges. The North Sea countries—Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and the UK—have developed strategies to deal with these threats. This chapter provides a short introduction to the present adaptation strategies and highlights differences and similarities between them. All the North Sea countries face dilemmas in the implementation of their adaptation strategies. Uncertainty about the extent and timing of climate-driven impacts is a major underlying cause. In view of this, adaptation plans focus on no-regret measures. The most considered measures in the North Sea countries are spatial planning in the coastal zone (set-back lines), wetland restoration, coastal nourishment and reinforcement of existing protection structures. The difficulty of identifying the climate-driven component of observed change in the coastal zone is a critical obstacle to obtaining a widely shared understanding of the urgency of adaptation. A better coordinated and more consistent approach to marine monitoring is crucial for informing policy and the general public and for developing the adaptive capacity of institutions and wider society. A dedicated coastal observation network is not yet in place in the North Sea region.