Abstract
Sandy coasts represent about one-third of the global coastline and are among the most valuable and most vulnerable areas for humans and many other species. Socio-economic development and climate change impacts, together with traditional engineering for shore protection, have pervasively resulted in coastal squeeze, thereby threatening coastal life and economic activities, and the very survival of coastal ecosystems. In the past, the responses to problems such as land loss, coastal erosion and flooding were primarily reactive, through gray engineering solutions, with little interest shown in the ecosystem processes impacted by coastal armoring. In recent decades, coastal management strategies have become more diverse, embracing traditional engineering solutions alongside ecosystem-based measures. Even so, many of these new strategies still fail to meet sustainability criteria. Inspired by Per Bruun’s “The Ten Demands for Coastal Protection” from 1972, this article attempts to consider these changes and knowledge acquired since the 1970s, in order to tentatively formulate “Ten Commandments” for the sustainability of sandy coasts in face of climate change and socio-economic development. As such, the paper offers a new vision and briefly summarizes good practices for the management of sandy coasts, particularly useful for those who, at whatever level of influence, could contribute to the long-term realization of this new vision.
Highlights
Trends in Coastline DevelopmentLow elevation coastal zones (LECZ, i.e., regions up to 10 m above sea level) cover only 2% of the surface of our planet (McGranahan et al, 2007), but are highly prized, both ecologically and economically
Coastal population growth has increased demands on the limited space, while urbanization has transformed many coastal zones into built-up areas protected by artificial defenses, resulting in massive losses of ecosystems and keystone species with consequential large-scale and cumulative effects (Lai et al, 2015; Heery et al, 2017)
The area covered by tidal flats has fallen 16% in the last 30 years (Murray et al, 2019) and 24% of the world’s sandy beaches are eroding due to human activities (Luijendijk et al, 2018)
Summary
Low elevation coastal zones (LECZ, i.e., regions up to 10 m above sea level) cover only 2% of the surface of our planet (McGranahan et al, 2007), but are highly prized, both ecologically and economically. Monitoring was showing that the problems of the beaches for surfers and some subaquatic ecosystems, were, induced by previously built coastal infrastructure They implemented a ground-breaking sand bypass solution, based on ecosystem management, which has been very successful, as they have been able to mimic the natural longshore transport of sediments. It is generally true that the increasing number and severity of natural events in coastal regions disproportionately affect the most impoverished people (Chaplin-Kramer et al, 2019) In this context, green infrastructure projects can promote social justice and equity by protecting communities located in high-risk areas (Ruckelshaus et al, 2020) and recovering the hydrosedimentary fluxes that may have been interrupted to protect a specific “valuable” area, and that are causing erosion and subsidence to downdrift communities. In light of new data, adapted infrastructures must be congruent with natural cycles
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