Coastal Erosion Management Research Articles

Coastal erosion management and the European principles of ICZM: local versus strategic perspectives

The European Recommendation on Integrated Coastal Zone Management has six core principles. These form two groups, one concerned with strategic goals and one that has a local focus. The principles are presented as a menu of free-standing options, with no prioritization either within or between groups. In the case of coastal erosion management these characteristics result in irreconcilable conflicts, and actively hinder sustainable management of eroding coasts. The principles require clarification, and recognition that they are an indivisible integrated set which should not be used to select principles to advance a particular agenda. It is essential that the strategic principles are given priority, because only they can underpin a sustainable approach to the issue of coastal erosion.

Spatial Approach to Medium-term Coastal Evolution in South Sicily (Italy): Implications for Coastal Erosion Management

Four sets of maps and aerial photographs have been integrated into a Geographic Information System (GIS) project to investigate coastal changes along a 60-km-long littoral sector in south Sicily, Italy. The beaches studied recorded significant morphological changes essentially related to the presence of human structures that interrupted littoral drift. Most of the investigated beaches experienced progressive erosion because of sediments being trapped by human structures resulting in the formation of wide beaches on the updrift side and erosion downdrift. The latter has often been counteracted by the construction of breakwaters. However, local planning authorities did not carry out an assessment of the impacts related to the construction of harbours and ports and their successive enlargement. This article proposes alternative actions concerning the possible future erosion management of the studied littoral.

Social justice in coastal erosion management: The temporal and spatial dimensions

Coastal erosion management is primarily based on economic considerations (cost–benefit analysis). From the perspective of social justice (as a particular expression of the wider concept of human rights), however, several arguments can be advanced regarding public intervention in coastal defence management when private property is threatened by coastal erosion. In this paper we examine these arguments at both the short-term local scale and the long-term large spatial scale and consider the merits of inclusion of a social justice dimension in coastal erosion management. The coast provides a range of resources that benefit society as a whole. Coastal residents and property owners face a direct financial loss from coastal erosion but the general public also stands to incur losses other than purely financial if it there is public intervention for the benefit of these property owners. The arguments for public intervention are strongest at the local and short-term scales but they weaken (and even reverse) at geographically larger and longer time scales. At larger scales, the costs to society increase as intergenerational equity, non-coastal residents, climate and sea level change, and the environment are considered. Because of the intensity of interest involved at the local level, we argue that the necessary hard decisions must be made nationally if a sustainable policy is to be adopted. Social justice considerations provide a potential improvement on the traditional economic cost/benefit-based decision-making process of coastal erosion management but they only contribute to sustainability if viewed at the national level.

Sandy barriers, climate change and long-term planning of strategic coastal infrastructures, Îles-de-la-Madeleine, Gulf of St. Lawrence (Québec, Canada)

The case study of Îles-de-la-Madeleine is presented to illustrate one aspect of the challenge facing coastal communities with regard to relative sea-level rise and climate change, namely the management of strategic infrastructures located within the coastal zone. GIS mapping has been carried out in two sites where the main road system of this archipelago, Highway 199, is located on sandy barriers and where the road has been threatened by chronic erosion problems for several decades. Our results confirm the dynamic nature of the barriers components (habitats, inlets and tidal deltas) and document the impacts of road-related modifications to the coastal system. These alterations have resulted in significant changes to coastal habitats, including loss due to coastal squeeze between the retreating shoreline and the coastal protection structures. Resort to riprap structures also impacted the evolution of the coastline and further coast hardening might jeopardize the morpho-sedimentary equilibrium of the barriers. To ensure the sustainability of coastal resources and secure Highway 199, it appears that a change is required, from an ad hoc type of management of coastal erosion towards the inclusion of the management of the road system within a long-term and integrated planning of the coastal zone.

Discussion of: Anfuso, G. and Gracia, F.J., 2005. Morphodynamic Characteristics and Short-Term Evolution of a Coastal Sector in SW Spain: Implications for Coastal Erosion Management.Journal of Coastal Research,21(6), 1139–1153.

Discussion of: Anfuso, G. and Gracia, F.J., 2005. Morphodynamic Characteristics and Short-Term Evolution of a Coastal Sector in SW Spain: Implications for Coastal Erosion Management.<i>Journal of Coastal Research,</i>21(6), 1139–1153.

Morphodynamic Characteristics and Short-Term Evolution of a Coastal Sector in SW Spain: Implications for Coastal Erosion Management

Abstract In SW Spain, numerous tourist beaches have been nourished over recent years to counteract coastal retreat. Nourishment projects have not produced great endurance, mainly because of the lack of basic information on coastal dynamics and longshore sediment transport paths. In order to cover these aspects in a sandy coastal sector south of the Guadalquivir River mouth, a beach monitoring program was carried out between 1996 and 1998, with a secondary program between 2000 and 2002. Four main beach types were identified, each one with different volumetric trends during the monitoring periods. Most beaches recorded accretion because of the prevalence of fair weather conditions, which emphasized differences among beaches. In a broad sense, beaches located on intertidal rock platforms recorded erosion or no change. Those located updrift of rock platforms or human-made constructions (groins) recorded accretion. These structures divide the coast into several littoral cells, which control longshore sediment ...

Coastal Erosion Management from a Community Economics Perspective: The Feasibility and Efficiency of User Fees

Coastal communities cannot depend on funding from the state or federal government to maintain high-quality beaches that benefit the public and attract tourist revenues. This article investigates the feasibility and efficiency of beach improvement projects at two Georgia barrier islands through the alternative funding mechanisms of general-revenue financing and user fees. Benefits are calculated from an intensive, on-site survey of beach visitors, and the costs are calculated from observable sources. The analyses presented support beach improvement as an effective policy on both islands under all scenarios considered.

Managed relocation: an assessment of its feasibility as a coastal management option

Managed relocation is explained and examined as an option to add to the usual categories considered in relation to managing coastal erosion. The paper considers the relocation of buildings in one unit, as opposed to demolition and re‐construction. The standard coastal erosion management options are briefly noted and how managed relocation can fit into these options is explained. This paper focuses on four case studies. Two examples are from the USA and two from the UK; of these, two (one in each of the UK and USA) took place during the nineteenth century. Managed relocation is proposed as being feasible in particular cases, particularly where there are isolated historic or high value buildings.

Cooperative provision of erosion protection: An empirical analysis of the Lake Erie shore

Officials involved in coastal erosion management have a wide set of policy options at their disposal. A subjective evaluation of each management option would estimate the benefits received by different groups of coastal users, establish the cost of the policy option, and formulate an optimal method to finance the policy. This article presents an example of this management approach via an empirical analysis of group formation among private property owners of the Ohio portion of the Lake Erie shore. A hedonic price model of erosion protection benefits is presented. An erosion protection cost function associated with a standard erosion control device is developed from the literature and expert opinion. Using benefit estimates for a sample of 228 homeowners and the cost function, the net benefits from belonging to a cooperative group are calculated under average cost and marginal cost allocation rules. Compared with “going it alone, “ it is found that group formation under an average cost allocation rule increases modestly the number of households for which protection is economically viable, while a marginal cost allocation rule results in a more substantial increase.

Coastal conditions in West Africa—A review

This paper describes the coastal system between Cape Palmas bordering the Ivory Coast and Liberia and Mount Cameroon, as a basis for regional coastal-erosion management. The area includes the rocky coasts of the Ivory Coast and Ghana, the long sandy beaches of Togo and Benin and the deltas of the Volta and Niger Rivers. Important elements of the system appear to be its geographical setting, its geological history, oceanological impacts, the sediment supply by rivers and coastal erosion, littoral transport and the rise of mean sea level. The morphological processes are influenced by human activities in the catchments of the rivers (dams), in the estuaries (dredging) and along the coasts (port construction). It appears that future human interventions and the impact of increased sea-level rise will require intergovernmental co-ordination in coastal-erosion management, as the various coasts are all part of one system.

Threats to beach resources and park boundaries caused by shoreline migration in an urban estuarine park

An evaluation of coastal processes, shoreline erosion, and shore management options for Conference House Park, New York, USA, reveals the problems associated with lack of congruence between jurisdictional boundaries and boundaries required for maintenance of beaches and shorefront park land. Rates of shoreline change are high despite low wave energies because bay beaches contain small amounts of sand. The park is so narrow in places that the shoreline will soon move out of park boundaries. This condition will eliminate natural beach resources, restrict access, and create political and administrative problems. Management strategies include revetment construction, beach nourishment, and acquisition of additional land. Obtaining the maximum length of shorefront to create a park may be less cost effective in maintaining natural beach resources than obtaining a shorter frontage and more compact shape that allows for shoreline movement. The problems of managing eroding shorelines in urban estuaries are acute because space is lacking, the cost of land is high, and the critical nature of shoreline erosion is disguised by low wave energies and lack of daily beach change.

The management of coastal zone erosion in Nigeria

Coastal zone erosion is manifested in Nigeria along the outer barrier beaches and the banks of tidal basins and creeks. The nature of shore erosion is examined by using case studies to highlight its causes, consequences and the implication for coastal resource management. This analysis is based on primary and secondary data sources. The paper calls for the merger of all government parastatals charged with different aspects of the environment into an environmental authority staffed with goal-seeking scientists. The conclusion is that rudiments of cost-benefit analysis should be used in deciding which coastal stretches require protection against erosion.

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

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.

Coastal erosion and the sediment budget, with special reference to the gold coast, Australia

Coastal erosion management demands knowledge of the sediment budget of the problem area. The Gold Coast budget is unusual in that it is longshore transport dominated but receives little or no sand from freshly weathered rock; sand is palimpsest and is derived from erosion of Pleistocene beach ridge systems well updrift. Moreover, both Pleistocene and Holocene sinks are either subaerial or shallow subaqueous; no submarine canyons exist in the region. Some evidence exists for two inner shelf sinks. Supply from updrift stores has until recently buffered the Gold Coast from the impact of late Holocene erosion, but there is little likelihood of natural increases in supply in the future.

Net Kinetic Energy in Littoral Transport

Studies of coastal erosion and coastal management can be put on a firm physical basis only after methods have been developed for closely estimating the energy expended in actual unidirectional net littoral transport of sediment. Such measures have now been obtained for six coastal drift cells. The results, for a 68-year period, vary from a minimum of 0.6 x 10(4) ergs (very low energy) to a maximum of 340 x 10(4) ergs (moderately high energy) per cell.