Coastal Management

Question 1

Amenity Value (e.g. of a beach)

Answer 1

Amenity values are characteristics that influence and enhance people’s view of an area. Values come from the pleasantness, aesthetic coherence, and cultural and recreational attributes of an area.

Question 2

Beach Nourishment

Answer 2

The addition of sand or pebbles to an existing beach to make it higher or wider (often to increase recreational amenity). The sediment is usually dredged from the nearby seabed. (£300 000 for 100 metres.)

Question 3

Cliff Drainage

Answer 3

Removes water to prevent landslides and slumping.

Question 4

Cliff Regrading

Answer 4

Reduces the angle of the cliff to help stabilise it.

Question 5

Cost-Benefit Analysis (CBA)

Answer 5

The benefits of a given action are summed, and then the costs associated with taking that action are subtracted. Decisions are based on whether there is a net benefit or cost to the approach.

Question 6

Dune stabilisation

Answer 6

Pioneer species, such as marram grass, bind sand with their roots and reduces the impact of wind and water on removing sediment. Areas can be fenced in to keep people off newly planted dunes. (£200 to £2 000 for 100 metres.)

Question 7

Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

Answer 7

Process of evaluating the likely environmental impacts of a proposed project or development (for managing the coast), considering both positive and negative impacts.

Question 8

Gabions

Answer 8

Pebbles in wire baskets, which can form a wall where the great surface area absorbs wave energy and breaks up waves.

Question 9

Groynes

Answer 9

Timber or rock structures built at right angles to the coast. They trap sediment being moved along the coast by longshore drift- building up the beach. They make beaches wider and higher so that waves expend their energy on it rather than on the backshore. (£5 000 to £10 000 each.)

Question 10

Hard Engineering

Answer 10

Controlled disruption of natural processes using man-made structures e.g. sea walls, groynes, and revetments.

Question 11

Holistic Coastal Management strategies

Answer 11

An approach to environmental management that treats the whole area as an interrelated system.

Question 12

Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM)

Answer 12

A process for the management of the coast using an integrated approach, regarding all aspects of the coastal zone, including geographical and political boundaries, in an attempt to achieve sustainability.

Question 13

Managed Retreat

Answer 13

Allows an area that was not previously exposed to flooding by the sea to become flooded by removing coastal protection (often creating a salt marsh).

Question 14

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs)

Answer 14

Non-profit organisations that operate independently of any government, usually with a purpose to address an issue.

Question 15

Offshore Breakwaters

Answer 15

A partly submerged rock barrier aligned in shallow nearshore waters parallel to the shore. They break up the waves before they reach the coast by absorbing wave energy and dissipating the waves, allowing the accumulation of sand.

Question 16

Revetments

Answer 16

Sloping wooden, concrete or rock structures- placed at the foot of a cliff or the top of a beach parallel to the backshore but a short distance in front of it. They can take the force of breaking waves, so weakening their erosive strength, and protecting the backshore (£4 500 a metre).

Question 17

Rip rap

Answer 17

Large boulders placed at the foot of a cliff, or at the top of a beach. It forms a permeable barrier to the sea-breaking up the waves, but allowing some water to pass though. They are resistant to erosion and with a large surface area break up waves, so dissipating their energy. Can also hold back mass movement on an unstable cliff. (£100 000 to £300 000 for 100 metres).

Question 18

Sea wall

Answer 18

Made of stone or concrete at the foot of a cliff or at the top of a beach, parallel to the backshore. They usually have a curved face to reflect waves back into the sea (£6 000 a metre).

Question 19

Shoreline Management Policies

Answer 19

A large-scale report, assessing the risks associated with coastal processes. It aims to help reduce these risks to people, property, and the historic and natural environment. The main objective is to identify sustainable long-term management policies for the coast.

Question 20

Soft Engineering

Answer 20

Approach designed to work with natural processes in the coastal system, to manage (but not necessarily prevent) erosion.

Question 21

Sustainable Coastal Management

Answer 21

The management of human activities and sustainable use of coastal resources in order to minimise adverse impacts on coastal environments now and in the future.

Question 22

Climate change

Answer 22

A change in global or regional climate patterns, in particular a change credited largely to the increased levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide produced by the use of fossil fuels, leading to global warming and consequently rising sea levels.

Question 23

Environmental Refugees (from climate change)

Answer 23

People who have been forced to leave their traditional habitat temporarily or permanently, due to environmental disruption (natural or triggered by people, such as climate change) that has seriously affected the quality of their life.

Question 24

Milankovitch Cycles (climate change)

Answer 24

Small, slow but regular changes in the Earth’s orbit round the Sun, and the tilt of the Earth’s axis, affecting the amount of sunlight which falls on parts of the Earth. This leads to cycles of climate on Earth, of about 100,000 years and have been causing periods of dramatic, short-term global warming for at least 1.4 billion years.