Coastal Systems and Landscapes: Coastal management Flashcards
(25 cards)
What is a sediment budget?
A coastal management tool used to analyse the different inputs and outputs within a coastal system.
What is integrated coastal zone management:
Coastal management that takes all factors into account e.g. environment, social impacts, economic impacts, sustainability
Outline do nothing (SMP):
- Allow flooding and erosion to occur naturally.
- Coastline is exposed to natural processes.
Outline advance the line (SMP):
- Defences are built to try and move the shoreline towards the sea (potentially to protect an important population centre or tourist amenity).
Outline retreat the line (SMP):
Defences and engineering techniques are used to allow the coastline to advance inward and create its own natural defences e.g. salt marshes.
Outline holding the line (SMP):
Defences are maintained, upgraded or replaced to maintain the current position of the shoreline.
What are the four ways to handle a coastline according to shoreline management plans?
- Hold the line
- Retreat the line
- Advance the line
- Do nothing
What are the 3 term periods of times for shoreline management plans? Give the number of years.
Short term: 0 - 20 years
Medium term: 20 - 50 years
Long term: 50 - 100 years
What are the 2 main aims of coastal management?
- Provide defence against flooding
- Provide protection against coastal erosion
Outline offshore breakwaters and their strengths and limitations:
Rock barrier which forces waves to break before reaching the shore.
- Effective at reducing waves energy (S)
- Visually unappealing (L)
- Can interfere with LSD (L)
Outline groynes and their strengths and limitations:
Wood protrusions that trap sediment from LSD
- Builds up the beach, protecting cliffs (S).
- Cost effective (S)
- Visually unappealing (L)
- Deprives areas lower down of sediment, increasing erosion elsewhere (L)
Outline sea walls and their strengths and limitations:
Concrete structures that absorb and reflect wave energy, with a curved surface.
- Effective erosion prevention (S)
- Promenade has tourism benefits (S)
- Visually unappealing (L)
- Wave energy is reflected elsewhere (L)
Outline rock armour/rip rap and their strengths and limitations:
Large rocks that reduce wave energy, but allow water to flow through.
- Cost effective (S)
- Rocks are sourced elsewhere so don’t match local geology (L)
Outline revetments and their strengths and limitations:
Wooden or concrete ramps that help absorb wave energy.
- Cost effective (S)
- Visually unappealing (L)
- Can need constant maintenance- an additional cost (L)
Outline beach nourishment and their strengths and limitations:
Sediment is taken from offshore sources to build up the existing beach.
- Builds up the beach, protecting the cliff (S).
- Cost effective and looks natural (S)
- Needs constant maintenance (L)
- Dredging may have consequences on local coastal habitats (L).
Outline cliff regrading and drainage and their strengths and limitations:
Reduces the angle of the cliff to help stabilise it (a steeper cliff would be more likely to collapse).
- Cost effective (S)
- Cliff may collapse suddenly as it is drier, leading to hazardous rock fall (L)
- Looks unnatural (L)
Outline dune stabilisation and their strengths and limitations:
Marram grass is planted. The roots help bind the dunes, protecting the land behind.
- Cost effective and creates an important wildlife habitat (S)
- Planting is time consuming (L)
Outline cliff march creation and their strengths and limitations
Type of managed retreat allowing low-lying areas to flood.
- Creates an important wildlife habitat (S)
- Farmers loose land and may need compensation (L).
What is a cost-benefit analysis?
- A hollistic analysis carried out before any form of coastal management occurs.
- Considers the expected cost of construction, demolition and maintenance of the coastal plan is then compared to the expected benefits of a scheme e.g. land value, homes and businesses that will be protected.
How do we promote sustainable coastal management?
- Managing natural resources (e.g. fish, water, farmland) to ensure long term productivity.
- Ensure there are new jobs for people who face unemployment due to protection measures.
- Educating communities about the need to adapt and how to protect the coastline for future generations.
- Monitoring coastal changes and then using adaptation/mitigation as a response to these observed changes.
- Ensure that all stakeholders are considered when changes are proposed and then adopted.
What is integrated coastal zone management (ICZM)?
- Method of sustainable coastline management where large sections of coastline are managed within one integrated strategy.
- Different councils and political boundaries have to work together to manage the coast.
Outline the considerations and regulations of ICZMs:
- Recognises the importance of the coast for peoples livelihoods.
- Recognises that coastal management must be sustainable with economic development being important, but not prioritised over protecting the coastal environment.
- ICZM must involve all stakeholders, plan for the long term and try to work with natural process (not against them).
- Recognises that sediment eroded in one location may form a protective beach elsewhere and so the decision to protect one coastal community may not outweigh the disadvantages of exposing another community to increased erosion.
- In 2013 the EU adopted a new initiative which promotes the use of ICZM’s across all of Europe’s coastlines, which recognised the benefits of the ICZM strategy
What are shoreline management plans?
- Plan to help manage coastal erosion.
- Identifies both natural and human activists within the sediment cell (sediment cells are considered to be closed during management but realistically there will be some exchanges between different sediment cells).
- Four options are considred when managing a sediment cell- hold, advance, retreat the line, do nothing.
Outline conflicts over coastal management decisions:
- Coastal management can benefit people- e.g. economically people may have their homes and businesses protected, environmentally habitats may be protected, socially community ties still remain in place and people keep their jobs.
- Also disadvantages people e.g. those who lose property, loose a job, or have to relocate elsewhere.
- Communities and homeowners have a strong attachment to a place so loosing their homes and social networks is a great loss- this may make them financially worse off, and people may feel lonely if forced to move and angry if areas are not chosen to be protected.
- DEFRA funding has been reduced by the central government since 2010 so they cannot invest in coastal management in all areas and now have to prioritise their funding in the most important locations.
