managing coastlines

• coastal recession and flooding create serious economic and social losses
• the damage done to houses and businesses mean that people are forced to relocate whilst repairs are done and financial support is needed to support this
• many people in less developed countries have limited financial assets and are reliant on international aid
• south west uk railway line

  in 2014 heavy storms damaged the railway line that provided a key connection for commuters travelling between Devon, Cornwall and the uk
• rip rap is a pile of boulders placed in front of sea.walls to dissipate the waves energy and support unstable rock structure

  they are long lasting and cheap

  they provide a hazard for people accessing the beach
• offshore breakwaters are made up of rocks placed in a line parallel to the shore

  they provide calmer conditions

  but they are expensive
• revetments are angles walls places just offshore to assist in breaking down the force of the waves to reduce their ability to erode the coastline

  they are more cost effective

  they reduce the rate of erosion
• groynes are stone or wooden fences that stick out at 90 degrees to the coast, they stop material being transported long distances by longshore drift

  they create wider beaches that slow down waves and reduces erosion and flooding

  but the beaches get narrower
• sea walls are made out of hard concrete that deflects waves, they are curved to dissipate the waves energy and refract it back towards the sea

  they are a long term solution

  but they create a strong backwash

  they are expensive to build and maintain
• beach nourishment is the process of adding sand to a beach to increase its width and length

  it slows down waves by widening beaches

  can threaten certain organisms by removing their habitat
• cliff regrading involves restructuring and supporting the cliff to prevent further collapse from weathering and mass movement
• dune stabilisation involves the creation or restoration of sand dunes to maintain their protective position
• the iczm deals with holistic coastal management strategies
• the iczms considers the social, economic and environmental implications
• following factors when deciding on the type of coastal management:

  the proposed risk to residential, commercial and industrial buildings

  the implication of coastal recession on the local economy

  the impact of coastal recession and flooding on the environment
• strategic realignment is when physical processes are allowed to work naturally, with monitoring and intervention only when necessary
• hold the line- maintaining the existing defences to make sure they continue to be effective
• no active intervention- no management used along this coastline with physical processes allowed to work naturally
• advance the line- the construction of new engineering techniques to protect the coastline from further recession
• cba (cost benefit analysis) is used to determine the economic value of a coastline to decide if intervention is needed to protect the land
• and eia (environmental impact assessment) is used to assess the short and long term implications of using management strategies on the environment
• Happisburgh coastal management

  happisburgh is on the north Norfolk coast

  failed management and lack of funding to maintain existing structures led to a failed attempt to protect the coastline from recession
• happisburgh shoreline management plan was changed to no active intervention but then was changed back to managed realignment
• rip rap was placed on the beach to dissipate the waves energy

  the government believe that the economic cost to install new defences is not cost effective compared with the properties at risk
• iczm- integrated coastal zone management