Eurosion Draft Policy Recommendations
We have just received a copy of "Living with Coastal Erosion - EUROSION Policy Recommendations December 2003" which "provides a revised draft outline of the policy recommendations for coastal erosion and coastal flood risk management." EUROSION is "a project contracted by the European Commission to a consortium led by the Dutch National Institute for Coastal and Marine Management (RIKZ) for the period 2002-2004."
The full report can be downloaded from the eurosion website. The following are extracts are taken directly:
1992 |
1999 |
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| The municipality of Happisburg is a located in the county of North Norfolk (UK). Sediments are removed from the cliffs under the action of the waves and are transported southwards where they supply the beach of Sea Palling with "fresh" sediments. The two aerial photographs on the left depict the situation of the area of Beach Road in Happisburg, in 1992 and 1999 respectively. Coastal erosion mainly affected the south-east part of Beach Road, and coincides with the destruction of the wooden defences originally located upfront the cliff. |
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2.2.2. Human structures and activities have exacerbated coastal erosion
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To a lesser extent, coastal erosion is also exacerbated by human activities which are implemented in some cases hundreds of kilometres away from their zone of impact. This has proved to be particularly the case for:
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(ii) Aggregate extraction. Dredging of river and seabed for navigational purposes (i.e. deepening navigation channels) or constructional purposes (e.g. sand and gravel mining) removes an important amount of sediments. This creates a sediment starvation which is in certain circumstances compensated by (re)activation erosion processes along the shore areas. This has proved to be the case in a significant number of cases including Cove do Vapor (Portugal), the Western Scheldt estuary (Netherlands and Belgium), Donegal (Ireland), Cavado (Portugal), and North Norfolk (UK). In some cases, dredging activities, by modifying the water depth in the near-shore area, induce wave refraction which in turn modify the long-shore and cross-shore sediment transport patterns.
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