Coastal Management Strategies - Soft Engineering

Coastal Management Strategies - Soft Engineering

1. Soft engineering strategies are schemes set up using knowledge of the sea and its processes to reduce the effects of flooding and erosion

2. Beach Nourishment - This is when sand and shingle from elsewhere is added to beaches

   • Advantages
     • It creates wider beaches that slow down the waves. This gives greater protection from flooding and erosion
   • Disadvantages
     • Taking material from the seabed can kill organisms like sponges and corals. Its a very expensive defence and it has to be repeated

3. Dune Regeneration - This involves creating or restoring sand dunes by either nourishment, or by planting vegetation to stabilise the land

   • Advantages
     • Sand dunes provide a barrier between the land and the sea. Wave energy is absorbed which prevents flooding and erosion. Stabilisation is cheap
   • Disadvantages
     • The protection is limited to a small area. Nourishment is very expensive

4. Marsh Creation - This involves planting vegetation in mudflats along the coast

   • Advantages
     • The vegetation stabilises the mudflats and helps to reduce the speed of the waves. This prevents flooding and erosion. It also creates new habitats for organisms
   • Disadvantages
     • Marsh creation isn't useful where erosion rates are high because the marsh can't establish itself. Its a fairly expensive defence

5. Managed Retreat - This means removing an existing defence and allowing the land behind it to flood

   • Advantages
     • Over time the land will become marshland - creating new habitats. Flooding and erosion are reduced behind the marshland. Its a fairly cheap defence
   • Disadvantages
     • People may disagree over what land is allowed to flood, e.g. flooding farmland would affect the livelihood of farmers