Journal of Coastal Conservation 

About: Journal of Coastal Conservation is an academic journal published by Springer Science+Business Media. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Coastal erosion & Coastal management. It has an ISSN identifier of 1400-0350. Over the lifetime, 1137 publications have been published receiving 18795 citations.

'Coastal squeeze' - an historical perspective

Abstract: The use of salt marsh for agricultural use has probably been going on for thousands of years. This paper will look at the situation in southeast England, particularly the Wash. Here enclosure for extended grazing and over the last several hundred years, for arable cultivation, may have taken place since Roman Times. An enclosure of Freiston Shore salt marsh (1979) and a proposed further enclosure at Gedney Drove End at about the same time raised concerns about the cumulative effect of these developments on nature conservation interests. These concerns prompted the nature conservation agencies to oppose the Gedney Drove End enclosure.Though the conservation argument did not persuade the Government that no further enclosure should take place, economic circumstances changed such that the pressure for the creation of new agricultural land diminished. This marked the end of ‘reclamation’ in the Wash. Since then, in the UK at least, there have been no further enclosures of salt marsh for agriculture.What were the arguments that lead to this change? Up to this point the perceived wisdom, in the Wash at least, was that as enclosure took place new inter-tidal land was created to seaward – with no net loss of inter-tidal land. Today we accept that this is not the case and a policy of managed re-alignment has increasingly been adopted in England, at sites ranging from the Porlock shingle ridge in north Devon to the salt marshes of Freiston in the Wash.It is argued that recognition of ‘coastal squeeze’ probably began in the Wash some 20 years ago. It would appear that we are now witnessing a reversal of this trend. How far will it take us? Will we see a return of the large expanses of tidal swamp around the Wash and elsewhere along the southern North Sea coast? Is this an inevitable consequence of global warming?This paper provides an historical perspective of the issues and arguments that have led us to recognize ‘coastal squeeze’ and the importance of dynamic coasts, including the European Commission's ‘EURosion Project’, which reported in 2004 (Salman et al. 2004).

Changes in landscape and vegetation of coastal dunes in northwest Europe: a review

Abstract: In coastal dunes, landscape changes are a rule, rather than an exception. This paper gives an overview of changes in landscape and vegetation with a focus on the past century. The history of dunes is characterised by phases of sand drift, alternated with geomorphological stability. The historical development of dune woodland during these stable phases has been documented for sites all over Europe. Vegetation reconstructions of historical open dune habitats however is very difficult due to limited preservation of fossil remains. People have drastically altered coastal dune landscapes through centuries of exploitation and more recently development of the coast. Historical land use has generally pushed vegetation back into a semi-natural state. During roughly the past century a tendency of increasing fixation and succession is observed on coastal dunes throughout northwest Europe. Six causes of change are discussed. 1) Changes in land use, mainly abandonment of agricultural practices, have led to the development of late successional stages such as scrub and woodland. 2) Crashing rabbit populations due to myxomatosis in the 1950s caused vigorous grass growth and probably stimulated scrub development. 3) A general tendency of landscape fixation is observed due to both natural and anthropogenic factors. 4) Eutrophication, mainly due to atmospheric nitrogen deposition is clearly linked to grass encroachment on acidic but also on some calcareous dunes. 5) The impact of climate change on vegetation is still unclear but probably lengthening of growing season and maybe enhanced CO2 concentrations have led to an acceleration of succession. 6) A general anthropogenisation of the landscape occurs with rapid spread of non-native species as an important consequence. The reconstruction of a natural reference landscape is considered largely unattainable because of irreversible changes and the long tradition of human impact, in many cases since the development of the dunes. Two contradictory elements need reconciliation. First, the general acceleration of succession and scrub and woodland development in particular is partly caused by a decreased anthropogenic interference in the landscape and deserves more appreciation. Second, most biodiversity values are largely linked to open, early succession dune habitats and are threatened by the same tendency. Apart from internal nature management, in which grazing plays an important part, re-mobilisation of stable, senescent dunes is an important challenge for dune management.

Managing mangroves in Bangladesh: A strategy analysis

Abstract: Bangladesh, favoured by a tropical climate, houses the world's largest stretch of mangroves forests (Sundarbans Reserved Forest) and plantations. Around half of the forests of the country occur in the coastal zone. People extract various goods and services from the mangroves. Nevertheless the mangrove forests are depleting. Although the extent of the Sundarbans forest has not changed much, its decline is of a qualitative nature. Mangrove plantations are increasing in area but they are losing growing stock. To arrest this, Bangladesh has adopted several strategies.The ‘Sustainable Ecosystem Management’ strategy has now been adopted instead of the ‘Sustained Yield Principle’. Biodiversity conservation and enhancement has been taken as a key management goal. A zoning system is being developed for both production and protection purposes. The government facilitates alternative income for the local people by generating activities for the communities which are dependent on the forest. Different non-governmental organizations collaborate with the government in reducing the local people's dependence on the forest. Coastal plantations are erected to protect people from cyclones and to make the land more suitable for habitation. Through this greening of the coastal belt tree plantation is encouraged in coastal villages. Coastal embankments are being planted and leased to poor settlers in exchange for routine maintenance of the embankments. Plantations on newly accreted mud flats help in stabilizing the land, which can later on be settled by victims of erosion elsewhere. These adopted management measures do not only contribute to forestry resource management but also to the social, environmental and economic wellbeing of the coastal communities. These efforts are at present being integrated into an Integrated Coastal Zone Management (ICZM) project.

Sea-level rise and coastal vulnerability: an assessment of Andhra Pradesh coast, India through remote sensing and GIS

Abstract: The eustatic sea-level rise due to global warming is predicted to be about 18 to 59 cm by the 2100 (IPCC 2007), which necessitates identification and protection of vulnerable sections of coasts. Assessment of vulnerability level of Andhra Pradesh (AP) coast as an example is demonstrated in this study using five physical variables, namely coastal geomorphology, coastal slope, shoreline change, mean spring tide range, and significant wave height. A coastal vulnerability index was prepared by integrating the differentially weighted rank values of the five variables, based on which the coastline is segmented into low-, moderate-, high-, and very high risk categories. About 43% of the 1,030-km-long AP coast is under very high-risk, followed by another 35% under high-risk if the sea level rises by ~0.6 m displacing more than 1.29 million people living within 2.0 m elevation in 282 villages in the region.

A GIS-based vulnerability assessment of coastal natural hazards, state of Pará, Brazil

Abstract: Studies carried out in the NE coastal zone of the State of Para (Brazil) have recorded, in the last 25 years, numerous evidence of natural impacts of the flood and erosion processes. As a consequence, diverse strategies and measures of population adaptation have been implemented but with limited success. Therefore, in order to subsidize the Coastal Zone Management Program of Para, this paper aims to identify, assess and classify natural and socio-economic vulnerabilities of this coastal zone by means of a Geographical Information Systems (GIS)-based composite coastal vulnerability index (CVI). In spite of the data problems and shortcomings, using ESRI’s Arcview 3.2 program, the CVI score, to classify, weight and combine a number of 16 separate natural and socio-economic variables to create a single indicator provides a reliable measure of differences (5 classes) among regions and communities that are exposed to similar ranges of hazards. The results are presented in three maps referred to as Natural, Socioeconomic and Total Vulnerability. The confidence associated with the results obtained, the need to utilize another variables, and to frequently update the ones used already were analyzed and discussed.