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Greening the grey: improving the biodiversity value of sea wall flood defence
embankments

Conference Paper · September 2018

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Tim Gardiner
Environment Agency UK
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 Greening the grey: improving the biodiversity value of sea wall flood defence
embankments

Dr Tim Gardiner, Environment Agency, UK

In the United Kingdom, sea wall flood defence embankments are important wildlife habitats.
There are over 2000 km of sea wall in the UK representing a significant corridor for the
dispersal of flora and fauna. In the last decade work has focused on improving the populations
of plants and insects, with a particular emphasis on pollinators. Research has also been
undertaken on the restoration of salt marsh to provide natural protection to flood defences. Salt
marsh has been found to significantly attenuate wave energy and prevent damage to sea walls.
With this in mind, salt marsh terraces (Fig. 1) have been designed to establish a soft engineered
feature, providing a green fringe to the concrete frontage of the defence. This benefits salt
marsh plants such as sea aster which are keystone species in Tokyo Bay. The UK approach to
provide terraces for sea aster has been applied to Tokyo sea walls.

Fig. 1: Salt marsh terrace which aids the conservation of sea aster

Tokyo Bay has a combination of vegetated and concrete sea wall flood defences, although there
is often little in the way of wildlife habitat present. On a visit to Tokyo in 2016, good sea wall
management was noted in areas of grassland cut for hay and fenced off butterfly gardens with
food plants for swallowtails. Uncut grassland was also noted which had an abundance of
grasshoppers and butterflies. Cutting less frequently and leaving uncut refuges is an important
way of conserving insects.
Biodiversity features such as vertical beaches and artificial rock pools can also be designed
into grey concrete structures. These features have been tested in the UK and found to be
beneficial.

Reference:
Cousins L.J., Cousins M.S., Gardiner T. & Underwood G.J.C. (2017) Factors influencing the
initial establishment of salt marsh vegetation on engineered sea wall terraces in SE
England. Ocean and Coastal Management 143, pp. 96-104.

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