14.5How are coasts managed?

Learning Intention: To learn about and evaluate the strategies used

to protect coastal environments mainly hard engineering and soft
engineering strategies.
By Nilofer Maniar
Answer the
questions after
watching the video

• What do you understand by

coastal management?
• Why is coastal management
important? (What is the issue?)
• Do you see any measures or
structures in place to stop
coastal erosion?
• Why are residents blaming the
government? What can they
do?
What is Coastal
Management
• Coastal Management is looking after
our coastline by protecting it from
erosion, flooding and other
environmental issues.
• Without coastal management coastlines
can suffer from erosion and flooding,
leading to land loss, economic damage
and habitat loss
• While we cannot stop the waves or the
wind from moving the sand, we can
redistribute or trap the sand or build
structures to reduce their impact.
There are two main types of
coastal management
techniques:
• Hard Engineering
• Soft Engineering
Hard Engineering
• Hard engineering strategies typically
involve using physical structures to
control the effects of natural processes.
• Sea walls, groynes, gabions and
breakwaters are all examples of hard
management techniques.
• They are tough and can protect the
coast, but sometimes they cause
more problems later on.
• For example, if you build a sea
wall, it might stop the beach from
getting washed away, but it also
stops the sand from moving
around naturally. So, over time,
you might end up with no beach at
all in front of the wall because the
sand can't get back to where it was
supposed to be.
Groyne: An example of Hard
engineering
Wave tank demonstration
showing the impact of
coastal defences on flood
risk

Explore Beyond: Unveiling

Coastal Defenses in Action
Answer in 1. Identify the problem that sea walls usually
your attempt to solve.

workbook
Soft Engineering
• Due to the issues that often arise from hard engineering
strategies, many of the strategies we see used today
involve soft engineering techniques.
• These strategies commonly use natural processes instead
of permanent physical infrastructure.
• For example, Dune revegetation is a common soft
engineering strategy that involves planting natural
grasses and shrubs. As these plants grow, their roots help
bind the sand together, halting erosion.
 2. Describe one situation in which you would
Answer in use a hard management technique instead of
a soft management technique.
your 3. Describe one situation in which you would
use a soft management technique instead of a

workbook hard management technique.

CASE STUDY: Managing
Adelaide’s living beaches
For the past 7000 years the beaches Previously the
south of Adelaide have been eroding peninsula ended Now it ends
here here

This longshore drift has removed

material from the south and relocated it
in North Haven

Because of this movement of

sand, here a peninsula has
grown, and a large dune
system has been created

For the past 30 years the

beaches in the south have been
replenished by adding
truckloads of sand.
Longshore Drift
Animation
Longshore drift in
action!
The Solution: Adelaide’s
Living Beaches Strategy
Although sand will still need to be recycled from north to south,
the plan is to use a pipeline instead of trucks to do most of the
transportation. FIGURE 3 illustrates the
solution.

The pipeline will extend along the coast and will send sand back
to the southern end of the beach.
A series of structures such as breakwaters and groynes will be
built in several places to trap sand at important locations.
Fewer trucks will be used, and it is expected that the cost of
beach restoration will be reduced.
FIGURE 4 shows sand
being discharged at the
southern end of the
beach.
Adelaide’s
Living
Beaches
Strategy
Do coastal management
strategies always work?
• The plan to protect Adelaide's beaches and nearby buildings is better
because it takes into account wind patterns and how sand moves.
• But if a structure like the groyne is built on a beach, it will certainly trap
sand on the side that interrupts the direct flow of the longshore drift. But
this structure will also reduce the flow of sand to beaches further along
the coast, on the other side of the groyne.
• Building a sea wall or breakwater may interrupt the flow of longshore
drift and actually silt up the mouth of the harbour it is protecting.
• A sea wall can deflect the power of waves and increase erosion on an
unprotected part of the nearby coast, or reduce the erosion of material
from a cliff face that had been replenishing sand on the local beaches.
The
problem
with
Groynes