Explain why, for both physical and human reasons, some coastlines attract more management than others.
Explain why, for both physical and human reasons, some coastlines attract more management than others. Coastal management involves controlling development and change, and undertaking works in the coastal zone. Good management involves taking into account both physical and environmental considerations, as well as the views of local residents and others involved. There are two different types of coastal engineering, the 'hard' and 'soft' strategies. Hard engineering includes man made defences such as sea walls, a costly wall place on the seaward side away from the base of the cliffs needing an additional advanced line of protection such as rocks on their seaward side. Groynes, timber posts and boards which run out to the sea at right angles to trap sediment drifting along the coast. Gabions, cages enclosing shingle or small blocks of rocks, and revetments, defences that are aligned parallel to the shore including post, pillars or walls of rocks placed on the foreshore. Soft engineering includes planting trees and grasses in and around the beach, encouraging sand nourishment by adding more sand, and then most drastically, a managed retreat which involves moving homes and farmland. Physical influences such as the type of wave and fetch can determine the type of management used. For instance, if an area with a high, destructive wave count was not to receive a management scheme,
Understanding natural systems is the key to successful management of coasts. To what extent do you agree with this view?
Understanding natural systems is the key to successful management of coasts. To what extent do you agree with this view? To manage a coast successfully, the effects of erosion, flooding and unwanted deposition must all be minimized as much as possible. Furthermore the protection of people and their property also forms a good basis of good coastal management. It is true that to be able to set up good defences, the natural systems surrounding the coast must be understood, as this ultimately allows the management agencies to fully examine and decide the type of management that should be used. Coastal processes such as erosion and deposition are the main natural systems that affect our coast and thus must be monitored to ensure the best management strategy is in place. However the wave type and the amount of wave energy that is apparent at that stretch of coast ultimately decides the rate of erosion and deposition. The energy input of a wave is due to the wave height; the distance between the crest and the trough, the wave period; the time taken for a wave to travel through one wave length, and the wave steepness; the ratio of the wave height and wave length. Furthermore, the fetch of the wave will also influence the amount of energy that a wave has and therefore a wave with a high-energy value will potentially cause more damage than a wave with a low energy value. Spatial
