TY - JOUR

T1 - The sustainability of beach nourishments

T2 - a review of nourishment and environmental monitoring practice

AU - Staudt, Franziska

AU - Gijsman, Rik

AU - Ganal, Caroline

AU - Mielck, Finn

AU - Wolbring, Johanna

AU - Hass, H. Christian

AU - Goseberg, Nils

AU - Schüttrumpf, Holger

AU - Schlurmann, Torsten

AU - Schimmels, Stefan

N1 - Funding Information: This study has been funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) through the project STENCIL (contract no. 03F0761). The authors acknowledge input from the Danish Coastal Authority (Kystdirektoratet) and Prof. Vicente Gracia (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya) as well as feedback from participants of the 36th ICCE 2018 in Baltimore, USA.

PY - 2021/4

Y1 - 2021/4

N2 - Beach nourishments are a widely used method to mitigate erosion along sandy shorelines. In contrast to hard coastal protection structures, nourishments are considered as soft engineering, although little is known about the cumulative, long-term environmental effects of both marine sediment extraction and nourishment activities. Recent endeavours to sustain the marine ecosystem and research results on the environmental impact of sediment extraction and nourishment activities are driving the need for a comprehensive up-to-date review of beach nourishment practice, and to evaluate the physical and ecological sustainability of these activities. While existing reviews of nourishment practice have focused on the general design (motivation, techniques and methods, international overview of sites and volumes) as well as legal and financial aspects, this study reviews and compares not only nourishment practice but also the accompanying assessment and monitoring of environmental impacts in a number of developed countries around the world. For the study, we reviewed 205 openly-accessible coastal management strategies, legal texts, guidelines, EIA documents, websites, project reports, press releases and research publications about beach nourishments in several developed countries around the world (Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, UK, USA and Australia). Where information was not openly available, the responsible authorities were contacted directly. The study elaborates on the differences in coastal management strategies and legislation as well as the large dissimilarities in the EIA procedure (where applicable) for both marine sediment extraction and nourishment activities. The spatial disturbance of the marine environment that is considered a significant impact, a factor which determines the need for an Environmental Impact Assessment, varies substantially between the countries covered in this study. Combined with the large uncertainties of the long-term ecological and geomorphological impacts, these results underline the need to reconsider the sustainability of nourishments as “soft” coastal protection measures.

AB - Beach nourishments are a widely used method to mitigate erosion along sandy shorelines. In contrast to hard coastal protection structures, nourishments are considered as soft engineering, although little is known about the cumulative, long-term environmental effects of both marine sediment extraction and nourishment activities. Recent endeavours to sustain the marine ecosystem and research results on the environmental impact of sediment extraction and nourishment activities are driving the need for a comprehensive up-to-date review of beach nourishment practice, and to evaluate the physical and ecological sustainability of these activities. While existing reviews of nourishment practice have focused on the general design (motivation, techniques and methods, international overview of sites and volumes) as well as legal and financial aspects, this study reviews and compares not only nourishment practice but also the accompanying assessment and monitoring of environmental impacts in a number of developed countries around the world. For the study, we reviewed 205 openly-accessible coastal management strategies, legal texts, guidelines, EIA documents, websites, project reports, press releases and research publications about beach nourishments in several developed countries around the world (Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, UK, USA and Australia). Where information was not openly available, the responsible authorities were contacted directly. The study elaborates on the differences in coastal management strategies and legislation as well as the large dissimilarities in the EIA procedure (where applicable) for both marine sediment extraction and nourishment activities. The spatial disturbance of the marine environment that is considered a significant impact, a factor which determines the need for an Environmental Impact Assessment, varies substantially between the countries covered in this study. Combined with the large uncertainties of the long-term ecological and geomorphological impacts, these results underline the need to reconsider the sustainability of nourishments as “soft” coastal protection measures.

KW - Beach nourishment

KW - Coastal management

KW - Coastal protection

KW - Ecology

KW - Environmental impact assessment

KW - Sustainability

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85102775015&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s11852-021-00801-y

DO - 10.1007/s11852-021-00801-y

M3 - Review article

AN - SCOPUS:85102775015

VL - 25

JO - Journal of coastal conservation

JF - Journal of coastal conservation

SN - 1400-0350

IS - 2

M1 - 34

ER -