1.1.9 Impacts of coastal processes on humans

Positive impacts of coastal processes on human activity:

• Recreation and tourism- coastal landscapes provide the opportunity for a wide range of leisure pursuits, and coastal landscapes and features attract people to the coastal zone

• Residential- people want to live by attractive coastal landscapes

• Job opportunities from tourism industry- the EU estimates that coastal tourism creates job opportunities for 3.2 million people, generating €183 billion

• Agriculture- tidal mudflats can be drained and used for farming, for example in parts of the river estuaries in Suffolk

• Industry- rias provide deep water ports needed for importing materials, for example Milford Haven in Pembrokeshire, Wales has a depth of 17m even at low tide

• Transportation- rias allow deep water vessels to travel inland, for example the port of Southampton is 16km inland

  • Flat marine terraces above sea level are ideal for road and rail communications

The growth of tourism:

• Tourists are attracted to the coastal zone for many reasons:

  • Natural features, such as dramatic scenery, sandy beaches, safe warm seas, large waves for surfing, ecosystems and their wildlife and fossils exposed by retreating cliffs

  • Deep water ports that are suitable for large cruise ships

    • Vancouver’s cruise terminal can handle 4 cruise ships at a time and around 900,000 passengers a year, contributing $2 million to the local economy

  • Rebranding and marketing by coastal resorts

    • Brighton, Southend-on-sea and Hartlepool have all rebranded to attract tourists

    • Blackpool has rebranded to shed it’s downmarket image in favour of a more sophisticated and glamour ours feel, coinciding with redevelopment of the town

  • To visit places seen in TV

    • The tv series Broadchurch was filmed around West Bay in Dorset and was watched by up to 10 million people per episode. In 2014 (a year after premiere) 77% of local businesses reported increased customer numbers, while 70% reported increases in turnover

• In many coastal areas, tourism represents the most important economic activity. In 2016, seaside tourism was worth £8 billion in England

• Tourism in the coastal zone can have a number of impacts

  • The development of services and infrastructure to accommodate tourists

    • In the 1960s, the plan to encourage tourism resulted in Benidorm growing rapidly into a town of 69,000 people today, catering for more than 4 million tourists yearly

  • Negative impacts on the environment:

    • Footpath erosion, over 200,000 people a year walk over the coast path between Lulworth Cove and Durdle Door, causing the path to widen by 2m and erode downwards by 30cm

    • Damage to ecosystems, in Cancun in Mexico, 57 hectares of mangrove forest were cleared in 2016 for the construction of a tourist complex

    • Unsustainable demand for water

  • Infrastructure overload, including traffic congestion

  • An increase in second homes in attractive holiday locations

  • Facilities only cater for tourists and are closed out of season

  • Social-cultural changes, such as

    • Commercialisation of local culture, known as reconstructed ethnicity

    • Locals may resent the influx of tourists and their cultural ideas

  • Vulnerability of reliance on one economic activity, for example a terrorist attack results in tourism declining overnight

  • Cruise ship tourists spend little in the coastal area because they have little need for the services. Cruise ships can be a source of pollution at sea

  • A large number of jobs are created, although many are poorly paid and seasonal

  • Local people make a living providing services for tourists

  • Money earned by locals is spent locally, creating a multiplier effect

Negative impacts of coastal processes on human activity

• Rapid mass movements are hazardous to life (however they kill very few people in the UK)

• Coastal events such as cliff retreat causes damage and loss of buildings and infrastructure, and the loss of valuable agricultural land and therefore income for farmers

  • The British geological survey estimates that 113,000 residential and 9,000 commercial properties, as well as 5,000 acres of farmland are at risk, with a value of £7.7 billion

• A loss of beach sediment results in a loss of tourist income and industry

• The erosion of vulnerable ecosystems, such as coral reefs results in a loss of tourism

• Sea level rise makes low lying coastal areas vulnerable to flooding

• An increase in sediment input results in increased deposition further along the coast, affecting harbours and ports

Management strategies relating to impacts of coastal processes on human activity:

The choice of management strategy can depend on the following criteria:

• Feasibility- is an engineering solution possible given factors such as geology

• Cost-benefit analysis- benefits should outweigh costs for the adoption of a strategy

• Environmental impact analysis- considers the effects on the environment

• Risk assessment- considers factors such as the recurrence intervals of storms, what the strategy is designed to prevent and how long it should last

A coastal management strategy for erosion may due one or a combination of the methods listed below

Case study-   Management of coastal processes – Holderness

• Located in East Yorkshires coastline

• Composed predominantly of soft erodible boulder clay

• Notoriously one of Europe’s fastest eroding cliffs (over 2m/year)

• Use of sea walls, groynes and revetments

• Use of managed retreat in certain areas

• Integrated coastal zone management

• Decision making involves tradeoffs between protecting property and allowing natural coastal change