LIVING WITH COASTAL EROSION IN EUROPE SEDIMENT AND SPACE FOR SUSTAINABILITY RESULTS FROM THE EUROSION STUDY European Commission COLOPHON FOREWORD Editors: The history of Europe has been marked by the continuous migration of its Pat Doody, Maria Ferreira, Stéphane Lombardo, Irene Lucius, Robbert Misdorp, inhabitants towards the coastal zones, which very often offered more favourable Hugo Niesing, Albert Salman, Marleen Smallegange conditions for economic growth. Today, about 70 out of the 455 million citizens of the enlarged European Union, i.e. 16% of the EU population, live in coastal Design and production: municipalities. This proportion keeps increasing. Van Rossum Rijgroep bv, Schiedam However, our coastal communities have clearly had an impact on the coastal May 2004 environment. Generally speaking, economic activities imply a pressure on natural areas, but in the case of coastal zones, there are also some specific environmental Cover: issues. These include the proliferation of engineered frontage, the intensive use of From left to right: Costa da Caparica, Portugal (Photo: IHRH); natural shores for recreation and tourism, and the extraction of near-shore sand Saint Quay, France (Photo: anonymous); Cap Blanc Nez, France (Photo: anonymous); and gravel for construction purposes. These fulfil important ecological, societal Scheveningen, the Netherlands (Photo: Rijkswaterstaat). and economical functions. The most important of these functions are the protection of human assets against storm surges and salt water intrusion, the Back: absorption of land-based nutrients and pollutants drained by rivers to the sea, From left to right: Wadden Sea, the Netherlands (Photo: Rijkswaterstaat); and the breeding and feeding of fishes, crustaceans and birds. To replace these Malaga, Spain (Photo: anonymous); Birling Gap, UK (Photo: J. Menrath); naturally fulfilled functions would cost far more than future generations of South Kerry, Ireland (Photo: Marine Institute, Ireland). European citizens could afford. Economic activities can also contribute to accelerated coastal erosion of the European coastline - one of the most visible consequences of this relentless and silent depletion of the coastal environment. Coastal erosion occurs when the sea encroaches upon the land as a result of wind, wave and tide pressure in conditions of poor sediment availability. Coastal erosion is a natural process which has always existed and throughout history has helped to shape Europe’s coastlines, but there is now evidence that the current scale of coastal erosion is far from natural. In many locations, human attempts to remedy the situation, e.g by erecting breakwaters, can actually Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union make the situation worse by causing more erosion further along the coastline. New freephone number: On the other hand, if nothing is done, human-induced coastal erosion will in the 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 long run jeopardise the ability of coastal zones to adapt to the effects of climate change, notably sea level rise and the increased frequency or magnitude of storms. A great deal of additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. The EUROSION study, commissioned by my Directorate-General for the It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu.int). Environment following an initiative by the European Parliament, set out to quantify the status, impact and trends of coastal erosion in Europe and assess Cataloguing data can be found at the end of this publication. needs for action at EU, Member State and regional levels. The findings and policy recommendations of this study are reported in this publication. Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2004 The EUROSION study concludes that efforts should be made to improve coastal resilience through improved sediment management and allocation of sufficient ISBN 92-894-7496-3 space for coastal processes. I hope that EU Member States and regions will take the EUROSION recommendations forward. For our part, the Commission will take © European Communities, 2004 them into account when finalising its thematic strategy on soil, and in other Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. relevant policy areas. Printed in the Netherlands Margot Wallström PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER Commissioner for the Environment European Commission 3 INTRODUCTION The scale of the problem coastal erosion or flooding will reach shape European coastal landscapes, All European coastal states are to 158,000 in 2020, while half of Europe’s creating a wide variety of coastal some extent affected by coastal coastal wetlands is expected to types. Erosion of inland soils induced erosion. About twenty thousand disappear as a result of sea level rise. 2 by rainfall and movement along kilometres of coasts, corresponding to riverbeds provides in some areas 20% 1, face serious impacts in 2004. The difficulty of reconciling the safety considerable amounts of terrestrial Most of the impact zones (15,100 km) of people and assets with the benefits sediments to the coast. These are actively retreating, some of them in offered by natural coastal processes has sediments together with those derived spite of coastal protection works (2,900 been exacerbated in the past 15 years from coastal features (such as eroding km). In addition, another 4,700 km as a result of increasing capital cliffs and marine sand banks) provide have become artificially stabilised. investments (in coastal defence) and essential material for the development falling river discharges. The length of of offshore reefs, mud flats, The area lost or seriously impacted by new engineered frontage has increased saltmarshes, sandy beaches, sand erosion is estimated to be 15 km2 per by 934 kilometres. Of the 875 km newly dunes, and transitional marshes. In year. Within the period 1999-2002, eroding coastlines (eroding in 2001 but turn, these coastal habitats provide a between 250 and 300 houses had to be not in 1986) 63% is located less than 30 wide range of outstanding benefits abandoned in Europe as a result of kilometres from an engineered including locations for economic and imminent coastal erosion risk and frontage. As for the 37% of remaining recreational activities, protection from another 3,000 houses saw their market newly eroding areas, they tend to have flooding in low lying areas, absorption This map shows the location of the case studies reviewed in value decrease by at least 10%. These a higher density in areas where sea of wave energy during storm surges, the framework of EUROSION study, some with their erosion losses are, however, insignificant level has risen by more than 20 cm in reduction of eutrophication of coastal rate per year. The cases of Cyprus, Tenerife, Azores and French Guiana are compared to the risks of coastal the past 100 years and is likely to rise waters, as well as nesting and hatching not displayed on the map. flooding due to the undermining of another 80 cm this century. of fauna species. Combating coastal coastal dunes and sea defences. This erosion can therefore create new threat has the potential to impact The cost of mitigation actions is problems elsewhere, depending on the regulation works (especially several thousands of square kilometres increasing. In 2001, public expenditure type of measures taken. construction of dams), dredging, and millions of people. Over the past dedicated to coastline protection vegetation clearing, gas mining and 50 years, the population living in against the risk of erosion and flooding water extraction. European coastal municipalities has has reached an estimated 3,200 million more than doubled to reach 70 million euros (compared to 2,500 million in The EUROSION study 1986 3). However, this expenditure As an echo to the threats mentioned mainly reflects the need to protect above, both the European Parliament assets at imminent risk of coastal and the European Commission have erosion, and does not reflect the hidden felt the need to undertake a Europe- costs induced by human activities in the wide study meant to provide quantified long term. Earlier studies for the UN- evidence that coastal erosion in Europe IPCC estimate that the cost of coastal does constitute a problem of growing erosion will average 5,400 million euro magnitude that public authorities do per year between 1990 and 2020. 4 not always succeed in containing, Geological Dept. Ravenna Municipality hence to assess the needs for action. What is coastal erosion ? Lido Adriano (Ravenna). In this picture, one can clearly The results of this two year study, Coastal erosion is the encroachment see that hotels have been built right on the beach, named EUROSION and steered by the resulting in an increased need for coastal protection upon the land by the sea and is (here by breakwaters) Directorate General of Environment of measured by averaging over a period, the European Commission, have been which is long enough, to eliminate the made public in May 2004. These results impacts of weather, storm events and Coastal erosion is usually the result of consist in: local sediment dynamics. a combination of factors - both natural and human induced - that operate on • A cartographic assessment of the Coastal erosion results in three different scales. Most important natural European coasts’ exposure to coastal Aerial photographs different types of impacts (or risks): factors are: winds and storms, near erosion, based on spatial data and of Happisburg inhabitants in 2001 and the total value • loss of land with economical, societal shore currents, relative sea level rise (a GIS analysis. respectively in 1992, 1999 and 2001. of economic assets located within 500 or ecological value combination of vertical land movement Cliff retreat can be meters from the coastline has • destruction of natural sea defences and sea level rise) and slope • A review of existing practices and easily detected in multiplied to an estimated 500-1000 (usually a dune system) as a result of processes.