1. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management The CONSCIENCE project, results and outcomes 12 April 2010 Marcel Marchand

2. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management EU 6th Framework RTD Call SSP5-A (Scientific support to policies): ‘to support the formulation and implementation of Community Policies, by providing scientific contributions to policies that are targeted precisely on needs, coherent across the various Community policy areas, and sensitive to changes in policies as they take place’. Scientific Officer: Dr. Karen FABBRI (till 1 April 2010) Nicoleta-Ariana NASTASEANU (from 1 April)

3. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management Rationale EUROSION project: DG Env. 2002-2004 recommendation 1: restoring the sediment balance and providing space for coastal processes introduction of 4 concepts: –coastal sediment cell –favourable sediment status –strategic sediment reservoir –coastal resilience

4. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management Project partners DeltaresResearch inst.the Netherlands EUCC Mediterranean CentreNGOSpain Coastal & Marine Res. CentreUniversityIreland Int. Centre Coastal Resources Res.UniversitySpain HR WallingfordSMEUnited Kingdom GeoecomarResearch Inst.Romania Institute of HydroengineeringResearch Inst.Poland Priority Actions ProgrammeotherCroatia

5. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management WP leaders CONSCIENCE Project Steering Committee (PSC) WP1 Project Management: Project Coordinator (PC) Dr. M. Marchand (Deltares) WP 2 leader Mr. J. Gault (NUIC) WP3 leader Dr. J. Mulder (Deltares) WP4 leader Prof. L. van Rijn (Deltares) WP5 leader Dr. J. Sutherland (HR Wallingford) WP6 leader Prof. A. Sanchez-Arcilla (CIIRC) WP7 leader Mrs. M. Ferreira (EUCC) End Users Advisory Group Coordinator: Mr. M. Prem (PAP/RAC)

6. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management Pilot sites 1: Holland coast (the Netherlands) 2: Hel peninsula (Poland) 3: Danube Delta coast (Romania) 4: Costa Brava (Spain) 5: Pevensey Bay (United Kingdom) 6: Inch Beach (Ireland)

7. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management Ultimate goal of project Make coastal erosion concepts... (resilience, sediment cells, sediment reservoir, favourable sediment status) operational for management... (EU context, different coasts, different management settings, ICZM, sustainability) that is scientifically justified... (knowledge, data, models, tools)

8. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management Main challenges Science – Policy interface:  Complexity of physical processes and social context  Uncertainty: models  Time and space scales  End user involvement

9. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management Key issues and concepts Coastal resilienceresilience Sediment cells Strategic Sediment Reservoir Favourable Sediment Status Frame of Reference

10. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management Frame of Reference for policy implementation

11. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management Main findings Eurosion concepts are mixture of scientific and policy connotations they are useful if: –temporal and spatial boundaries are explicit –objectives for coastal erosion management are made explicit space (km) Time (years) 1101000.1 1 10 100 Safety Hold the line Grow with sea level

12. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management Hybrid concepts Coastal resilience Favourable sediment status Strategic sed. reservoir Coastal cell system property (‘science’)  equilibrium profile strategic objective (‘policy’) sediment budget (‘science’) favourable for what? (‘policy’) sediment budget (‘science’) when strategic? (‘policy’) sediment processes (‘science’: e.g. depth of closure) time horizon (‘policy’)

13. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management FoR as guidance Frame of Reference method: useful to guide erosion management  makes objectives clear  shows management steps   role of knowledge becomes clear  shows need for institutional arrangements (who is responsible for what?)

14. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management Measures: Set back lines needed for resilience trade off between risks and economic profit risk lines requires modelling

15. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management Sand nourishments resilient / adaptive to sea level rise requires monitoring/models requires well established institutionalised erosion management

16. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management Hard structures robust / resistant side effects not adaptive to sea level rise

17. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management Erosion models physical scale experiments mathematical models simple reprofunctions

18. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management Data and monitoring great variety of monitoring methods coastal state indicators (CSI) are key to effective monitoring programme examples of CSI: dune strength beach width shoreline position

19. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management European perspective Implementation Eurosion concepts in Europe often hampered by lack of explicit objectives for erosion policy Existing EU Directives on floods, water and sea do not address the coastal erosion problem

20. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management Main conclusions Coastal practitioners: use Eurosion concepts and FoR as guidance formulate CSI’s for benchmarking and monitoring National level: formulate coastal erosion policies and objectives EU level: integrate Eurosion recommendations in EU policies and directives

21. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management Thank You!

22. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management Coastal resilience Is resilience a natural state of the coast? What about natural receding or accreting coasts? Which time scales are we looking at? Not applicable to soft cliff coasts?! Resilience is not an aim in itself but a means to arrive at sustainability.

23. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management Coastal Sediment Cell How to delineate a CSC? How do CSC’s behave in time? Cross-boundary problems / administrative boundary does not coincide

24. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management Favourable Sediment Status How to define? Who decides what is favourable? Which parameters to measure? Which Coastal State Indicators?

25. Concepts and Science for Coastal Erosion Management Strategic Sediment Reservoir When is a sediment deposit strategic? Who decides? What are the consequences if sediment is considered inside or outside the reservoir? How to deal with distant sources (e.g. river catchments)?