Innovative Littoral Preserving Technologies within the European Coastal Management

Coastal areas perform several important functions, among them storm damage reduction and an essential asset for the tourism industry, but they can be threatened by erosion, which could bring to loss of land of ecological and economic value and risk to human lives. Coastal resources provide a broad variety of recreational and economic opportunities. These opportunities rely on maintenance of the environmental quality and character of beaches and coastal systems. The intensification of population migration towards the coast and increased frequency of coastal hazards due to global climate change have lead coastal managers at the local level to pay a particular attention to coastal dynamics and shoreline evolution. Despite the high exposure of European coast to coastal hazard, scientific knowledge relevant for their mitigation is fragmented and poorly accessible to local authorities. Furthermore, coastal defence solutions, implemented at the local level, generally shift coastal problems to other locations. Facing these concerns, a specific focus is given to the newer beach nourishment and beach drainage techniques, wetland creation and restoration, dune rehabilitation and artificial reef creation, which better can challenge these particular situations. Coastal defence strategies vary in accordance with to the local condition. Therefore, these studies are always backed by detailed cost-benefit analysis.