Research project: Coastal resilience in the face of sea-level rise

Climate change poses a significant threat to the UK’s coasts, including the effects of sea-level rise and coastal erosion. English and Welsh coasts are strategically managed through Shoreline Management Plans which indicate management options, such as defend or realign, over the next 100 years. A major part of increasing the resilience to climate change in coasts, is to strategically manage the shoreline and anticipate change so that sensible management decisions are made decades ahead.

To date, much concentration on Shoreline Management Plans has been based on the domains of physical science and engineering, with less consideration of the people who affected. There is a lack of common learning of how difficult decisions have been made in managing the coast and increasing climate resilience.

This project will take a more integrated view of these issues and aims to:

*Determine the types of coast (archetypes) that are prone to climate-driven risks

*Understand the types of high-level adaptation options available.

*Determine pathways of adaptation to increase climate resilience on coasts.

 

Key to a successful project in the involvement of stakeholders. In this project, we will engage with coastal stakeholders such as the Channel Coastal Observatory who co-designed this project.