RESEARCH FOR

estImatIon of potentIal Impact of coastal erosIon
protectIon In latvIa
liga brunina 1 , elina Konstantinova 2
1 Latvia University of Agriculture
2 Information System Management Institute, Latvia
e-mail:liga.brunina@gmail.com
abstract
The Baltic Sea problems in context of erosion always have been very topical and since ancient times have been caused by
uncontrollable and unpredictable natural factors (storms). These factors combine with the impact of human economic
activities of the direct effect of factors -building offshore and aquatorium, deficit of sediment and marine dredging and
growth of recreational tourism growth that promote load of coastal vegetation and dune relief. The identification of
costs and benefits is significant step for evaluation of the impact of the Project and usefulness of the costs. The positive
impact or benefits can occur at once, after a while or long term perspective. The economic evaluation techniques
particularly cost-benefit and cost-effectiveness analysis for coastal protection in this case used for ascertain the most
effective alternative. The sensitivity analysis was made for verifying impact of alternatives on taken solution. The aim
of research is to verify the economic methods for application to coastal management in Latvia. The world’s coastal
scientists believe that the future of coastal policy will become increasingly polarized and discussed; therefore, gradual
implementation of the assessment process and development of socio-economic indicators is recommended.
Key words: Regional development, coastal erosion protection, costs and benefit analyses, environmental economics.
Introduction
Any sustainable economic development is based
on effective site management and integrated regional
development, including development of coastal
regions. It is important to note that the total
length of Latvian coastal area covers the third
of the total borderline of the State (about 26%) and
population already approaching 1 million people in 5-10
km wide coastal zone. Based on the monitoring data of
the past century, the coast is washed up to 200 m. As
a result, the Sea is dangerously approaching originally
built villages, individual farms and cities (Eberhards
et al., 2009).
The Baltic Sea problems in context of erosion
always have been very topical and since ancient
times have been caused by uncontrollable and
unpredictable natural factors (storms). Over time
this problem is getting more topical in particular
because of the changes in natural processes,
which more or less are connected with climate
changes that influence the growth of storm force,
rise of global water level, more intense wash out of
sand, etc. These factors combine with the impact of
human economic activities of the direct effect of
factors - building offshore and aquatorium, deficit of
sediment and marine dredging and growth
of recreational tourism growth that promote
load of coastal vegetation and dune relief (Lapinskis,
2010).
Despite the topicality of the problem, Latvia still
lacks real estimate of the economic losses in the
national economy resulted from erosion and also lack
of policy regarding coastal erosion prevention.
ReseaRch foR RuRal Development 2012
ECONOMICS
As the process of environmental changes has
become more intense both locally and globally, thus
the risks for ecosystem resilience and integrity have
become greater, particularly in coastal areas. Within
the development of EU environmental protection and
management policy there is an increasing need for
economical evaluation of environmental ecosystems.
The main driving force of economical evaluation
is EU Water Framework Directive which is very
important in introducing economic aspects in
development of water protection and management
policy. EU Water Framework Directive states that in
case of loss protected areas compensation must take
place on the principle of equivalence. For example, in
decision – making process related to water protection
the socio-economic conditions, including costs and
benefits of political decisions and actions while
estimating situations can be taken into account
(Pakalniete et al., 2008).
The authors of article for estimating losses of
coastal erosion propose to apply the method of costbenefit
analysis, mathematically calculating the
benefits of economic activities and environmental
aspects of coastal area and losses of coastal erosion.
materials and methods
For estimation of Latvia coastline it was necessary
to define all coastal values and distribute them
in calculation classes. It is done based on socioeconomical
indicators, analysis of Latvian coastline
and developed methodology for estimating values.
To estimate coastal values, the methodology
based on benefit transfer method (Wilson et al., 2006;
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