Twenty-eighth Report Adapting Institutions to Climate Change Cm ...

y the changing climate as sea levels rise and more extreme storm events occur. Coupled with
this is the realisation that many of the UK’s coastal defence structures are nearing the end of their
viable lifespans or may require considerable maintenance.
Addressing threats to the coastline
2.80 There are four groups of threats arising from rising sea levels and increased incidence and violence
of storms:
2.81
2.82
erosion of land above the tidal range;
flooding of low-lying coastal land;
damage to marine structures; and
changes to coastal habitats.
In the past, the technical and management response to threats to the coastline has tended to be
the construction of hard coastal defences such as sea walls and groynes, 47 although there has been
an increasing use of soft protection and the use of beach nourishment and sediment management.
The emphasis nowadays is on an approach based on coastal and estuarial flood risk management,
and investment has focused on measures to provide reduced risk from and increased resilience
to defined events. Measures to improve the drainage of coastal lands, especially following storm
events, fall into this category. 48
There have been some initiatives aiming to restore or recreate coastal habitats by breaching
established defences and allowing natural processes to take over. An example of this can be seen
in Figure 2-V. This so-called ‘coastal realignment’ has, to date, been carried out with the voluntary
agreement of affected landowners who agree, in effect, to abandon their land. Coastal realignment
has the potential to act as a safety valve, whereby some coastal land is sacrificed in order to reduce
the threats of coastal erosion and flooding along the coast. However, the process is not without
controversy, not least because of concerns about the loss of productive land at a time of increasing
food insecurity.
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Chapter 2