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5.6.1. Technology – Hard Engineering<br />
Hard engineering structures are manmade, such as dikes, levees, revetments <strong>and</strong> seawalls, which are used<br />
to protect the l<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> related infrastructure from the sea. This is done to ensure that existing l<strong>and</strong> uses,<br />
such as tourism, continue to operate despite changes in the surface level of the sea. The capital investment<br />
needed for engineered protection is expensive <strong>and</strong> not ideal in sparsely populated areas. For densely<br />
populated cities, a seawall may be worth the investment when the costs of the protected l<strong>and</strong>s are taken<br />
into account. To protect Historic Cockburn Town, 7.32 km of new levees would be required. This would cost<br />
nearly US $36 million, with annual maintenance of close to US $6 million. The cost for building a new<br />
seawall is even greater at approximately US $125 million, with annual maintenance of over US $3 million<br />
(Simpson et al., 2010). A seawall with groynes is already evident in Historic Cockburn Town, Gr<strong>and</strong> Turk, as<br />
shown in Figure 5.6.1.<br />
Figure 5.6.1: Seawall <strong>and</strong> groynes, Historic Cockburn Town, Gr<strong>and</strong> Turk<br />
Unfortunately, the effectiveness of this approach may not withst<strong>and</strong> the test of time nor withst<strong>and</strong> against<br />
extreme events. Protective infrastructure not only requires expensive maintenance which can have longterm<br />
implications for sustainability, but adaptations that are successful in one location may create further<br />
vulnerabilities in other locations (IPCC, 2007b). For example, sea walls can be an effective form of flood<br />
protection from SLR, but scouring at the base of the seawall can cause beach loss, a crucial tourism asset, at<br />
the front of the wall (Krauss & McDougal, 1996). Moreover, hard engineering solutions are of particular<br />
concern for the tourism sector because even if the structures do not cause beach loss, they are not<br />
aesthetically pleasing, diminishing visitor experience. It is important for tourists that sight lines to the beach<br />
not only be clear, but that access to the beach is direct <strong>and</strong> convenient (i.e. to not have to walk over or<br />
around a long protective barrier). Smaller scale hard engineering adaptations offer an alternative solution<br />
to large scale protection. Options include redesigning structures to elevate buildings <strong>and</strong> strengthen<br />
foundations to minimize the impact of flooding caused by SLR.<br />
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