A significant and increasing share of the EU population lives in coastal areas. Approximately half the EU population lives 50 km or less from the coast (EST AT, 2009), with 19% of the EU population (86 million people) living within a 10 km coastal strip (EEA, 2006). It is likely that such numbe rs will increase in the future. Collectively, this is both placing growing demands on coastal resources as well as increasing people's exposure to coastal hazards (Sterr et al ., 2003). Coastal areas are dynamic and complex multi-functi on systems. A wide number of often conflicting human socio-economic activities occur in these areas. Th ese include urbanisation, tourism and recreational activities, industrial production, energy production and delivering, port activities, shipping, and agriculture. Coastal systems are also characterised by important ecological and natural values; their high habitat and biological diversity is fundamental to sustain coasta l processes and provide ecosystem services which are essential also for human well-being (MEA, 2005). Human acti vities often conflict with the need to preserve natural coastal systems and their ecol ogical processes. In the context of climate change, highly urbanised and infrastructured coastal areas are of particular conc ern since they can drastically limit and even impede natural adaptive processes, such as inland migrat ion or vertical accretion of wetland systems. Climate change adds additional pressure on European coastal systems (Richards and Nicholls, 2009) by increasing vulnerability on already highly vulnerable areas. This can include the development of new impacts, intensification of already occurring impacts, and synergic and cascading effects. The main impacts of climate change in the coastal zone are expected to be related to sea-level rise and other key meteorological changes. These include changes in th e frequency and intensity of extreme whether events such as storms and associated su rges (EEA, 2008), although uncertainty on storm surge projections is rather high (see section 2.1). Indeed, approximately 140,000 km 2 of EU land is currently within 1 m of mean sea level. In some countries, such as Denmark, t he Netherlands, Italy, Germany and England, these low- lying coastal areas are densely in habited (EEA, 2010a). This makes coastal human systems particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise and changes in int ensity and frequency of flooding. Besides permanent inundation of low-lying coastal areas due to sea le vel rise and increased flooding, other expected climate change impacts include increased erosion of beaches and cliffs, degradation of coastal ecosystems (in particular wetland and deltas), and sa ltwater intrusion in freshwater systems (EEA, 2010a; ETC/ACC, 2010a, ETC/ACC, 2010b). Other less studied impacts may signific antly contribute to increase coastal vulnerability in particular at the local or regional level, such as cha nges in hydrodynamic regimes, impacts on water trophic conditions, changes in biological communities and impacts on commercially important marine species. The assessment of coastal vulnerability to climate ch ange is therefore a key issue at the European level.
Methods for assessing coastal vulnerability to climate change
E Ramieri;A Barbanti;
2011
Abstract
A significant and increasing share of the EU population lives in coastal areas. Approximately half the EU population lives 50 km or less from the coast (EST AT, 2009), with 19% of the EU population (86 million people) living within a 10 km coastal strip (EEA, 2006). It is likely that such numbe rs will increase in the future. Collectively, this is both placing growing demands on coastal resources as well as increasing people's exposure to coastal hazards (Sterr et al ., 2003). Coastal areas are dynamic and complex multi-functi on systems. A wide number of often conflicting human socio-economic activities occur in these areas. Th ese include urbanisation, tourism and recreational activities, industrial production, energy production and delivering, port activities, shipping, and agriculture. Coastal systems are also characterised by important ecological and natural values; their high habitat and biological diversity is fundamental to sustain coasta l processes and provide ecosystem services which are essential also for human well-being (MEA, 2005). Human acti vities often conflict with the need to preserve natural coastal systems and their ecol ogical processes. In the context of climate change, highly urbanised and infrastructured coastal areas are of particular conc ern since they can drastically limit and even impede natural adaptive processes, such as inland migrat ion or vertical accretion of wetland systems. Climate change adds additional pressure on European coastal systems (Richards and Nicholls, 2009) by increasing vulnerability on already highly vulnerable areas. This can include the development of new impacts, intensification of already occurring impacts, and synergic and cascading effects. The main impacts of climate change in the coastal zone are expected to be related to sea-level rise and other key meteorological changes. These include changes in th e frequency and intensity of extreme whether events such as storms and associated su rges (EEA, 2008), although uncertainty on storm surge projections is rather high (see section 2.1). Indeed, approximately 140,000 km 2 of EU land is currently within 1 m of mean sea level. In some countries, such as Denmark, t he Netherlands, Italy, Germany and England, these low- lying coastal areas are densely in habited (EEA, 2010a). This makes coastal human systems particularly vulnerable to sea-level rise and changes in int ensity and frequency of flooding. Besides permanent inundation of low-lying coastal areas due to sea le vel rise and increased flooding, other expected climate change impacts include increased erosion of beaches and cliffs, degradation of coastal ecosystems (in particular wetland and deltas), and sa ltwater intrusion in freshwater systems (EEA, 2010a; ETC/ACC, 2010a, ETC/ACC, 2010b). Other less studied impacts may signific antly contribute to increase coastal vulnerability in particular at the local or regional level, such as cha nges in hydrodynamic regimes, impacts on water trophic conditions, changes in biological communities and impacts on commercially important marine species. The assessment of coastal vulnerability to climate ch ange is therefore a key issue at the European level.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
