North Norfolk - a regional approach to coastal erosion management and sustainability in practice

摘要

This integrated study has facilitated the development of solutions to local coastal defence problems within the context of a longer-term, sustainable regional strategy. The following principal components have provided the basis for the analysis: 1. An understanding of the regional geomorphology and cliff recession processes; 2. Recognition of the unique coastal cliff environment; 3. Extensive numerical modelling of nearshore wave and tidal conditions; 4. Multiple studies of littoral sediment transport, to include numerical modelling, sediment sample analyses, and reviews of previous research; 5. Regional scale modelling of coastal processes and shoreline evolution; and 6. GIS-based economic analyses to support options appraisal at a regional level. Thus, central to this integration has been an understanding of the physical processes governing coastal erosion, the interdependency of adjacent management units (in terms of sediment transport), and GIS-based economic analysis to assess regional impact of management options. While similar strategy studies may be conducted within the confines of a single management unit, accurate impact assessments for management options will be frustrated by poor understanding of impacts outside of the analysis domain.