Dune restoration for protection against coastal hazards

Abstract

Guidelines for sustainability and ecosystem-based climate change adaptation in the coastal zone

Coastal zones worldwide are highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and communities who depend on these areas and the ecosystems services and assets that occur there are highly exposed to loss and damage. Whereas some of these impacts can be addressed through natural solutions, others might be irreversible. Addressing climate change adaptation and disaster-risk reduction in an integrated manner, is therefore particularly relevant in these areas, in particular to reduce long-term vulnerability. During this session, case studies on climate change adaptation action from different areas of the world will be examined, and lessons learned for both management and policy will be derived as the basis for new recommendations.

Key Speakers
Liette Vasseur, Brock University, Canada; Shane Orchard, WCPA and CEM; Milika Sobey, IUCN; Robert Mather, Southeast Asia Group, IUCN; Mark Ford, U.S. National Park Service; Robert Young, Western Carolina University

Full text

Dune restoration
for protection against
coastal hazards
Shane Orchard
IUCN WCPA / CEM Member
New Zealand
shane.orchard@pg.canterbury.ac.nz
IUCN World Parks Congress, Sydney, November 2014

NZ’s National Parks
Lowland and coastal
environments
under-represented

Active dune
systems

Christchurch City and coastline

Christchurch Coastal Park Network
Sumner Beach study site

Source: Lucas Associates
Spinifex
(Spinifex sericeus)
Pīngao
(Ficinia spiralis)
Indigenous dune systems

Remnants of a larger active dune system

Sumner Beach 2014

Sumner Beach 1914

1930s onward
- hard engineering
- dune degradation

Key management goal
= recovery of Spinifex on fore-dunes

Sumner Beach site – dune protection and
recovery

Results
Fore-dune transect December 2013 at a section of the beach in which dunes had
disappeared. (Dune Height of zero = level of local foreshore road).

Concepts for Ecosystem-based climate change
adaptation in the coastal zone
• Disaster Risk Reduction - a useful addition to ‘protection’
strategies due to focus on shorter duration high intensity events
• DRR as an Ecosystem Service
• Explicit recognition of planning horizons and adaptation needs.
Failure to address = institutional inertia.
• Design of a whole ecosystem approach that is inclusive of the
ecological system and the community.
Climate Change adaptation is a community problem.

Lessons from the field - coastal parks management
Management planning:
• Enable action at high level through overarching plan or strategy
confirming objectives for protection and management
• Prepare individual management plans to detail specific restoration
interventions, long term maintenance, and park infrastructure needed
for particular areas
• Ensure sufficient resources to address ongoing threats to the park and
its values prior to initiating management changes
Restorative management:
• Synergy by design: Conservation + DRR
• Community perspectives all-important
• Education and outreach activities
support social learning

Community involvement
Popularity of development types for the Sumner foreshore (Adapted from Anderson et al., 2012).

Christchurch Coastal Resilience Case Study
Coastal Protected Areas and DRR
Resilience of coastal margins to sea level rise
- earthquake recovery has created unprecedented
opportunities and raised awareness
Sea level rise – the next frontier:
- understanding adaptation needs
- methods to maintain resilience in a shifting system
- effectiveness of policy and planning approaches

Long term management of Coastal
Protected Areas
Protected Areas can
offer DRR benefits
for coastal
margins,
but
Protected Areas
themselves are
vulnerable to sea
level rise

Acknowledgements