Project Overview

The ENDURE project is organised into three strands each answering a challenge facing coastal managers and communities.

1 New Solutions for dune resilience

Three new solutions have been trialled on the ground at seven dune sites facing issues such as erosion and flooding across the project area. There was enough information available about these sites for progress to be measured and compared to the situation prior to the start of the pilots. Each solution employed was  ecosystem-based , innovative and never attempted on dunes before.   

Methods were well-considered, cost-effective  and underpinned by scientific, cutting-edge research. We delivered appropriate, achievable and sustainable coastal management tools for stakeholders such as managers, land owners, government agencies, local and regional authorities, promoting wider application of these solutions. 

2 Building tools to increase stakeholder capacity

ENDURE has jointly developed 3 new tools to improve stakeholder  knowledge, experience and confidence :

1. Mapping tool to visualise and compare impacts of different dune interventions on resilience, and supporting stakeholders to try new tools.
2. Early warning of dune status - dune health tool check to identify resilient and vulnerable dunes
3. Infrastructure (buildings) assessment tool – research on how the presence of buildings in the coastal zone impacts dunes (positive or negative) 

3 Raising awareness of coastal communities and stakeholders

To fully realise the potential of new solutions and to achieve the best possible results for ENDURE, education and training to support the above two strands of the project was essential.

This strand of the project launched 2 education campaigns specifically targeting 2 Seas stakeholders important to successful improvements in dune resilience. These consisted of coastal managers, decision-makers including leadership, management teams and staff. In addition, EU coastal communities (with an overall population of 5 million) are important stakeholders in this context, as they have the most to lose if dunes fail to adapt to climate change effects. These members of the public are also involved in the development of a more effective coastal policy against the effects of climate change.

The ENDURE project has aimed to fulfil the following main objectives:

• Increase capacity of 2 Seas region stakeholders to implement nature-based coastal management  approaches, moving away from reliance on hard engineering interventions .
• Improving the natural ability of 2 Seas coastal dune systems to act as adaptive, living sea defences with greater resilience to climate change impacts such as coastal flooding, erosion and sea level rise.