Increasing capacity

We have been working to improve the management capacity of those working with or that own coastal sand dune sites (the project sometimes collectively refers to these people as our stakeholders), and in turn ensuring dune resilience.  This includes:

• Dune site and land managers, private as well as charities, trusts and conservation groups etc.
• Decision makers setting site management policies such as local/regional or national authorities like councils and nature organisations
• Coastal planners and officers, flood analysts, risk analysts, civil engineers,  ecologists etc.
• NGOs and charities e.g. wildlife trusts and conservation groups
• Future coastal dune managers, such as those currently in education

  We have developed new tools to increase stakeholders’ knowledge of new, nature-based solutions in coastal policy.

The health of coastal dunes is becoming increasingly important. Many traditional sea defences are old and failing and will be expensive to replace. A single metre of concrete sea wall costs more than €13.000. To protect the entire 420 km of 2 Seas coastline in this way would cost more than 4 billion euros and would still not supply a permanent, economically sustainable defence against the sea.

The key role of dune systems in protecting coastal communities against climate change impacts is now more critical than ever.

However, dunes and the people that manage them do not receive the expert attention needed to translate cutting-edge science, research and design into effective daily management approaches. Those working in or with sand dunes need access to information on best practice in enhancing dune resilience. This enables them to make the most of dune resilience and to install cost-effective and sustainable techniques, improving dune systems in the long term.

We have developed and tested 3 new tools to improve stakeholder knowledge, experience and confidence in the use of alternative dune management approaches. This has improved the capacity of 2 Seas stakeholders to understand how ecosystem-based techniques work as well as their ability to manage dunes for lasting resilience. 

The resilience of 2 Seas dunes to climate change now and in the future is closely linked to the capacity of those working with them, or developing / delivering impacting policies to understand and apply ecosystem-based management techniques. Before the start of this project, stakeholder understanding of the need for ecosystem-based techniques was limited – focus has previously been restricted to hard engineering approaches. There is therefore a demand for tools which help dune stakeholders become more familiar with nature-based solutions to dune resilience.

We have 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, supporting stakeholders to try new tools.
2. Early warning 'Marram Health' tool - dune health tool check to identify resilient and vulnerable dunes
3. Impact of Buildings (Infrastructure assessment) tool - research on how the presence of buildings in the coastal zone impacts dunes (positive or negative)

Each solution represents a simple response to the challenges faced on our coastlines. Each tool was tested on the ground by stakeholders across the project area for concrete results. Each tool is freely available for wider application, ensuring its durability.