Coastal management: Why is it important?
HoHsuan Hsueh
May 5, 2012
Coastal management is oftentimes an important benefactor in the
economic growth of cities near coasts. Such an advantageous geographical
location can potentially support tourism, resource extraction, industry,
settlements, and wildlife habitats. Unfortunately, with great power comes great
responsibility (“The Amazing Spiderman”, 1962). Coastal management is a crucial
aspect in maintaining the prosperity of the coast in that it seeks to balance each of the
aforementioned benefits, as well as tackle potentially detrimental natural events. The
extent of its importance in a coastal city is greatly defined by its support of tourism,
preparations for sea level rise, management of pollution, maintaining safe coastal
transport, and extraction of resources.
Tourism often overlaps with settlements and immigration increase in a coastal
city. The scenic surroundings and tourist attractions that coasts can (if pruned
correctly, that is) have the ability of drawing in tourists, and in the process of doing so
also attract immigrants. Sydney and Manila, both cities growing in population, have
multifarious coastal uses, among which include the tourism industry. Sydney is
ranked seventh globally in its percentage of foreigners born in the city, with over 70
percent of its annual population growth consisting of immigrants. Much of the
immigrant residency lie in the northeastern shores and far eastern suburban regions of
the city, close to the coast of the city. Such areas are kept relatively clean and well
kempt, one major reason being to support tourists and fluff up recreational land use
occurring along the coast (a prime example of the ‘balance’ obtained between tourism
and wildlife). The tourism industry involving the coast of a city is thus beneficial both
financially (such as employment) and culturally (with foreign immigration).
Responsible coastal management is necessary for tourism to be most adjuvant in a
coastal city’s growth in these aspects, such as through premeditated coastal zoning for
recreational land use in order to maintain the ultimate balance between the five
aforementioned benefits of coast (settlement, tourism, wildlife, transport, etc.)
Sea level rise is one of the numerous negative effects of global warming,
and can be increasingly devastating on a global scale in the near future.
Geologists believe there to be an exponential increase in the years ahead of the
sea level, due to past estimates. In merely a century, the sea level is expected to
rise as much as 45 cm. This is especially dangerous for cities located near coasts
because of their location near bodies of water. The rising sea level may damage
such cities physically and economically due to commercial, recreational, and
other forms of land use implicated along the coast for the five aforementioned
benefits. Thus, coastal management is one major form in which the city may
protect itself, such as through various methods of coastal engineering. In
Singapore, a growing coastal mega-city with the world’s third largest population
density, land is very limited and desirable. For this reason, one of the imminent
threats to Singapore is coastal erosion. The city’s sea walls, rock armour, and
other forms of coastal engineering have succeeded in eradicating major erosion
of Singapore’s coastal areas. However, strong tidal waves and sea level rise have
proved increasingly challenging for the city to tackle.
Coastal management can also be greatly beneficial in managing yet
another man-made global quandary, pollution. Specifically, marine pollution
remains one of the largest problems that coastal cities face. Oftentimes, because
of their advantageous geographical location, such cities can rely on cheaper
methods to dispose of transport/industrial byproducts and other forms of waste,
marine pollution being one most significant. Around 45% of all marine pollution
is due to marine transportation, such as ship export and import areas along the
coast of a port city. Lagos, a booming coastal mega city, may face environmental
and economic turbulence ahead because of its irresponsible oceanic waste
disposal. Nigeria’s (the city’s country) status as an LEDC (Less Economically
Developed Country) underlines the city’s lack of resources needed to mitigate
pollution levels. However, coastal management seeks to balance the five forms of
coastal use, as each is often mutually connected. By mitigating and reducing
pollution levels, such management of the coast pays off in other aspects of
coastal use as well. For example, environmental-wise coastal wild life and
tourism benefit, while resource extraction and industry such as the fishing
industry benefit from an economic standpoint.
A functional transportation system is crucial in any coastal city. Port cities
especially often have large hinterlands, due to landlocked cities located around
such cities being restricted in long-distance transport. The coast of Kolkata has a
vast hinterland, covering more than one third of India in total. The majority of
states in these areas, including Bhutan and Nepal, are landlocked and rely on
Kolkata’s transportation system as their main source for imports and exports.
This convenient means of importing and exporting goods/services provides an
economic foundation in that the city’s necessities (refined oil, gasoline, etc.) can
be attained through trade when such resources are scarce or nonexistent in the
city itself. Transporting individuals allows for easier migration from other close
regions, as well as potentially supporting the tourism industry through cruise
lines, etc. Because of the city’s complicated web of transport lines originating at
the coastline, Kolkata constantly faces the challenge of ensuring the safety of
these lines to avoid natural land deformations such as coastal erosion. Coastal
engineering is particularly important in this aspect of transportation in that hard
engineering tactics such as building sea walls and revetments can form a
protective barrier. Thus, the transport lines closest to the coastline of the city is
shielded from land deformation through coastal erosion.
The management of coast resource extraction is also extremely
advantageous in a city’s economic prosperity. Coasts often provide natural
resources that can diversify the exports of a coastal city, as well as expand
specific industries associated with such resources. Los Angeles, located on the
west coast of the US, is widely known for its crude oil reserves. The petroleum is
then refined at local oil refineries, which are placed near the coast for convenient
and cheaper transport to and from destinations. Failure to oversee and limit
resource extraction through coastal management leads to long-term
environmental and economic issues for coastal cities. In Lagos, overfishing has
not only impacted the environment detrimentally, such as by unbalancing the
natural food chain occurring within the organisms living in the sea water, but has
also put strain on the fishing industry. As fish are extracted in vast amounts to
transport to the industrial factories, the resource becomes increasingly scarce.
Fishermen especially face unemployment as a result of this effect.
Coastal cities, in most cases, have an economic advantage over their
landlocked siblings in that coasts can become a source of tourism, resource
extraction, industry, settlements, and wildlife habitats. But without effective
coastal management to find a sustainable balance between these uses,
irresponsible use of one coastal use could virulently affect other coastal uses
already implemented. Each of the five coastal uses are perpetually conjoined
together. Coastal cities can only fully embrace the advantages of their coast with
responsible coastal planning, through coastal engineering and land use.
References
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