ABSTRACT
For millennia, coasts have provided locational advantages for human settlement. As a focus for trade and with ready access to rich coastal resources, the attraction of these areas has resulted in the ‘littoralisation’ of human society. However, the very attractiveness of the coast has been the agent of its decline. The extensive depletion and degradation of highly productive ecosystems, including mangroves and coral reefs, over the last century is well documented (Agardy et al., 2005; Kay and Alder, 2005). This has resulted in marked reduction of many of the benefits provided by coasts, including their natural defence capacity. Half of the world’s wetlands disappeared over the previous century due to human interference (Creel, 2005). Pollution impacts and overexploitation of coastal resources, particularly fisheries, also pose pressures on coastal systems and threaten the well-being of coastal populations.
