ABSTRACT
Europe's coast is under increasing threat from erosion. A fifth of the enlarged EU's coastline is already severely affected, with coastlines retreating by between 0.5 and 2m per year and by 15m in a few dramatic cases (Europa, 2007a). A worldwide tendency to coastal erosion (Cipriani et al, 2004) has been locally aggravated by some of the very strategies implemented to reverse the pattern (Gillie, 1997; Weerakkody, 1997). Of the 875km of European coastlines that have started to erode within the past 20 years, 63 per cent are located less than 30km from coastal areas altered by recent engineering works (Europa, 2007b). Natural beach changes usually involve erosive and sedimentary processes that are mainly a response to changes in incident wave regime and tidal range (Anfuso et al, 2000). Since 1100 AD there has been evidence of shoreline volatility on the eastern flank of Swansea Bay (Bullen, 1993) (see Figure CS12.1). Historically, the development of South Wales, industrial docks have to some degree affected the equilibrium of the coastline, and the Institute of Oceanographic Sciences (IOS, 1980) concludes that human intervention, including port developments and seawall construction, has been the main erosion mechanism along South Wales beaches. Cipriani et al (1999; 2004) report similar findings on downdrift beaches at other European locations.
