ABSTRACT
The need for informed management of the coastal zone is increasingly pressing, considering climate change-related challenges and threats that are anticipated for coasts worldwide (Nicholls et al. 2007). In England and Wales alone, approximately 1.5 million people live in low-lying coastal areas that are protected by sea defenses (Jorissen et al. 2000). It has been estimated that 1.1 million properties in an area of 400,000 ha and a capital value of £137 billion are at risk of œooding or coastal erosion in England (DEFRA 2004). The expected acceleration of sea-level rise, in combination with the already observed loss of natural coastal defenses in the form of extensive areas of intertidal saltmarsh, is hence of signižcant concern for coastal managers (Turner 1995; Nicholls and de la Vega-Leinert 2008).
