Managed Retreat
- 10 May 06, 09:58 AM
This is an amazing story and one that shows there are things we can do to combat the effects of global warming. A year before this photograph was taken, there was a field of barley. Now the field is full of delicious mud and is the spawning ground for many species of marine fish.
This is part of the county of Essex in the SE of England. Not far from London. The Environment Agency (A public funded body that looks after the earth, water and air of England and Wales) have punched some holes through the sea defences and allowed the land to be reclaimed as salt marsh. A piece of landscape alteration called "managed retreat". Global warming has kicked in, sea levels are rising - And in this part of the UK, the land is gradually tilting into the sea to boot. The upshot - the sea walls built to protect farmland from salt water are at their very limit and valuable salt marsh on the seaward side has all but disappeared. And obviously there's the ominous threat of flooding. Managing the retreat in this way regenerates the salt marsh on the old landward side of the sea wall (at the loss of some farmland - but fantastic for marine biodiversity - fish, birds, sea snails etc) - And arguably the salt marsh is a better sea defence than the wall. The marsh absorbs the energy of the waves reducing the risk of flooding. Listen to a show we made about it.
You'll hear about how the young fish are coming back and the biological importance of sticky mud. Many of you will live near or have experience of "coastal squeeze". It applies to many parts of the UK, but obviously other low countries (Holland and Denmark for example in Europe), but across the Americas, Asia, the Far East and Africa there will be situations we don't know about. Let us know. Oh, by the way, in the UK sticky coastal mud and green grungy alge go together, in the tropics the mud supports mangrove. Same sort of thing though.
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Managed Retreat has helped in this situation, and i am glad that the Environment Agency did what they did. But is Managed Retreat the best strategy for different areas? Look at Happisburgh, on the North Norfolk coast. Happisburgh has a retreating coastline, and soon residential areas and caravan parks will be lost. Even Bacton Gasworks is under jeopardy. What is your opinion on this strategy, and is it best for this area?
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