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The Value of Monitoring Data to Sustainable Coastal Management in Northeast England
Summary
This study assessed the value of over ten years of coastal monitoring data collected through Englands National Coastal Monitoring Framework for informing sustainable coastal management decisions. Researchers found that the long-term dataset significantly improved understanding of physical coastal processes and enabled better-informed management of erosion, flooding, and coastal change. This is a coastal management study with limited direct relevance to microplastic research.
A National Coastal Monitoring Framework has existed since 2008 for the delivery of a suite of Regional Coastal Monitoring Programmes across England. There is widespread acceptance of an undeniable value in the coastal monitoring data that is being collected and, more importantly, in how the improved understanding of physical processes and coastal change is informing sustainable coastal management. With over ten years of data now available from this National Coastal Monitoring Framework, this paper provides specific examples from the Northeast England (Coastal Cell 1) Regional Coastal Monitoring Programme of how the data are now routinely used to inform various aspects of sustainable coastal management, including: (i) Long-term and strategic land use planning; (ii) Capital coastal defence schemes; (iii) Asset maintenance; (iv) Warning systems. It also describes the genesis of the Northeast England programme and how it has evolved over time to now incorporate mapping of marine sediment and seabed habitats and assessment of microplastics, as well as establishing approaches to ‘valuing’ the coastal monitoring data that is being collected.