Interreg: New Analysis Leads to Improved Nature Based Solutions

16.273 scientists from 113 countries where present at EGU General Assembly 2019 in Vienna in the beginning of April, The Interreg North Sea Region Program said in its latest release. 

In the session “Natural hazards and climate change impacts in coastal areas”, results from the Building with Nature project were introduced.

During the event, Simon Hillmann (Lower Saxony Water Management, Coastal Defense and Nature Conservation Agency – NLWKN, Germany) presented a poster of the current studies in coastal areas.

“Improved planning of coastal protection measures by analysis of long-term transect measurements of sandy beaches on Langeoog” showed the knowledge gained for the planning of coastal protection measures.

Long-term measurements and analysis can lead to improved Nature Based Solutions (NBS) due to better understanding of the natural dynamic in the coastal area, said the report.

The presentation also showed that analysis of long-term transect data improves the system understanding in the framework of sustainable coastal protection management. Therefore, the value of long-term and high resolution monitoring emphasizes the need of ongoing measurement programs to support Building with Nature solutions and to evaluate their effectiveness.

According to the report, if the system is well known and natural positive behavior for coastal protection is detected to avoid unnecessary negative impacts by building hard structures, soft structures are an alternative regarding possible ecological and morphological impact.