Climate and Human Induced Impacts on the Coastal Zone of the Southern North Sea

Abstract

Ongoing changes in the morphology and ecology of the coastal zoneand expected future scenarios with emphasis on the southern NorthSea were discussed and research needs identified. The impact of sealevel rise and the effects of resultant dyking activity need to beconsidered for the entire coastal zone as manipulation in one regioncan have unexpected effects in neighbouring areas. The extent towhich the barrier islands can be maintained in their present statehas also to be critically assessed. Anthropogenic impacts on coastalecosystems can be direct (e.g. diking, fisheries) or subtle (pollutants).However, differentiating climate-induced from anthropogenic impactsis not always obvious. Long-term, integrated data sets provide thebest context for evaluating observations of individual phenomena.Maintenance of monitoring programmes and introduction of new methodologiesto extend coverage and detail is required for this purpose. The roleof public perception was discussed at length as coastal managementis not as much management of nature as it is management of humanactivity. Hence it is essential that social scientists be involvedto a greater extent in decision-making processes.