4 minute read
LIFE Adapto
Authie Bay, Orne Estuary, Lancieux Bay, Moëze Marsh, Gironde Estuary, Leyre Delta, Petit et Grand Travers, Vieux-Salins d’Hyères, and Golo Delta, France; Mana, French Guiana
Addressing climate change through flexible coastal management. The LIFE adapto project takes place against the backdrop of climate change’s threats to coastlines around the world, including rises in average sea level and increases in the intensity of extreme weather. These threats increase the risks of erosion and submersion, while natural areas are under constant pressure from urbanization and human use. As a result, transitional spaces between marine environments and coastal defenses are gradually disappearing. The Conservatoire du littoral, France’s coastal protection agency, initiated the adapto project to advocate flexible shoreline management when exploring solutions to target the effects of climate change on coastal areas. The project was rolled out at ten pilot project sites, nine in mainland France and one in French Guiana, from 2017 to 2022. The implementation of each pilot project drew on the experience gained at the sites that preceded it to showcase a variety of situations while adding to an overall strategic perspective. The project’s multidisciplinary approach combined ecology, economics, social science, politics, communication, and public education to break down preconceptions about coastal risk and climate change.
Producing Efficiencies
The adapto project combined scientific studies, engineering, and fieldwork, including creating (or combating the clogging of) breaches in front-line dikes; removing or retreating first-line defenses and restoring coastal interface habitats; and regulating tidal flow. Fifty-five hectares of coastal marsh were restored by marine reconnection, and 900 meters of dune strips were restored. Scientific studies focused on risk management by modeling sea level rise at pilot sites, gauged the effects of flooding on the biodiversity and functionality of natural habitats using an ecological quality indicator, and measured the local populations’ perceptions of adaptation methods.
Using Natural Processes
A wide coastal strip with a healthy ecology unencumbered by anthropogenic structures increases habitats’ ability to adapt or respond to climate extremes in the medium term by migrating under natural processes. Salt marshes confronting sea level rise can retreat landward and upward by gradually adding sediment and vegetation; sediment transport can maintain dunes during periods of erosion and accretion. By providing a gradual transition between freshwater and brackish or saltwater environments, these areas promoted habitat and species migration. Understanding these benefits and the mobile nature of coastlines, local stakeholders, inhabitants, and managers chose to work with, rather than indefinitely fight, the sea.
Broadening Benefits
Adapto funded the acquisition of 172 hectares of private land in a wide coastal strip. Protecting and restoring this land—or even letting it take its natural course—provides many direct environmental benefits, including restored coastal biodiversity; related ecosystem services like carbon sequestration; and greater resilience to floods, erosion, and submersion. Flexible management solutions are often cheaper than maintaining protective structures on static and rigid coastlines. Adaptation scenarios based on a flexible management policy will provide local economic and social benefits that guarantee the good ecological condition of these environments, enable sustainable activities like walking and cycling, and ensure user satisfaction with specific renaturalization works.
Promoting Collaboration
The adapto project brought several benefits to stakeholders by proposing engineering strategies using a logical national approach. By integrating local priorities in projects and coastal management scenarios, the project suggested solutions for adapting the coast to climate change. Its dedicated teams presented relevant studies, organized consultative events, and promoted compromises on management scenarios. Building on projects at various adapto sites, the project became part of and contributed to local policies regarding regional and urban planning, environmental quality and protection, and climate change adaptation and mitigation. The project also contributed to national efforts and shared feedback in regional, national, and European events.
