Beach user perspectives on the upscaling of sand nourishments in response to sea level rise

Summary

Sand nourishments are crucial to counteract coastal erosion and preserve a variety of coastal functions, including beach recreation and tourism. In the coming decades, an increase in the scale of sand nourishment operations is needed to adapt to sea level rise. This could induce changes to the current configuration and management of the coastal landscape, and thereby impact the recreational quality of the coast. Yet, the nature and extent of these impacts remain poorly understood. In this study, we carry out a discrete choice experiment in two case study locations in the Netherlands to examine beach user perspectives on the upscaling of sand nourishment activity in response to sea level rise. We focus on potential implications in terms of beach width, coastal biodiversity, beach access restrictions and nourishment costs. Results show that beach users have a clear preference for the current beach width or an increase of about 100 m, whereas they are strongly opposed to a reduction in beach width of 100 m. In addition, beach users have a clear preference for high rather than low biodiversity around the coast, while the importance attached to beach access conditions and an increase in nourishment costs was notably lower. To preserve the recreational assets of coastal areas, it will be important to pay special attention to biodiversity and beach width related aspects in the design and implementation of a climate-adaptive sand nourishment strategy.