Dredging the sand commons: the economic and geophysical drivers of beach nourishment
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Dredging the sand commons: the economic and geophysical drivers of beach nourishment Yun Qiu 1 & Sathya Gopalakrishnan 2
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& H. Allen Klaiber & Xiaoyu Li
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Received: 29 January 2019 / Accepted: 22 May 2020/ # Springer Nature B.V. 2020
Abstract
Beaches are natural capital stocks that provide value through localized storm protection, recreational amenities, and ecosystem services at regional and global scales. In response to increased storm risks and sea-level rise, coastal communities invest in shoreline stabilization by rebuilding eroding sections of the coast through periodic re-nourishment. While conceptual models of the coastal-economic system provide a capital-theoretic framework to study beach management, empirical analysis of the drivers of beach nourishment policy is limited. Using data from 21 coastal towns in North Carolina, we examine the geophysical and economic factors that reflect coastal vulnerability and influence the frequency of beach nourishment investments. We find that beach towns with access to periodically replenishable sand deposits from inlets and river channels nourish more frequently. Beaches that rely on offshore sand reserves are nourished less frequently. Our results provide new insights into the heterogeneous risks that local communities face with higher costs, limited sand reserves and the growing nourishment demand driven by climate change and increased vulnerability. Keywords Coastal adaptation . Vulnerability . Beach nourishment . Storms
1 Introduction Beaches are a form of natural capital that provide amenity flows and benefits at different spatial scales (Smith et al. 2009). These amenities range from localized storm protection to regional and global public goods in the form of recreational amenities, carbon sequestration, and habitats for marine biodiversity (Barbier 2012; Gopalakrishnan et al. 2018). Climate change places coastal communities at risk due to sea-level rise (IPCC 2014), changing wave climates, and increasing * Sathya Gopalakrishnan [email protected]
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Institute for Economic and Social Research, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China
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Department of Agricultural, Environmental, and Development Economics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA
Climatic Change
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Number of Nourishment Projects 3 4 5 6
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frequency and intensity of storms (Emanuel 2013). These changes in geophysical processes have a significant economic impact on coastal development, infrastructure, and tourism. To adapt to and mitigate climate risks, communities manage their shorelines in a number of ways. Management policies include the construction of hardened structures, such as seawalls and jetties; investments in rebuilding natural capital through the maintenance of vegetated dunes and beach nourishment by periodically rebuilding an eroding section of a beach with sand dredged from offshore or nearshore inlets; and sometimes abandoning nearshore development (Dean 2003; Leuttich et al. 2014). Along the Atlantic and Gulf coasts in the United States, beach nourishment is cu
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