Managed realignment: A sediment management perspective

Managed realignment has many potential benefits but has attracted most attention as a conservation management tool in the UK. It has been used to create new habitat either as a broad-scale biodiversity gain, or as a measure specifically to offset losses to commercial developments. This has focussed attention on only one part of the role realignment plays in coastal management rather than its broader significance in restoring accommodation space and the policy significance of this attribute. This paper draws attention to the relationship between coastal erosion and the role accommodation space plays in husbandry of sediment supplies. Inadequate accommodation space leads to loss of sediment that cannot be readily replaced. Loss of sediment has long-term implications for coastal evolution and the degree to which coastal evolution maintains an economically sustainable coastal environment.This paper argues that attention must shift away from nature conservation outcomes as the primary policy driver for managed realignment in the UK and in Europe. Instead, there are sound engineering and social reasons for greater emphasis on realignment but to make this happen there has to be a reduction in the emphasis on wildlife and a much greater focus on engineering and water management. Relatively small policy adjustments are needed but a much more profound change in presentation is needed so that decision-makers and stakeholders pay more attention to the engineering need for realignment.

► Accommodation space is a critical ecosystem service.
► It is a critical adaptation tool as a response to sea level rise.
► The engineering importance of managed realignment has yet to be properly recognised.
► Advocacy for managed realignment must focus on engineering sustainability.