Paul RooneySenior Lecturer

Director of the Sand Dune and Shingle Network

Department of Geography

Challenges for European Dune Conservation

ClimateLithologyReliefGroundwaterSoilVegetationFauna

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Reference: adapted from van der Meulen and Jungerius 1989

Issues and uses affecting coastal sand dunes

• Maintaining natural coastal processes, particularly sediment transport

• coastal defence schemes and other developments can have the effect of reducing the input of sediment into the dune systems, which can restrict or halt dune development

Issues and uses affecting coastal sand dunes

• Habitat loss• many dune systems

have become fragmented by development

– housing, roads, railways and golf courses, and agricultural improvement

Issues and uses affecting coastal sand dunes

• Agriculture– Coastal dunes have been

shaped and moulded by agriculture for most of their existence (esp. in NW Europe)

– Characteristic semi-natural vegetation a result of grazing by sheep, cattle and rabbits

• Grazing now significantly reduced overall

• Where domestic stock grazing persists it is greatly modified

Issues and uses affecting coastal sand dunes

• Inappropriate grazing management – leads to a reduction in diversity of

plant species and can result in eutrophication of dune slacks.

• A lack of grazing – Can reduce mobility and increase

dune stabilisation, resulting in a loss of bare sand and those species which depend on it.

– Geomorphological issues.

Issues and uses affecting coastal sand dunes

• Invasion – e.g. by sea buckthorn

Hippophae rhamnoides, gorse Ulex sp., willow Salix sp., white poplar Populus alba, silver birch Betula pendula and pines Pinus spp. alter key vegetation types and dune character

– Impact of alien species

Issues and uses affecting coastal sand dunes

• Afforestation – leads to loss of open

dune vegetation, both directly and by lowering water tables, drying out dune slacks (dune wetlands)

• e.g. Sefton Coast and Holkham Norfolk in England, Newborough Warren in Wales

Issues and uses affecting coastal sand dunes

• Waste disposal– Organised disposal

• in England mostly now ceased

• ....but elsewhere?

– Illegal fly-tipping and disposal of garden refuse persists – widespread and probably significant

Issues and uses affecting coastal sand dunes

• Military usage– Long established –

WW II - 28 sites in England, but not all in use

– Present day activities affect fewer sites and impacts vary – infantry, firing ranges etc…

Issues and uses affecting coastal sand dunes

• Golf– Originated on dune

grasslands – ‘links’ of eastern Scotland

• Traditional courses worked with the dune topography

– Now a significant land use on dunes

– 165 links courses in the British Isles alone

Issues and uses affecting coastal sand dunes

• Golf– Rarely results in total

destruction of natural features, but pressures of the modern game…

• Modification of swards, water abstraction etc….

• Particularly acute problem in southern Europe

– Geomorphological issues• Adaptation to coastal

change• New development e.g.

Menie Links, Aberdeenshire, Scotland – Donald Trump.

Issues and uses affecting coastal sand dunes

• Recreation / tourism pressures – Can adversely affect

natural sand dune vegetation and dune formations through trampling and increased erosion and wind blow

– Can cause disturbance to e.g. breeding birds

Issues and uses affecting coastal sand dunes

• Stabilisation of dunes to prevent sand blow effects – leads to a reduction in

diversity and changes in vegetation communities

– geomorphological issues

Issues and uses affecting coastal sand dunes

• Sand extraction – can lead to loss of

habitat– geomorphological

issues

Issues and uses affecting coastal sand dunes

• Relative sea level rise and increased storminess– RSL currently estimated

at c.4mm a year until 2030, and at c.6.5mm/yr thereafter in NW England.

• Rates elsewhere?

– This could reduce sediment input to dune systems….or re-work some sediments…..?

Issues and uses affecting coastal sand dunes

• Nature conservation and other statutory protection measures

– Do they really provide a framework for sustainable coastal dune management?

– Or do they create difficult legal ‘straightjackets’ for managers?

Issues and uses affecting coastal sand dunes

• Nitrogen deposition

NNOy NHxNOx NH3

Long range effect Short range effect

• The impact of atmospheric nitrogen deposition

Hanstholm, Denmark(Photos - Rienk Slings)

1991

2001

Issues and uses affecting coastal sand dunes

Issues and uses affecting coastal sand dunes

• Awareness, understanding and knowledge exchange– The public– The professions– Information– Formal and informal

education– Research

EU Habitats Directive and Article 17

• Regular reporting on the implementation of the EU Habitats Directive is an obligation of EU Member States

• This includes an assessment of the conservation status of selected species and habitats of European interest Article 17

So just how well are things going?

• Less than 50% of the species and habitat types of European interest are in favourable conservation status in the different biogeographic regions and marine regions in Europe

• Most of the remaining species and habitats assessed for the 2007 reports are in unfavourable-inadequate status or unfavourable-bad status or unknown conservation status

• very few of them reported as not assessed

• Unfavourable-bad is highest in grasslands, bogs, mires and fens and dunes

– Reference Spyropoulou 2008

Boreal (BOR)

Mediterranean (MED)

Atlantic (ATL) Continental (CON)

Macronesian (MAC)

Source: Eionet - European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity

http://biodiversity.eionet.europa.eu/article17/habitatsprogress/?group=ZHVuZXMgaGFiaXRhdHM%3D&conclusion=conclusion_assessment

EU Habitats Directive - Article 17 Reporting

Dune Habitats – Overall assessment by Biogeographical Region

Unfavourable - Bad

Unfavourable - Inadequate

Favourable

Unknown

Issues and action

ISSUES

• Present measure to conserve dunes need to be strengthened– In other words, they are not

fully effective

• Dunes stand out amongst some other habitats of European interest as a ‘failing’ habitat.

ACTION

• Sustain the Natura 2000 network momentum

• Achieve overall favourable condition for dunes– Ambitious considering the

issues and uses……

• Focus networking and knowledge exchange activity– The Biogeographical region

approach will help

• The LIFE programme is the EU’s funding instrument for the environment.

Put simply, our aim is

– to support the sustainable management of sand dune and shingle habitats

by – encouraging an exchange of information and

experience and in developing links between different interests

• Champions dune and shingle habitats

• Promotes a habitat based and evidence informed approach

• Encourages knowledge exchange and networking across sectors

• Free to join and low cost to participate in

The Network is required

• Newsletters• Web site www.hope.ac.uk/coast • Conferences, workshops and other

events on specific topics• Advice and support• Invited to respond to consultations• Research• Consultancy • Occasional paper series• Reaching out to other ‘communities’

– e.g our ‘Making Links’ initiative with dune golf, working with engineers etc...

Aims• to promote the sustainable use and management

of coastal dunes• to support policies and actions that conserve the

intrinsic natural values of coastal dunes• to develop a vibrant European network of communities

concerned with coastal dune use and management• to support the advancement of knowledge and

understanding of coastal dunes, and• to provide an international platform dedicated to coastal

dunes

• These over-arching aims reflect the concern that coastal dunes remain threatened habitats across Europe

• The EDN will be developed between the EUCC and the Sand Dune and Shingle Network.

• It will focus on conservation of the EU habitats and species which underpin the Natura 2000 network specific to dunes.

• http://www.eucc.nl/en/european_dune_network/index.htm

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Reference: adapted from van der Meulen and Jungerius 1989

The value of dynamic dunes

• Dynamic dune systems are:– More resistant to erosion processes– Cheaper to maintain– Flexible and responsive– Have higher natural values– Are more sustainable

Acknowledgements

John Houston, Charlotte Durkin and Sally Edmondson - Sand Dune and Shingle Network, Liverpool Hope University

Fred van der Vegte – Foundation for Integrated Coastal Dune Management, University of Amsterdam

Paul RooneyDepartment of Geography

e-mail dunes@hope.ac.uk

Dune and Shingle Networkhttp://www.hope.ac.uk/coast