Coastal risk mitigation by green infrastructure in Latin America

Silva, Rodolfo; Lithgow, Débora; Esteves, Luciana S.; Martínez, M. Luisa; Moreno‐Casasola, Patricia; Martell, Raúl; Pereira, Pedro; Mendoza, Edgar; Campos-Cascaredo, Adolfo; Winckler, Patricio; Osorio, Andrés F.; Osorio-Cano, Juan D.; Rivillas-Ospina, Germán

doi:10.1680/jmaen.2016.13

Cited by 52 publications

(42 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…The deployment of WEC projects could cause cumulative impacts and compromise the health and resilience of marine and coastal ecosystems [70,71]. As coastal communities in tropical zones are very reliant on the goods and services provided by these ecosystems, such as fisheries and beach protection, any change to these ecosystems could have serious social consequences [72]. On the other hand, the installation of WECs could generate environmental benefits, such as the implementation of fishing exclusion zones, where depleted fish populations could recover [73].…”

Section: Environmental and Social Challenges For Wave Energy Harvestingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wave Energy in Tropical Regions: Deployment Challenges, Environmental and Social Perspectives

Felix

Hernández-Fontes

Lithgow

et al. 2019

JMSE

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The harnessing of renewable sources of marine energy has become a promising solution for a number of problems, namely satisfying the increasing demand for electricity, the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and the provision of energy to regions unconnected to a national grid. Tropical countries have an interesting dichotomy: Despite their varied potential sources of marine energy, their environmental and social conditions impose severe constraints on the development of a renewable energy industry. Moreover, the exploitation of these opportunities is limited by national economies' reliance on fossil fuels, political and social restraints, and technological immaturity. The present work addresses challenges and opportunities common to wave energy implementation in tropical nations, as a first approach to a regional diagnosis. The motivation for this work is to encourage research on wave energy policies in the Tropics. Technical, environmental, and social challenges to be overcome in wave energy projects are discussed. The technical challenges are grouped into development, deployment, and operation stages of wave energy converters; environmental challenges are divided into biodiversity, cumulative effects, and monitoring aspects, whilst social issues include population growth and energy access matters. The Mexican strategy for developing sustainable technology throughout the wave energy production chain is also presented. 2 of 21 projects and plans for future development based on their local marine characteristics and geographical region; temperate, polar or subpolar. Most developing countries, on the other hand, are located in tropical regions (approximately between latitudes 23.5 • N and 23.5 • S), where it may also be possible to harness marine energy. In these regions stable, high temperatures and air humidity are generally found, although climate variations exist between sub-regions, due to altitude, topography, winds, ocean phenomena, geomorphology, vegetation, and anthropic changes [13].While the greatest wave energy potential is found outside the Tropics, some tropical countries have lower, but persistent, availability of resources. Indeed, wave energy converters have been successfully deployed in Indonesia [14,15], the Philippines [16], and India [17]. Recently, evaluations of ocean energy resources in tropical regions have been published. In Asia, Purba [14] evaluated the possibilities of taking advantage of ocean energy resources in Indonesia. Through database analyses, they found sites at which ocean surface waves have a mean 72 kW/m 2 available.Regarding Oceania, Hemer et al. [18] showed that some of the most energetic wave and tidal energy resources are found in the tropical and subtropical regions of this continent. SEA [19] reported that converting energy from waves is feasible along the coast of Southern Africa [20].In the tropical regions of America, Osorio et al.[21] estimated the available ocean energy resources from waves, tides, currents, salinity gradients, and thermal gradients in Colombi...

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Section: Environmental and Social Challenges For Wave Energy Harvestingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Wave Energy in Tropical Regions: Deployment Challenges, Environmental and Social Perspectives

Felix

Hernández-Fontes

Lithgow

et al. 2019

JMSE

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“…Salt marsh formation or restoration may also be enabled by detached structures, such as breakwaters or stone sills (Currin et al, 2008), which traps sediments from tidal flow to enable ongoing marsh accretion. Such hybrid combinations of natural and engineered shorelines are sometimes referred to as 'living shorelines' (Davis et al, 2015) or 'green infrastructure' (Silva et al, 2017). Presence of structures can lead to higher marsh elevations (Gittman et al, 2014), enhanced erosion resistance during storms, and higher stem densities (Smith et al, 2018), compared to natural marshes.…”

Section: Strategies For Influencing Flood Risk Reductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Salt marshes for flood risk reduction: Quantifying long-term effectiveness and life-cycle costs

Vuik

Borsje

Willemsen

et al. 2019

Ocean & Coastal Management

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Flood risks are increasing worldwide due to climate change and ongoing economic and demographic development in coastal areas. Salt marshes can function as vegetated foreshores that reduce wave loads on coastal structures such as dikes and dams, thereby mitigating current and future flood risk. This paper aims to quantify long-term (100 years) flood risk reduction by salt marshes. Dike-foreshore configurations are assessed by coupled calculations of wave energy dissipation over the foreshore, sediment accretion under sea level rise, the probability of dike failure, and life-cycle costs. Rising sea levels lead to higher storm waves, and increasing probabilities of dike failure by wave overtopping. This study shows that marsh elevation change due to sediment accretion mitigates the increase in wave height, thereby elongating the lifetime of a dike-foreshore system. Further, different human interventions on foreshores are assessed in this paper: realization of a vegetated foreshore via nourishment, addition of a detached earthen breakwater, addition of an unnaturally high zone, or foreshore build-up by application of brushwood dams that enhance sediment accretion. The performance of these strategies is compared to dike heightening for the physical boundary conditions at an exposed dike along the Dutch Wadden Sea. Cost-effectiveness depends on three main factors. First, wave energy dissipation, which is lower for salt marshes with a natural elevation in the intertidal zone, when compared to foreshores with a high zone or detached breakwater. Second, required costs for construction and maintenance. Continuous maintenance costs and delayed effects on flood risk make sheltering structures less attractive from a flood risk perspective. Third, economic value of the protected area, where foreshores are particularly cost-effective for low economic value. Concluding, life-cycle cost analysis demonstrates that, within certain limits, foreshore construction can be more cost-effective than dike heightening.

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“…The combination of natural or nature-based features with structural elements is used increasingly in coastal management (Borsje et al 2011;Temmerman et al 2013), moving away from traditional engineering towards hybrid solutions (e.g. Moosavi 2017;Silva et al 2017). An example of integrating natural or nature-based features with structural elements is the innovative BBuilding with Nature^programme, which uses a triangle to depict the relationship between biotic and abiotic environments, man-made infrastructures and societal governance: Nature-Engineering-Society (van Slobbe et al 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Firth et al 2014;Ondiviela et al 2014) involves maintaining the connectivity and dynamics of ecosystems (Gillis et al 2014), by mimicking their natural functioning in many cases (e.g. Silva et al 2017).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Incorporation of Biophysical and Social Components in Coastal Management

Silva

Chávez

Bouma

et al. 2019

Estuaries and Coasts

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Change is inherent in coastal systems, which are amongst the most dynamic ones on Earth. Increasing anthropogenic pressure on coastal zones interferes with natural coastal dynamics and can cause ecosystem imbalances that render the zones less stable. Furthermore, human occupation of coastal zones often requires an uncharacteristic degree of stability for these inherently dynamic coastal systems. Coastal management teams face multifaceted challenges in protecting, rehabilitating and conserving coastal systems. Diverse monitoring schemes and modelling tools have been developed to address these challenges. In this article, we explore various perspectives: the integration of biophysical, ecological and social components; the uncertainties of diverse data sources; and the development of flexible coastal interventions. We propose general criteria and guidance for an Ecosystem-based Management (EbM) to coastal management, which aims primarily at adaptation to global change and uncertainties, and to managing and integrating social aspects and biophysical components based on the flows of energy and matter.

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Coastal risk mitigation by green infrastructure in Latin America

Cited by 52 publications

References 28 publications

Wave Energy in Tropical Regions: Deployment Challenges, Environmental and Social Perspectives

Wave Energy in Tropical Regions: Deployment Challenges, Environmental and Social Perspectives

Salt marshes for flood risk reduction: Quantifying long-term effectiveness and life-cycle costs

The Incorporation of Biophysical and Social Components in Coastal Management

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