Coastal vulnerability analysis to support strategies for tackling COVID-19 infection

Abstract

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has constrained world governments to impose measures of restraint and social distancing which also involves coastal areas. One of the most affected activities is tourism due to travel restrictions imposed by precautionary measures. This is also reflected in the recreative use of the coastal strip. Consequently, beaches and coastal stretches of small municipalities can potentially become contagious outbreaks of COVID-19 if adequate control and management measures are not promptly implemented. During the 20th century, several factors, both natural and human induced, caused alterations to coastal processes and consequently to the services they were providing. Coastal environments are very vulnerable and sensitive to change. This raises the need for careful assessment prior to any intervention or strategy involving the coastal system. Several literature studies have been focused both in the past and in recent years on examining the main factors affecting coastal vulnerability highlighting critical issues and shortcomings. The present paper, addressing all critical issues from literature review, illustrates a consistent methodology to support coastal management which combines both physical and socio-economic aspects and provides for the quantification of two different coastal vulnerability indices. The approach adopted has led to a distinction of different coastal peculiarities and a mapping of risk levels providing, in addition, the basis for the implementation of strategies risks related to COVID-19. The methodology proposed can be a useful reference in several areas, in demonstrating its effectiveness it has been applied with respect to a coastal area in southern Italy.

Coastal Migration Index for Coastal Flooding Events Increased by Sea Level Rise due to Climate Change: Mexico and Cuba Case Studies

“…With these comparative results, it was possible to demonstrate the adaptability of the CMI to assess coastal risks with basic information, and quickly [13,29,96,97], contrary to other indices that require very specific information from each site, which is expensive to obtain [49,[98][99][100][101][102][103][104][105][106]. We agree with authors [107,108] who have explained the importance of choosing and implementing specific actions in each polygon according to the communities' needs and vulnerabilities.…”

Beach tourists behavior and beach management strategy under the ongoing prevention and control of the COVID-19 pandemic: A case study of Qingdao, China

“…Besides, Zielinski and Botero (2020) proposed that beach management department should focus on the impact of the chemicals of the disinfection on beach environment. Armenio et al (2021) combined physical and socio-economic aspects, distinguished the risk level of the COVID-19 pandemic in different coastal areas, and provided a basis for proposing risk management strategies.…”

Cruise tourism in the context of COVID-19: Dilemmas and solutions

“…Regarding the influence of COVID-19 on global cruise travel, COVID-19 has challenged the sufficiency of even these significant global efforts ( Halabi, 2020 ), and the subsequent major impacts continue to impose new challenges to global cruise travel. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has compelled world governments to impose measures of restraint and social distancing involving coastal areas ( Armenio et al, 2021 ).…”

“…From these three stages, we can determine that effective management of international public health can be accomplished if the governance objectives are clearly defined, there exists active cooperation among stakeholders, the existing legal basis is sufficient and concrete, and the governance tools are specific and practical.The COVID-19 pandemic has created an unprecedented health and social scenario ( Kane et al, 2021 ; Alfonso et al, 2021 ; Armenio et al, 2021 ; Fernández-González et al, 2022 ) and altered humans' everyday lives in all aspects, and of course, the tourism cruise industry is no exception. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, confirmed cases on international cruise ships, such as “Diamond Princess”, “Costa Serena”, “Westerdam” and “Grand Princess”, have focused the international community's attention on the dangers of cruise confinement ( Sun and Zhao, 2022 ).…”