Coastal Protection and Flood Defence - Managed re-alignment schemes

Coastal erosion and flooding pose a threat to people and their property at the coast. For generations, society has built defences to prevent erosion and protect land from flooding. Examples of these include groynes, sea walls and embankments (termed hard engineering). Present day approaches also include soft engineering such as replenishing eroding beaches with sand, referred to as beach nourishment. Also, nature is occasionally allowed to take its course through managed retreat or coastal realignment, where existing hard defences are intentionally or naturally allowed to breach so recreating natural saltmarsh. This provides a place for high tides to spread out and would be most effective in firths.