Open AccessManagement of coastal dunes on the Catalan and on the Valencian shorelines (Spain)
Author(s) -
Carla GarciaLozano,
Francesc Xavier Roig i Munar,
Aaron M. Santana-Cordero,
Carolina Martí,
Josep Pintó
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
cuadernos de investigación geográfica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1697-9540
pISSN - 0211-6820
DOI - 10.18172/cig.5175
Subject(s) - catalan , shore , valencian , geography , sustainable management , landform , beach morphodynamics , coastal management , natural (archaeology) , environmental resource management , erosion , environmental planning , ecology , geology , environmental science , cartography , archaeology , geomorphology , oceanography , sustainability , sediment transport , biology , sediment , humanities , philosophy
Coastal areas constitute one of the most difficult domains to manage, due to the several human activities and natural processes concentrated in it. The case of the coastal dunes is special, since they are so fragile and any intervention on them can cause alterations in the landforms and dynamics. This work assesses the level and role of management and the morphological status of coastal dunes on the Catalan and Valencian shorelines. To that end, ten beach-dune systems from Catalan and Valencian shorelines have been studied to guess how management actions determine the morphological status of them. A set of variables, comprising management actions and morphological status, have been selected and analyzed through a Hierarchical Clustering on Principal Components (HCPC). Results show that the beach-dune systems can be gathered in 2 main groups: those where sustainable management measures were not applied and present an advanced erosive state, and the ones where sustainable management measures were applied and present a good state of conservation. The good state of conservation is related to restoring dunes applying nature-based solutions, whereas degraded morphologies appear when artificial management actions have been carried out.