Challenges: Sectoral Descriptions
5
5.1 Coastal Protection Management
5.1.1 Introduction
The story about coastal protection has to be told because more than thousand years ago
coastal inhabitants decided and were able to protect themselves against the rising water and
floods. Although the definite beginning of building dikes could not be determined, evidence has been found that already in Roman times low mounds of clay have been raised
(Bantelmann, 1966; Blok, 1984; Hallewas, 1984; Brandt, 1992). Here, the question of the
beginning is not that important, it is more interesting to get an impression of the development on how coastal inhabitants react on the challenges for the protection against flooding
caused by changing circumstances.
Allemeyer (2007) compared and discussed different views of persons who lived or
worked in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries at the German coast. The confrontation exemplifies the different mentalities that have already been existing in these times.
The concentration was laid, on the one hand, on the relationship between the protection
performance of dunes and (artificial) sea walls (i.e., dikes) and, on the other hand, between
the ability of human kind of trying to tame or fight actively against the sea.
Bartels (1881) prepared a description of the situation on the East Frisian islands in
1650. The first part of his report described the situation on several islands, but in the
second part he pinpointed on the linkage between the existence of the islands in front of the
mainland and the status and efforts for coastal protection at the marsh. He recommended
to strengthen and maintain the efforts of the inhabitants of the islands to improve dune
stability because it provides positive effects for mainland protection. Bartels called the
East Frisian islands breastwork for the mainland. The way how to deal with these dunes
c
Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH 2018
63
F. Ahlhorn, Integrated Coastal Zone Management,
Wasser: Ökologie und Bewirtschaftung, DOI 10.1007/978-3-658-17052-3_5
5
5.1 Coastal Protection Management
5.1.1 Introduction
The story about coastal protection has to be told because more than thousand years ago
coastal inhabitants decided and were able to protect themselves against the rising water and
floods. Although the definite beginning of building dikes could not be determined, evidence has been found that already in Roman times low mounds of clay have been raised
(Bantelmann, 1966; Blok, 1984; Hallewas, 1984; Brandt, 1992). Here, the question of the
beginning is not that important, it is more interesting to get an impression of the development on how coastal inhabitants react on the challenges for the protection against flooding
caused by changing circumstances.
Allemeyer (2007) compared and discussed different views of persons who lived or
worked in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries at the German coast. The confrontation exemplifies the different mentalities that have already been existing in these times.
The concentration was laid, on the one hand, on the relationship between the protection
performance of dunes and (artificial) sea walls (i.e., dikes) and, on the other hand, between
the ability of human kind of trying to tame or fight actively against the sea.
Bartels (1881) prepared a description of the situation on the East Frisian islands in
1650. The first part of his report described the situation on several islands, but in the
second part he pinpointed on the linkage between the existence of the islands in front of the
mainland and the status and efforts for coastal protection at the marsh. He recommended
to strengthen and maintain the efforts of the inhabitants of the islands to improve dune
stability because it provides positive effects for mainland protection. Bartels called the
East Frisian islands breastwork for the mainland. The way how to deal with these dunes
c
Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH 2018
63
F. Ahlhorn, Integrated Coastal Zone Management,
Wasser: Ökologie und Bewirtschaftung, DOI 10.1007/978-3-658-17052-3_5