284
R.H. Charlier and Chr. P. De Meyer
Monetary valuations of beach users' recreational experience and preferences
towards coastal erosion control (and litter clean-up) for four beaches in Maine
and New Hampshire were estimated for various residential, ownership, and
environmental characteristics. [E. Lindsay and C. Tupper, 1989, Demand for
Beach Protection and use in Maine and New Hampshire : A contingent valuation
approach, Coastal zone '89, 79-87,]. Indeed, natural resources and environmental
goods are often viewed as non market goods, not valued in a traditional sense.
This particular set of goods is viewed as generating "intangible benefits or
Amenities", difficult to quantify in a monetary sense.
There are generally competing economic interests (commercial, industrial,
residential and seasonal sectors), that compose the economic activity of a coastal
beach area often documented by economic impact studies.
Impact studies should be complemented with an economic valuation of what the
actual experience or activity of being on a coastal beach means, a.o.
determination of monetary benefits that beach users derive from spending time on
a coastal beach.
A recent study commissioned by the International Geographical Union concluded
that further research is needed to formulate an appropriate overall plan of action
for erosion control. Three quarters of the world's sandy coastlines are in retreat,
some at a rate of a meter (3.28 ft) a year. A combination of factors is now
destroying beaches that built up in the thousands of years following the end of the
latest "Ice Age".
In conclusion, coastal erosion progresses inexorably and nature will have its way,
and a sea-level rise ranging from 0.6 to 3.3 m (2 to 11 ft) is predicted for the year
2010. Man, however, can retard the process, alleviate the present situation and
help the natural factors preserve, to a considerable extent, the beaches.
Beach nourishment has been eyed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a
method to dispose of the 265.5 million m 3 (300 million cu.yd) of dredged
material it picks up annually. This material is usually dumped at sea damaging
benthic life (cf. p. 224).
But such disposal can also help portuary development and marsh creation. Under
the proper circumstances the use of dredged material for beach nourishment not
only contributes to the development and maintenance of waterway transportation,
but, as said earlier, also provides hazard reduction and recreational benefits
consistent with environmental mandates and the material laws governing coastal
systems. Beach nourishment is the least-cost environmentally acceptable disposal
alternative.
R.H. Charlier and Chr. P. De Meyer
Monetary valuations of beach users' recreational experience and preferences
towards coastal erosion control (and litter clean-up) for four beaches in Maine
and New Hampshire were estimated for various residential, ownership, and
environmental characteristics. [E. Lindsay and C. Tupper, 1989, Demand for
Beach Protection and use in Maine and New Hampshire : A contingent valuation
approach, Coastal zone '89, 79-87,]. Indeed, natural resources and environmental
goods are often viewed as non market goods, not valued in a traditional sense.
This particular set of goods is viewed as generating "intangible benefits or
Amenities", difficult to quantify in a monetary sense.
There are generally competing economic interests (commercial, industrial,
residential and seasonal sectors), that compose the economic activity of a coastal
beach area often documented by economic impact studies.
Impact studies should be complemented with an economic valuation of what the
actual experience or activity of being on a coastal beach means, a.o.
determination of monetary benefits that beach users derive from spending time on
a coastal beach.
A recent study commissioned by the International Geographical Union concluded
that further research is needed to formulate an appropriate overall plan of action
for erosion control. Three quarters of the world's sandy coastlines are in retreat,
some at a rate of a meter (3.28 ft) a year. A combination of factors is now
destroying beaches that built up in the thousands of years following the end of the
latest "Ice Age".
In conclusion, coastal erosion progresses inexorably and nature will have its way,
and a sea-level rise ranging from 0.6 to 3.3 m (2 to 11 ft) is predicted for the year
2010. Man, however, can retard the process, alleviate the present situation and
help the natural factors preserve, to a considerable extent, the beaches.
Beach nourishment has been eyed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a
method to dispose of the 265.5 million m 3 (300 million cu.yd) of dredged
material it picks up annually. This material is usually dumped at sea damaging
benthic life (cf. p. 224).
But such disposal can also help portuary development and marsh creation. Under
the proper circumstances the use of dredged material for beach nourishment not
only contributes to the development and maintenance of waterway transportation,
but, as said earlier, also provides hazard reduction and recreational benefits
consistent with environmental mandates and the material laws governing coastal
systems. Beach nourishment is the least-cost environmentally acceptable disposal
alternative.