RESEARCH ARTICLE
Assessment of coastal ecosystems vulnerability to pollution:
Algiers coast, Algeria
Mohamed Adlane Silhadi
1
& Wahid Refes
1 & Sakina Mazouzi
1
Received: 6 December 2019 / Accepted: 13 July 2020
# Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract
Coastal areas are frequently influenced by direct and/or indirect multiple anthropogenic pressures, which impacts marine life.
Those perturbations may act in a heterogeneous way with a different intensity and are related to the complexity of coastal
ecosystems. To visualize all these interactions at a local scale, a methodology inspired from many researches has been implemented in order to search, identify, and classify coastal ecosystems according to their sensitivity to anthropic pressure exerted by
coastal cities. Thus, producing vulnerability maps will be essential tools to local coastal managers. We have applied this
methodology on five coastal municipalities in Algiers. Firstly, the environmental sensitivity of coastal ecosystems was assessed
by analyzing these four sub-indices: biological sensitivity, geomorphological sensitivity, hydrodynamic characteristics, and
pollution intensity. Secondly, an assessment of the anthropogenic pressures presented by each municipality was carried out.
Five sub-indexes have been taken into consideration when conducting this assessment: human activities, infrastructures, vectors
of pollution, urbanization, and regulatory protection. Then, vulnerability maps were produced by the overlapping of sensitivity
and anthropic pressure maps. The results assessed for the environmental vulnerability indicated that most areas are moderately to
highly vulnerable, especially in the municipalities of Bab El Oued, Rais Hamidou, and Ain Bénian. The analysis of the obtained
results shows the potential applicability of this methodology because they accurately reflect the reality. Therefore, these results
can be useful to decision-makers by providing them with a relatively rational decision-making tool to prioritize future management and planning efforts.
Keywords Environmental sensitivity . Ecosystem vulnerability . Anthropogenic pressures . Pollution . Corrective actions .
Algiers
Introduction
The coastal zone is a complex, dynamic, and fluctuating space
(Daeden 2015), maybe more than any other environment. It is
subject to increasing demands from a growing human population that prefers to settle, live, work, and play in this narrow
band (Tortell 1992; Small and Nicholls 2003). Estimates show
that around 60% of the world’s population live near the coast
(Doukakis 2005). The coastal zone is the site of multiple
activities, which interacts more or less strongly with the environment and can have significant impacts on the functioning
and quality of the coastal system (Le Tixerant 2004).
During the last century, coastal Mediterranean areas are
under considerable human pressure (Cuttelod et al. 2008;
Plan Bleu 2015). Indeed, more than a third of the population
lives in coastal regions, i.e., less than 12% of their territory,
which represents a real threat to coastal ecosystems (Blue Plan
2012). The Algerian coastline of 1622 km, like most
Mediterranean coastal areas, is facing serious environmental
problems, since it constitutes 37% of the population in a coastal strip that represents 1.9% of the national territory (MREE
et al. 2015; Khelil et al. 2019).
The sustainable development of several human activities is
linked to the good state of the natural environment (PuenteRodríguez et al. 2015) and for that reason any environmental
degradation will inevitably have consequences on human
well-being in the more or less long term (Thébault et al.
Responsible editor: Vedula VSS Sarma
* Mohamed Adlane Silhadi
adlan.silhadi@gmail.com
1
National School of Marine Sciences and Coastal Management,
Campus Universitaire de Dély Ibrahim Bois des Cars, .B.P 19, Dély
Ibrahim, Alger 16320, Algeria
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10123-5
/ Published online: 26 July 2020
Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2020) 27:42670–42684
Author's personal copy
Assessment of coastal ecosystems vulnerability to pollution:
Algiers coast, Algeria
Mohamed Adlane Silhadi
1
& Wahid Refes
1 & Sakina Mazouzi
1
Received: 6 December 2019 / Accepted: 13 July 2020
# Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract
Coastal areas are frequently influenced by direct and/or indirect multiple anthropogenic pressures, which impacts marine life.
Those perturbations may act in a heterogeneous way with a different intensity and are related to the complexity of coastal
ecosystems. To visualize all these interactions at a local scale, a methodology inspired from many researches has been implemented in order to search, identify, and classify coastal ecosystems according to their sensitivity to anthropic pressure exerted by
coastal cities. Thus, producing vulnerability maps will be essential tools to local coastal managers. We have applied this
methodology on five coastal municipalities in Algiers. Firstly, the environmental sensitivity of coastal ecosystems was assessed
by analyzing these four sub-indices: biological sensitivity, geomorphological sensitivity, hydrodynamic characteristics, and
pollution intensity. Secondly, an assessment of the anthropogenic pressures presented by each municipality was carried out.
Five sub-indexes have been taken into consideration when conducting this assessment: human activities, infrastructures, vectors
of pollution, urbanization, and regulatory protection. Then, vulnerability maps were produced by the overlapping of sensitivity
and anthropic pressure maps. The results assessed for the environmental vulnerability indicated that most areas are moderately to
highly vulnerable, especially in the municipalities of Bab El Oued, Rais Hamidou, and Ain Bénian. The analysis of the obtained
results shows the potential applicability of this methodology because they accurately reflect the reality. Therefore, these results
can be useful to decision-makers by providing them with a relatively rational decision-making tool to prioritize future management and planning efforts.
Keywords Environmental sensitivity . Ecosystem vulnerability . Anthropogenic pressures . Pollution . Corrective actions .
Algiers
Introduction
The coastal zone is a complex, dynamic, and fluctuating space
(Daeden 2015), maybe more than any other environment. It is
subject to increasing demands from a growing human population that prefers to settle, live, work, and play in this narrow
band (Tortell 1992; Small and Nicholls 2003). Estimates show
that around 60% of the world’s population live near the coast
(Doukakis 2005). The coastal zone is the site of multiple
activities, which interacts more or less strongly with the environment and can have significant impacts on the functioning
and quality of the coastal system (Le Tixerant 2004).
During the last century, coastal Mediterranean areas are
under considerable human pressure (Cuttelod et al. 2008;
Plan Bleu 2015). Indeed, more than a third of the population
lives in coastal regions, i.e., less than 12% of their territory,
which represents a real threat to coastal ecosystems (Blue Plan
2012). The Algerian coastline of 1622 km, like most
Mediterranean coastal areas, is facing serious environmental
problems, since it constitutes 37% of the population in a coastal strip that represents 1.9% of the national territory (MREE
et al. 2015; Khelil et al. 2019).
The sustainable development of several human activities is
linked to the good state of the natural environment (PuenteRodríguez et al. 2015) and for that reason any environmental
degradation will inevitably have consequences on human
well-being in the more or less long term (Thébault et al.
Responsible editor: Vedula VSS Sarma
* Mohamed Adlane Silhadi
adlan.silhadi@gmail.com
1
National School of Marine Sciences and Coastal Management,
Campus Universitaire de Dély Ibrahim Bois des Cars, .B.P 19, Dély
Ibrahim, Alger 16320, Algeria
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-020-10123-5
/ Published online: 26 July 2020
Environmental Science and Pollution Research (2020) 27:42670–42684
Author's personal copy