Keywords:
mainland barrier dunes
dune dynamics
urbanisation
Contact: Jean-Louis Herrier
Location: Belgium, North-sea coast
Flemish coast
The Belgium coast is a sedimentary plain with sandy beaches, sand
dunes and the transitional zone between the sand dune area and
the clayish polderland along the North Sea. Flanders has a nearly
straight coastline with a lenght of 65 km. The dunes are
60 to 600 m wide in most parts, only at the Dutch and French border
the dunes are 2 - 3 km wide. Between Nieuwpoort and Knokke the
coast is characterised by huge parabolic dunes. The calcareous
younger dunes are covered by an essentially calcareous vegetation
of mosses and sea buckthorn scrub. Strong urbanisation during
the 20th century has led to a decrease of surface of dune region.
Management
Only 20% of the dune area is managed as a nature reserve. A major
problem for the conservation of natural values in the coastal
zone is the fact that most of the remaining dune areas are still
private property. In 1995 an “ecosysteemvisie” (dune ecosystem
perspective) was needed to “correct” human activities. The
perspective will be used for consulation between nature conservation
and the different economic and utilitarian sectors that are active
: coastal protection, water production, recreation and tourism.
The ecosystem perspective presents target landscape types (
nearly natural units, multifunctional units, semi-natural units
and controlled natural units) and target habitat types (EU
Habitats directive).
In the past dunes were stabilised by placing fences and
planting marram grass. Also marine erosion was prevented by building
dykes in front of the dune belt. Fore dunes are now allowed to
follow natural dynamics again with maintainence of the present
shoreline. The main task is to restore herbaceous habitats. Therefore
scrub has been removed followed by grazing with horse and cattle
(pattern - oriented management). Also part of restoration
is spontaneous woodland development by removal of exotic tree-species
and grazing by donkeys (process - oriented management). By diminishing
the extraction of groundwater and drainage in the polders, and
allowing some sand drift a natural dune fringe landscape with
calcareous marshland and wet meadows is expected to develop.
Results
Flanders is preparing a coastal management plan (Kust 2002 Plan)
to fully integrate the coastal protection strategy with other
developments in the coastal zone. Morphological changes are monitored
using airlifted remote sensing technology.
References:
- Herrier, J-L., An ecosystem-perspective for the Flemish coast,
a reference for coastal zone management policy based on a scientific
inventory, Coastline 1998-3 27-29.
- Herrier, J-L., & Killemaes,I., Acquisition and protection
of the coastal dunes of Flanders, Coastline 1998-4 10-15.
