Coastal Zone Management Questions and Answers

Answer: C

Correct answer: Both A and R are true, and R is the correct explanation of A

Both are true and the reason gives the case. Mangroves, saltmarsh, dunes and reefs attenuate waves and trap sediment at a fraction of the capital cost of hard engineering, and they are maintained by planting and management rather than by specialised plant and imported materials. They also grow with sea level rise where sediment is available. The limitation is that they need space and time, and they cannot protect a dense urban frontage.

Answer: D

Nature based systems are far harder to specify precisely than a structure. The other three are genuine benefits beyond the protection itself. Predictability is where such systems lose out. A structure can be specified far more precisely.

Answer: A

Habitat, fisheries, carbon storage and amenity all follow from them. These co-benefits frequently form part of the economic case for such schemes. Multiple benefits strengthen the appraisal. Carbon and habitat both count towards the case.

Answer: B

Correct answer: carbon stored in coastal vegetation and its sediments

Blue carbon is the carbon held by mangroves, saltmarshes and seagrass beds, chiefly in the sediment beneath them where it may accumulate for centuries. The rates per unit area are among the highest of any ecosystem, so restoring such habitats both protects the coast and sequesters carbon - which is why realignment and mangrove planting now attract climate funding as well as coastal defence funding.

Answer: C

Both are true and the reason gives the additional benefit, and coastal protection is another. Multiple benefit arguments have made such schemes considerably easier to fund. Carbon and protection arguments now run together.

Answer: D

Intervention at one point changes the supply reaching the next. Planning at cell scale exists precisely to anticipate these consequences. Intervention at one point changes the next. Cell scale planning anticipates the displacement.

Answer: A

Correct answer: 2 - 4 - 1 - 3

The cells and frontages are defined first, since they determine what the plan covers and how the units are bounded. The evidence on processes and assets at risk is then assembled for those units. The policy options are appraised frontage by frontage against that evidence. And the preferred policies are consulted on and adopted - the consultation coming after the appraisal so that there is something substantive to consult about.

Answer: B

Correct answer: insufficient funding or consent for the policies adopted

Plans generally fail at the implementation stage rather than in their analysis. A policy of holding the line means nothing without the money to build and maintain the defence, and a policy of realignment means nothing without the consents and the agreement of those who lose land. The technical work is usually the sound part; the gap between an adopted policy and a funded, consented scheme is where plans die.

Answer: C

The first two are correct and reflect experience honestly. The third confuses adoption with delivery, and the gap between the two is the recurring frustration of coastal management. Delivery requires funding and consent separately.

Answer: D

Both are true and the reason gives the gap, and each scheme must make its own case. The plan sets the policy context within which that case is made. Each scheme must still be justified on its own. Adoption and delivery are quite separate steps.