Creating mangrove habitat for shoreline protection

Over the past decades, there has been a growing interest in exploring innovative ways to minimise the environmental footprint of coastal developments and in nature-based approaches for shoreline protection. At Mubarraz Island near Abu Dhabi (UAE), an international oil company beneficially reused ~12 million m³ of dredged material to protect pipelines, construct a causeway and create mangrove habitat to manage coastal erosion. This ‘Working with Nature’ approach has provided a cost-effective nature-based solution for shoreline protection, with added benefits for biodiversity conservation.

Local Sediment Management at Leeward-Going-Through in Providenciales, Turks and Caicos

The IADC Award winning paper explains how widening and improving the severely eroded Emerald Beach shoreline required recognition of local interests in tourism and fishing, and cooperation between property owners, government, environmental groups and dredge contractors.