Shoreline evolution and its management implications in beaches along the Catalan coast

Abstract

Se analiza la evolución de la línea de costa de Catalunya durante las dos últimas décadas, se identifican los principales factores que determinan dicha evolución, y se avanzan sus implicaciones para la gestión costera.

The Catalan coast is located in the NE Spanish Mediterranean. It has about 600 km long coastline, with about 270 km of beaches. It has a wide variety of temperate coastal systems comprising considerable geo- and biodiversity which is represented in cliffs, rocky coasts, sandy beaches, coastal plains, estuaries, and river deltas. In spite of this natural richness, it can be considered as a paradigm of the highly developed areas of the Mediterranean coastal zone. Accordingly, one of its main characteristics is its high susceptibility to change/damage due to the accumulation of human-induced pressures.