Global variability in estuaries and coastal settings

PERILLO, G.M.E.; PICCOLO, M.C.

Treatise on Estuarine and Coastal Science

Elsevier

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2024; p. 12 - 48

The concepts of variability and change are analysed for the natural estuarine and coastal systems within restricted temporal and spatialscales. Change only occurs in those settings where hydrological and erosional processes result in definitive and unrecoverablemodifications in state after crossing certain thresholds. All other situations occurring at coastal settings have a temporal and spatial‘periodicity’ which allow, at least partly, the return to the initial condition. The paths followed can differ, but coastal settings tend torecuperate based on their resilience. A set of factors controls the variability of the coastal settings. The dominance of a group (seldomonly one is determinant) defines the particular environment observed. As a result of the natural variability of each of the factors andthe non-linear interaction among them, there is no actual possibility that any coastal setting will be equal to another, and they can besimilar but not. Given the predictions of the effects of future climate change on coastal areas, the most appropriate strategy to increasecommunity strength is to implement climate change adaptation and mitigation into an integrated coastal management that promotescommunity and multi-stakeholder participation. The implications of climate change for each coastal area vary significantly, so eachenvironment requires an independent assessment.