Concepts and science for coastal erosion management e An introduction to the CONSCIENCE framework Marcel Marchand a, * , Agustin Sanchez-Arcilla b , Maria Ferreira c , Jeremy Gault d , José A. Jiménez b , Marina Markovic e , Jan Mulder a , Leo van Rijn a , Adrian St  anic  a f , Wojciech Sulisz g , James Sutherland h a Deltares, P.O. Box 177, 2600 MH Delft, The Netherlands b Laboratori d’Enginyeria Marítima, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, C/ Jordi Girona, 1-3 Ed. D1 Campus Nord, 08034 Barcelona, Spain c EUCC Mediterranean Centre, Consorci El Far, C.Escar 6-8, Modulo 10a, 08039 Barcelona, Spain d Coastal and Marine Resources Centre, Environmental Research Institute, University College Cork, Naval Base, Haulbowline, Cobh, Co. Cork, Ireland e United Nations Environment Programme, Mediterranean Action Plan, Priority Actions Programme Regional Activity Centre (PAP/RAC), Kraj Sv. Ivana 11, HR-21000 Split, Croatia f Geoecomar, Dimitrie Onciul Street 23-25, Sector 2, Bucharest, Romania g Institute of Hydroengineering, Polish Academy of Sciences (IBW/PAN), Ul. Koscierska 7, Gdansk, Poland h HR Wallingford, Howbery Park, Benson Lane, Wallingford, United Kingdom article info Article history: Available online 6 July 2011 abstract The main objective of the CONSCIENCE project was to develop and test concepts, guidelines and tools for the sustainable management of erosion along the European coastline, based on the best available scientific knowledge and on existing practical experience. Four concepts are potentially capable of providing the nexus between scientific knowledge and management: coastal resilience, coastal sediment cell, favourable sediment status and strategic sediment reservoir. The project has tested the use of these concepts and found that they are useful, provided that they are positioned and linked within a logical structure that we shall call the CONSCIENCE “Frame of Reference”, defined in time and space and supported through data and monitoring. Practical experience in six coastal sites in Europe has shown that the use of this Frame of Reference together with these concepts can make management objectives explicit and transparent. It can therefore support the design of an appropriate, resilience based coastal erosion management practice. Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction Coastal erosion in Europe causes significant economic loss, ecological damage and societal problems. It was estimated that in 2004 about 20,000 km of the European coast (corresponding to 20% of coastline) faced serious impacts of coastal erosion (European Commission, 2004). Loss of property, infrastructure and beach width annually causes millions of Euros worth of economic damage, loss of valuable coastal habitat and presents significant management issues. At the same time coastal protection is expensive. Over the past decade Europe’s total expenses to coastal protection is estimated to amount to 0.88 billion Euros per year (European Commission, 2009). The magnitude of the problem of coastal erosion therefore justifies a closer look into the current practice of erosion control and possible ways to improve it. Furthermore, both the EU Recommendation on ICZM as well as the Protocol on ICZM in the Mediterranean that recently came into force (24th March, 2011) call for a proactive, strategic and inte- grated approach to the management of the coast, with explicit reference to the problem of coastal erosion and protection. Current practice regarding coastal erosion management in Europe shows that measures have generally been designed from a local perspective, often in a reactive way and with disregard to the larger time and space domains of sediment processes that are at the root of the problem (European Commission, 2004). In many countries a national coastal policy is weak or even non-existent. Without clear government policy, lack of sufficient funds and limited public understanding it is hardly surprising that the approach taken to erosion management is primarily through ad hoc arrangements. At the same time scientific knowledge of coastal processes is already well-developed when compared to previous decades and available models and monitoring systems are becoming more sophisticated. However, the scarcity of data and field observations * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ31 15 285 8558; fax: þ31 15 285 8582. E-mail address: marcel.marchand@deltares.nl (M. Marchand). Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Ocean & Coastal Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ocecoaman 0964-5691/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2011.06.005 Ocean & Coastal Management 54 (2011) 859e866