Public perceptions on coastal erosion in the Maltese Islands: a case study of St George’s Bay (St Julians) and Pretty Bay (Birżebbuġa)

Maria Theresa Farrugia ()
Additional contact information
Maria Theresa Farrugia: University of Canberra

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 2017, vol. 86, issue 2, No 21, 587-604

Abstract: Abstract With 60% of the world’s population living within the coastal zone, coastal erosion is considered as a global problem. The coasts of the Maltese Islands hold a variety of formations resulting from coastal erosion. Beach nourishment is one of the protective measures taken against coastal erosion. This paper focuses on two of the nourished beaches within the Maltese Islands, St George’s Bay (St Julians) and Pretty Bay (Birżebbuġa), that have undergone extensive sand augmentation during the past decades and looks at the extent of how coastal erosion and beach replenishment may have influenced public perception. Through a triangulation of interviews, it seeks to understand the views of beach users, researchers, representatives, and beach managers. It presents divergences in interviewee opinions and ideas on St George’s Bay and Pretty Bay and illustrates that public perception tends to reflect the type of urban area surrounding each replenished beach. Recommendations and suggestions are also presented to promote awareness towards coastal processes and their impacts.

Keywords: Coastal erosion; Urban development; Sand augmentation; Beach nourishment; Beach users and managers; Public perception (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11069-017-2775-9 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:86:y:2017:i:2:d:10.1007_s11069-017-2775-9

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11069

DOI: 10.1007/s11069-017-2775-9

Access Statistics for this article

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards is currently edited by Thomas Glade, Tad S. Murty and Vladimír Schenk

More articles in Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards from Springer, International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().