Many awards schemes exist for beaches around the world to improve safety and water quality while cutting down on litter and promoting the surrounding environment. However, once targets are met and a flag awarded, beach quality can go downhill over time unless backed by a solid management plan.

A wider approach to managing beaches in Europe and around the world is being fostered here in Malta, at the Euro-Mediterranean Centre on Insular Coastal Dynamics (ICoD) at the University.

Beaches in Turkey, Malta and Wales have been the test ground for a checklist drawn up to evaluate coastal scenery. Human parameters taken into account include noise disturbance and skyline.

Last year, the centre became part of the International Environment Institute, which has since merged with the University’s Institute of Agriculture to operate within a wider management approach, known as Earth Systems. ICoD director Anton Micallef describes this as “a major development”.

The new Institute of Earth Systems, launched by the University Council last August, brings with it a new approach.

The objective is to go beyond traditional disciplines to apply a wider and more integrated view of the Earth’s systems and how they interact. An integrated approach also recognises the need to consider people and their activities within planning and management frameworks.

A new international masters degree in sustainable environmental resources management, which starts in January, will apply analysis tools on case studies to address key issues defining resource use and future welfare of the planet.

The speed at which a region can recover from natural disasters, such as tsunamis or earthquakes, is related to the health of its ecosystems.

Places with healthy ecosystems suffer less damage. Managing natural infrastructure – such as mangroves, sea grasses, reefs – not only provides food and livelihood for local communities but also increases coastal resilience to storms. By evaluating ecosystems, we can more efficiently mitigate or reduce the effects of coastal hazards on wetlands, forest belts, dune systems, and so on.

If a sand dune hardly has any vegetation on it, a tsunami can ‘liquefy’ it and take it away. If the dune is well established and covered in plants it is more resistant.

How healthy do ecosystems have to be to withstand coastal hazards? This question and many others are looked at in an ecosystem-based approach which aims to integrate with other approaches.

“Hard engineering might involve building a sea wall, but the softer option would be to look for other ways of protecting the coast,” explains Dr Micallef.

A ‘ridge to reef’ approach links salt and freshwater ecosystems and shows how activities inland can have repercussions on the marine environment. A striking example is the suggestion that last January’s massive Haitian earthquake may not have been entirely an act of God.

Subsidence, which followed years of cutting down trees and removal of soil, may even have triggered the deadly Haiti earthquake and contributed to the generation of tsunamis. In the absence of a forestry policy this poor nation has been plagued by decades of deforestation, leading to vast amounts of soil being shifted across a fault line.

The role and connection between human activities and global warming is a subject that is constantly discussed in the media. The biggest climate challenge the Mediterranean region will face is that the rainfall pattern is going to alter.

So Malta should worry more about the impending water crisis than the spectre of rising seas.

“We are going to have less rain, a drier climate, change of temperature, migration of species from south to north. We are seeing it… climate change is happening. We are seeing this shift in climate and a change in reproductive cycles of trees, butterflies, and so on,” says Dr Micallef.

Although climate change is a natural phenomenon, the spike in global warming is not, explains Dr Micallef. “It is happening and we really need to start adapting to it.”

“Humans survived temperature changes in the Ice Age by migrating. They packed up their tents and moved to a warmer area. We are tied to the coast, we have all our infrastructure there. We cannot just pack up our bags and move – certainly not as easily as they did in those days.

“It is easy to think that because the globe is round, the sea water will expand equally, but it’s not like that. In some areas the sea level will go up; in other areas it will go up to a lesser extent. In some areas, the sea level will go down. It will not be a uniform rise right across the globe. In the Mediterranean the scenario indicates a roughly stable sea level.”

Strong concerns have been raised over the possibility of increasingly powerful storms. A study carried out in the US has linked rising surface temperatures of the Mediterranean Sea with stronger hurricanes in the Gulf of Mexico. For the first time, the Mediterranean might soon be in a position to sustain its own hurricanes.

Storm surges can wipe out a beach unless the area behind it is still in a natural state. Roads and buildings create ‘coastal squeeze’. In a natural setting, if the sea level rises, the beach would simply ‘migrate’ inland.

ICoD has organised several conferences on the management of coastal recreation and resources. A study on St Thomas Bay, the subject of a study presented at a conference in 2004, identified mismanagement and lack of knowledge of coastal dynamics.

“Unfortunately,” reads the conclusion, “there is the mentality that tourists are attracted to nice and expensive structures… more than the coastal landscape itself. Authorities should be more aware not to create a situation where tourists see built-up structures everywhere.”

The study argued the case for returning the bay to a more natural state as a balance to the more built-up coastal area of Marsascala.

At a follow-up conference two years later, a study on beach nourishment projects around Italy attempted to set the economic value of a beach at €200 per square metre. The return within three years on each euro invested in beach nourishment was estimated at €150.

“It is possible to understand the importance that this type of intervention can have for public authorities and private subjects looking for profitable investment opportunities.”

Beaches bring in money, not just from the hire of bathing equipment, but higher returns for surrounding restaurants, bars and real estate.

A study carried out by the University of Tuscia’s Department of Ecology and Economic Sustainable Development concluded that in cases where repeated sand nourishments might be needed, a syndicate of “those who would benefit most from an enlarged and long lasting beach” should support it financially.

Dr Micallef has developed, along with his mentor Alan Williams, a Bathing Area Registration and Evaluation beach system. Classifying beaches as urban, rural, village, resort or remote is the first step.

“Only then can you decide on what type of management. There is no way you would provide facilities for a remote beach (such as San Blas, Gozo) as you would for an urban beach surrounded by restaurants and hotels.”