ENDURE
Date de début
01/01/2018Date de fin
31/12/2021Project budget
2 111 410 €ERDF amount
1 266 846 €ERDF rate
60%À propos
Common challenge
The partnership started from the observation that climate change causes sea level rise across the 2 Seas area by 2-4mm each year. This increases the risk of coastal flooding by 100 times in some areas, impacting people, communities and infrastructure. Many traditional defences are old, failing and expensive to replace. For example, a 9km sea wall costs over €88 million, but does not provide a permanent and economically sustainable sea defence. Natural ecosystems provide better resilience - dunes naturally flex and evolve to provide a self-replenishing barrier - but this adaptive ability is often negatively affected by poor/reactive dune management aimed at mitigating erosion/flooding events rather than enhancing dune function. Sand dunes protect 420 km of our shared coastline, yet they do not receive the same attention given to more traditional hard interventions. Joint working and cross-border collaboration is poor, lacking input and learning from high quality cutting-edge science, research, and design expertise.
Overall objective
Main outputs
Cross border approach
Main Achievements
ENDURE came to a close in December 2021, delivering all its objectives and changing the mindset of coastal planning: moving from static to nature-based solutions. This is evidenced in follow-up projects and stakeholder initiatives to effectively engage in further research on marram dynamics and dune development or the nature-based solutions (NBS) approach to Nature Recovery being adopted by Norfolk Coast Partnership in the UK.
Moreover, four online tools have been developed, each providing a new approach on data to support decisions to combat the effects of sea level rise through NBS. The partnership is proud to have delivered three pilots which tested a strategic approach to managing visitor pressures and the impact of new technologies including sand nets and mussel posts to sites.
Although in 2020 the global COVID-19 pandemic put an end to face-to-face activities, project partners rethought their approach and moved to more virtual products, using accessible outlets such as YouTube. Three podcasts were in fact developed in the form of guided walks through the dunes with interviews from the site wardens, allowing people to engage with the sites from home, or to go out and experience a ‘private tour’.
Other project highlights include the ‘Protect, Respect, Enjoy’ communications campaign, which was a huge success with the motto being used by other campaigns and on other products across the county. When ENDURE began, the term NBS was relatively unknown in some coastal communities. Through this project, alongside national conversations, NBS is a term more widely recognised, and knowledge of this approach to land management continues to grow.
This project delivers a lasting legacy through the project website which was transformed into a best practice guide. This is a culmination of
all the information gathered during the project, and can be referenced by visitors and site managers alike, as the guide covers everything
from dense scientific content regarding dune health, to how best to safely visit a dune site and enjoy the landscape.
Testimonial
The project changed the mindset in coastal planning: moving from static to nature-based solutions.
The tools developed are supporting data collection (including aerial photography) at a much larger scale than previously possible, meaning that true landscape level assessments of dune systems can now be achieved because of ENDURE.