PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
In line with the EU’s new Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change (COM/2021/82), LIFECAPEable aims to demonstrate Nature-based Solutions (NbS) for coastal flood protection. NbS as flood protection systems are considered to be climate-adaptive, resilient and cost-effective - however, their large-scale implementation is restrained by a lack of knowledge about their physical safety performance. With today's knowledge, the direct application of nature-based vegetation strategies is hampered by uncertainty regarding their performance under the action of waves breaking on the dike, as well as the long-term development of sand dunes. To foster the uptake of NbS, the project will demonstrate and evaluate how native vegetation impacts biodiversity, climate resilience and economic and social aspects. Seven vegetation strategies will be demonstrated, managed and evaluated on a dike and sand dune system as part of the flood protection system at Falsterbonäset cape (Sweden). The project will compare the resistance to wave-induced erosion of NbS vegetation cover (with project) and grass turf cover (without project). The positive results of demonstration measures will help to reduce uncertainty surrounding the safety performance; remove a key barrier to NbS action; and allow evaluation and replication of the approach.
Climate change is one of the most urgent issues faced by humans. It gives rise to extreme weather events and causes sea levels to rise, with the result that in coming decades, coastal regions are facing recurrent risks of coastal flooding. Average 100-year extreme sea levels in Europe are projected to increase by 0.34–1.72 m depending on the emission mitigation scenario, with the highest increase projected for the North Sea. Today, 200 million EU citizens live within 50 km of the coastline and migration towards coastal areas continues.
Vellinge, a coastal municipality in Sweden with 21,500 residents partly located on a low-lying cape characterised by dense urban areas with high natural values, urgently needs to increase its resilience to sea level rise. Capes are dynamic, both in terms of morphology and ecology. More than 250 NUTS3 regions experience similar coastal hazards and exposure of populations and infrastructure as Vellinge. Coastal dikes or dunes fixed by vegetation are not viable options if the coastline changes frequently. Instead, coastal protection can be designed to enhance biodiversity, promote sediment dynamics, and include wave dissipation over coastal ecosystems. The project will demonstrate how these dynamic areas for wave dissipation can be used, allowing dikes to be constructed using a realignment approach - i.e. by locating dikes adjacent to urban areas, allowing for natural areas to be flooded.
OBJECTIVES
The general objective of the LIFECAPEable project is to address the needs identified, and to scale up the approach to implementation and management of NbS in flood protection systems. The project has defined four specific objectives:
Demonstrate the establishment, management and cost implications of NbS using native vegetation strategies in sand dunes and in the topsoil layer of the flood protection system for the project area.
Validate the impact of the vegetation cover strategies on long term physical safety, biodiversity and broader environmental, social and economic considerations under rising sea levels at demonstration scale.
Ensure long term sustainability, proper management and further development of the project results and the adjacent ecosystems.
Ensure uptake and replication of the NbS approach for construction and management of flood protection systems in the form of guidance and examples of application and management to stakeholders in policymaking and/or coastal engineering.
RESULTS
The result will demonstrate NbS along 5,835 meters of newly constructed dike, with new habitats of 53,000 m2 and reinforced sand dune areas protecting low-lying areas at 15 locations of approx. 1,800 m2, home to 37 species. The impact of the vegetation cover strategies will be evaluated for climate vulnerability, biodiversity and social and economic benefits. The replicable approach describes establishing and managing vegetation strategies on flood protection systems and will be disseminated to 31,700 representatives of relevant public authorities. A condition for uptake is that hydraulic load resistance output data is adopted in international design manuals and that the results are adopted by the manuals’ steering groups. Replication will target 150 potential users of the CAPEable approach and two first movers, subject to practical replication.
The following quantitative impacts are expected by the end of the project:
NbS will halt and reverse the loss of 35 species and 78,300 m2 of habitats in absolute terms.
NbS are foreseen to achieve operating and maintenance costs amounting to 0.13 EUR m2/year, a reduction of 50% compared to grass turf.
NbS vegetation cover will enable resistance to wave-induced erosion (in terms of hydraulic load) of at least 4,000 impacts, i.e. at least at the same level as grass turf.
Outreach of project results to 31,700 representatives.
Replication of NbS on two additional sites.
