Preface: Growing up on the beaches of the Cayman Islands is something which I will always consider myself fortunate to have experienced. However, it is an upbringing that has provided me with a front row seat to witness some of the drastic changes that erosion can bring to susceptible coastal areas through the effects of climate change and, at times, careless human action – damage that is being felt along coastlines across the world, including in the Bay Area.
Across the globe, the land is fighting a losing battle. Whether walking along picturesque, sandy Caribbean shores or the rugged cliffs and sprawling beaches of California’s coasts, one might notice that the sea is edging ever closer.
These coasts are the borders between the earth’s terrain and its vast oceans – barriers between two different worlds, which naturally interact. But when these interactions become imbalanced, and the scales tip in favour of the seas, coasts can begin to erode.
Trouble in the tropics?
In the tropical, tri-island tourism hotspot of the Cayman Islands – in the Caribbean, southwest of Cuba – coastal erosion has hit hard in recent years.
Grand Cayman, the largest island, is home to the world-renowned Seven Mile Beach – an attraction long-beloved by tourists and locals alike, but one which has suffered the drastic impact that climate change-related factors and burgeoning oceanfront property construction can have.
While the re-shaping of coastlines is both natural and inevitable, the extent of erosion is increasingly exacerbated and driven by rising sea levels and increases in storm intensities (both causing more sand to be swallowed by the seas), as well as rising seawater temperatures. As discussed in a recent case study by Wendy Johnston and Andrew Cooper of the Islands’ climate adaptation policies, the latter has contributed to losses of coral reefs which would otherwise serve to both protect shorelines from the full wrath of storm surges, and re-supply some of their sand that is consumed by these tides.
Most recently sweeping sand from Cayman’s shores were the surges of Hurricane Ian – a storm that battered the nation’s coasts in late 2022, the aftermath of which is captured in the below images.
Data visualization showing change in coastal landscape at a section of Grand Cayman’s Seven Mile Beach. Stephanie Ditta, Left image taken May 2022, right image taken September 2022
Engulfed by the sea at rates quicker than they could be naturally replaced, sections of the beach have simply vanished – and some in the tourism industry fear the impact this could continue to have on the island’s tourism (and, in turn, economy) if left unaddressed.
Grand Cayman’s Marriott Beach Resort is one of several oceanfront properties that has relinquished its section of the beach to the seas in recent years. The hotel’s manager, Hermes Cuello, previously told a local newspaper, the Cayman Compass, that there has been a resulting “erosion in bookings”.
Climate change hitting coastal California
The brunt of these erosive processes is being felt across parts of the rest of the world, too – and the implications are not just on a coast’s aesthetics or tourism prospects.
In the United States – where the coast is home to almost 40 % of the population – the effects of coastal erosion already cost an estimated $500 million annually, including through land and property loss and damage, according to the U.S. Climate Resilience Toolkit.
Investigating trends in the damage regionally, a study published last year by coastal geomorphologist Adam Young of the UC San Diego Scripps Institution of Oceanography and Zuzanna M. Swirad (a former postdoctoral scholar at Scripps) in Geomorphology made use of high resolution laser-imaging to map “erosional hotspots” along California’s coast.
The findings, represented visually on an interactive website, highlight that while northern California’s cliffs have experienced the most significant recessions over the course of the study in the last decade, erosion is rampant up and down the state’s coast. And with loss of land, comes the potential for loss of property, infrastructure, and even life.
In January, for instance, a San Francisco cliff – its sandy base saturated and weakened by recent storms – began to crumble, toppling a World War II-era structure 200-feet to the Fort Funston Beach below. The bluffs above the beach are also home to popular walking trails, which the Golden Gate National Recreation Area since has advised visitors to strictly stick to, minimizing risks should further landslides occur.
The WWII structure came to rest on Fort Funston Beach. SFFD/Golden Gate National Recreation Area, via SFGate
As the oceans continue to eat away at these coasts, thoughts turn to the ways in which the extent of the damage can be lessened.
What can be done?
General measures have been proposed to tackle coastal erosion – both proactive and preventative in nature – but it is in their implementation that care must be taken.
In the Cayman Islands, for instance, reported plans for a government-funded beach re-nourishment are seen by the country’s Department of Environment as a viable medium-term solution, but one which still may not address long-term structural issues of older buildings, which now perch precariously above the ocean.
According to Lauren Dombowsky, the department’s manager of the Environmental Management Unit, the project is “in the process of developing the scope of works, and procur[ing] relevant expertise”, as they look to update the nation’s Climate Change Policy.
Preventative measures such as sea walls, meanwhile, are commonly erected to prevent coastlines and oceanfront properties from erosion and other damage caused by storm surges. However, their placement can impact whether they help or in fact hurt the coasts they are enlisted to protect.
If seawalls (or any other man-made structures, like pools or even property) are built too close to the shoreline, on sections of ‘active’ beach that are susceptible to ebb and flow of sand supply with storms and tides, they risk cutting off the supply of sand landward of their point of construction which could otherwise help to replenish sand that is swept away.
The National Park Service lists two main methods by which this erosion can occur: active erosion, whereby wave energy reflects off the seawall to increase erosion at the wall’s base, and passive erosion, as sea walls impede natural land shifts.
A ‘managed retreat’ of future seawalls or other coastal property – that is, renovating and redeveloping existing structures, or constructing newer buildings further inland from the advancing shoreline – could help to mitigate these risks. The State of California, for example, recently pledged $300 million to the retreat of 1.7 miles of tracks situated near an eroding bluff in Del Mar.
However, these plans to retreat don’t come without practical difficulties of their own. As explained by James Whittaker, a Cayman Compass journalist with experience covering these environmental matters, there may be significant financial implications in asking functioning businesses to move from where they are established – meaning ‘managed retreat’ policies may only prove most viable for structures already in disrepair, such as Cayman’s Royal Palms bar.
For such a complex issue, influenced by numerous factors, it is difficult to lay out a ‘one size fits all’ solution. After all, each coastline is unique. But the first steps in addressing such a problem are awareness of its occurrence and understanding its causes, before adapting practices and policies to better fit the ever-changing climate landscape.
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Alex Dakers is an M.A. Journalism student at Stanford University, with a BSc (Hons) in Biomedical Science from the University of Bath. Using his background in science, Alex is interested in reporting on issues including environmental justice, and in particular the intersection between environmental science and public health. A former collegiate swimmer, Alex is also a staff writer for The Stanford Daily’s sports section, as well as a contributor to the Peninsula Press.