Back to About the Shoreline Adaptation Programme.
[Video: Text on a blue banner against a background of light grey wavy lines reads, 'What is coastal erosion?']
Voice: Coastal erosion is a natural and ongoing process that has been happening at our coasts for thousands of years.
[Video: Aerial view of an animated coastal area with parked cars, a sandy beach with waves rolling onto the shore. Palms and benches are on the grass beside the parking area, with a fountain nearby.]
Voice: As waves collide with cliffs and beaches, it results in the removal of materials, like sediment or rocks at the shoreline, leading to the loss of land as the coast moves landward.
[Video: The waves move towards the land and erode the outer coastline, the park and car park.]
[Video: Text on a blue banner against a background of light grey wave-like patterns reads, 'Factors which affect rates of erosion'.]
Voice: How quickly the coast erodes or moves back depends on the nature of the coastline, whether it is a cliff coast or a beach coast, and the sort of material the coastline is made up of.
[Video: Three circular illustrations labelled 'Cliff coast,' 'Beach coast,' and 'Coastline materials' illustrating three causes of coastal erosion. They show waves eroding a cliff, waves crashing on a sandy beach and a pile of rocks and sand.]
Voice: Other factors that may influence the speed of erosion include sediment availability, meaning how much sand is available, wave energy, meaning how powerful the waves are, and climatic variability like El Nino cycles and changing wind and wave directions. Erosional processes can also be impacted by the way we use land and interventions that we place at the coast.
[Video: Three circular illustrations labelled 'Sediment availability,' 'Wave energy,' and 'Climate variability' show more causes of erosion. In the first circle, layers of sediment under the sea, large waves, and swirling wind patterns above the waves.]
Voice: So, how does beach erosion typically differ to cliff erosion?
[Video: Text on a blue banner against a background of light grey wave-like patterns reads, 'How do beaches and cliffs erode?']
Voice: Beaches are dynamic environments and may undergo short periods of erosion but then recover and build out again. Some beaches are accretionary, meaning they are growing as sediment accumulates. Other areas may continuously erode.
[Video: An animated beach with waves approaching from the left. A playground with a pink slide and a large tree sits near the shore. The waves move closer to the beach. A large wave, marked by a red arrow, crashes towards the sand. A green arrow shows the wave moving back out to sea, eroding the sandy beach as it moves.]
Voice: Cliffs on the other hand continuously erode with no cycle of recovery.
[Video: An animated coastal cliffside with homes and trees near the edge. A tree falls and sections of the cliff crumble into the ocean as waves crash below. The erosion continues, and more of the cliffside falls into the sea.]
Voice: While coastal erosion is a natural process, it starts to become a coastal hazard when it impacts things we care about near the coast.
[Video: Three coloured circles labelled 'Natural process' in orange, 'Things we care about' in green, and 'hazards' capitalised in red. The circles are connected by plus and equals signs to explain the formula: natural process plus things we care about equals hazards.]
[Video: An illustration of Earth rotating with headlines from Radio New Zealand (RNZ), British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and The New York Times. Headlines read, 'Sea levels rising twice as fast as thought in New Zealand,' '2023 confirmed as world's hottest year on record,' and 'Earth to Hit Critical Global Warming Threshold by Early 2030s.' A red thermometer graphic appears on the left.]
Voice: Climate change is projected to increase rates of erosion in the future through sea level rise and more frequent and more intense storm events, turning natural processes into hazards at an increasing rate, speeding up the need to adapt our coastal environments and important assets and infrastructure supporting these places that we value.
[Video: An animated coastal Auckland suburb with a beach, playground and houses. People are walking, biking and driving along the waterfront. The playground sits on the water's edge, and rising ocean waves flood it. The playground is relocated from the beachfront to a higher location in-land behind the street. Kids start playing on the new playground, and a kayaker, paddleboarder and boat pass by in the ocean.]
Voice: To help us understand projected rates of erosion and how this may be exacerbated by climate change, Auckland Council has developed mapping tools for different timeframes and climate scenarios.
Video: A computer monitor displays Auckland Council's GeoMaps website. The cursor clicks on GeoMaps, opening the screen showing a detailed map of Auckland with major roads and coastal outlines, zooming in slightly.]
Voice: Using this information, experts, local iwi and communities are able to proactively plan for coastal hazards and the projected impact of climate change at our coasts.
[Video: An animated workspace with maps, charts, and documents spread across a table. Several hands hold rulers, mark maps, type on a laptop and point to documents labelled 'Shoreline Adaptation Plan' and 'Te Tāruke-ā-Tāwhiri Auckland's Climate Plan.']
Voice: Shoreline Adaptation Plans and Te Tāruke-ā-Tāwhiri are just a few tools we can use to plan for and manage impacts of coastal erosion at the coast.
Voice: Our future depends on choices and actions we take now.
[Video: An animated group of diverse people of different ages and styles stand in front of a coastal landscape with Rangitoto Island in the background. Each person has an empty speech bubble above them.]
Voice: To understand more about how we are planning for the future of our coastal areas, visit the Shoreline Adaptation Plans page on Auckland Council’s website.
[Video: A computer displays a webpage titled 'About the Shoreline Adaptation Programme' on Auckland Council’s website. The page includes text explaining shoreline adaptation plans.]
[Video: Auckland Council’s logo appears on the screen with the link aucklandcouncil.govt.nz below it.]