Long-term coastal management strategies: useful or useless?

Climate change impacts are expected to increase pressure upon coastal defenses worldwide. However, most adaptation measures for coastal defenses (if any) are still triggered by today's local problems, rather than addressing the expected long-term climate change. This gives rise to the question whether long-term strategies might bring advantages over continuing present coastal management practice during the next 200 years. Comparing long-term coastal management strategies is surrounded by both physical and sociological uncertainties, impeding this comparisons straightforwardness. A new assessment methodology has been set up, accounting for these uncertainties in impacts of optional long-term coastal management strategies. Applying this new assessment framework to a case study for the Dutch coast shows that assessments of long-term coastal management strategies differentiate sufficiently for comparison, despite all uncertainties involved.