Title of the project
Global coastal vulnerability index (CVI) assessment for present and future
Type
PhD project
Duration
2023 - 2027
Persons involved
B.M.V. Basnayake (PhD candidate)
Dr. Ir. T.M. Duong (Daily supervisor)
Prof. dr. R.W.M.R.J. Ranasinghe (Promotor 2)
Prof. Dr. K.M. Wijnberg (Promoter 1)
Dr. R. Almar (Advisor)
Funding of the project
SectorPlan
Summary of the research
The natural and human induced pressures on the coastal environments are exacerbating thus creating more risk for these dynamic environments. Understanding the vulnerabilities of coasts to different hazards such as erosion and inundation due to coastal flooding, will help in effective coastal zone management. several studies have been carried out to estimate the vulnerability levels of coasts around the world using different methods including indicator based methods, index based methods, GIS based decision support tools and methods based on dynamic computer modeling. However, these studies have been carried out at local or regional levels, and a consistent coastal vulnerability (CVI) assessment for the global scale is still lacking.
In the current research, a novel framework will be introduced to calculate the coastal vulnerability levels for the global coastline using different indicators of coastal vulnerability for both present and future scenarios. The most vulnerable coasts will be identified based on the CVIs as current and future CVI hotspots. The CVIs for different types of coasts will be analyzed and based on these classifications, most vulnerable type/s of coasts will be identified for both present and future conditions. Possible future scenarios based on shared socio-economic pathways (SSPs) will be selected to project the future CVI pathways by predicting the future CVIs (for few selected years, based on the available data) under these future scenarios. The global hotspots will be selected based on the CVI pathways, and potential measures will be recommended to maintain the current CVI levels at these locations. The selected future global CVI hotspots will be modelled to assess the future coastal risks experienced by these local hotspots, due to either erosion and/or flooding, by estimating the hazard levels and associated risks of each type of coastal hazard. The models could be used to test some protection measures to these hotspots and check the effectiveness of these measures in reducing the future coastal risks. The potential deliverables of our research will be a new framework for applying CVI assessment for the global coasts, and a global database including current and future CVIs and future CVI pathways.
Keywords
Coastal vulnerability index (CVI), future scenarios, coastal erosion, coastal flooding, coastal risk, future projections, global CVI assessment
More information
Vindhya Basnayake
Room: Horst-Ring Z236
E-mail: b.m.v.basnayake@utwente.nl