[A-HW21] Interdisciplinary approach to support climate change adaptation measures in regional scale

[AHW21-09] Beach Nourishment to Mitigate the Impact of Beach Erosion and Sea Level Rise, Thailand

*Sompratana Ritphring¹, Keiko Udo² (1.Department of Water Resources Engineering, Kasetsart University, 2.International Research Institute of Disaster Science, Tohoku University)

Keywords:climate change, sea level rise, beach erosion, beach nourishment, Pattaya beach, Chalatat beach

In the twenty-first century, global sea level rise associated with climate change will affect beach areas, which contribute a number of benefits that include benefits to the recreational sector of the economy. In Thailand, the use of structural measures to slow beach erosion and mitigate the impact of sea level rise is commonly implemented. However, structural measures often bring about negative effects on adjacent coastal areas. For this reason, beach nourishment was adopted as a suitable solution to protect and reclaim beach areas and to preserve the Tourism Carrying Capacity of the beach. This research analysed historical shoreline changes using satellite images and assessed beach value with the hedonic pricing method. We used a benefit-cost ratio analysis to evaluate the economic valuation assessment of two beaches. The results indicated that the beach values of Pattaya Beach and Chalatat Beach were 1,072,250 and 92,092 USD, respectively. The benefit-cost ratio analysis proposes that it is worth implementing beach nourishment to cope with all climate change scenarios. In response to climate change, these findings could be applied to protect beach tourism.