Urbanisation of sand dunes

Urbanisation has occurred on many dune coasts throughout Europe. Many examples can be found of tourist development being built directly on sand dune systems. At the same time, in many areas, especially around the Mediterranean coast sand extraction for building has also greatly depleted the resource. Belgium for example has lost 54% of the open dune to urbanisation (Provoost & van Landuyt 2001) which has caused a severe depletion of the flora of the dunes.

References

Provoost, S. & van Landuyt, W. 2001. The flora of the Flemish coastal dunes (Belgium) in a changing landscape. In: Coastal Dune Management: Shared Experience of European Conservation Practice, eds.Houston, J.A., Edmondson, S.E. & Rooney, P.J.Liverpool University Press, 393-401.