Syed Shamsil Arefin

Large Scale Restoration of Coastal Ecosystems: Assessing Protective Benefits
This research is part of the European consortium project REST-COAST (Large Scale Restoration Of Coastal Ecosystems: Rivers To Sea Connectivity), comprising 38 partners from across Europe. The overall aim of REST-COAST is to demonstrate to what extent upscaled coastal restoration can provide a low carbon solution to climate adaptation and disaster risk reduction for threatened low-lying coastal systems, combined with gains in their biodiversity status. Within this overall research aim, this Phd studentship will assess the protection function of coastal marshes and mangroves on waves and surges, as a function of different coastal and wetland geometries. The research will examine the state-of-the-art concerning the level of protection different geometries of coastal wetlands provide in terms of attenuated waves and extreme water levels. This will include consideration of the common situation of wetlands fronting a coastal defence and how such hybrid situations can be best characterised. Building on this the student will develop generic representations of these effects that can be characterised with fairly simple parameter sets, in a form that can be included in broad scale assessments in Europe and more widely. In this way, this research will contribute to a European and global assessment (including costs, benefits, financing needs, and business opportunities) of coastal risk reduction through wetland restoration (changes).