The Importance of the Coastline

The importance of the coastline. – Joislymol George 

The land along a coast is called a Coastline.Coastlines are formed by erosion. Eroded coast lands are usually formed at a cliff face. It first happens from the waves constantly crashing against the cliff side. Some forms of erosion on the cliff faces are abrasion, attrition and scouring.Coastlines are important for many reasons. Firstly, the coastline is important to resource extraction because coastlines host all kinds of resources that can be obtained and then exploited by humans, this prevents the erosion and helps with the accumulation of the beach which decreases the material taken back into the sea (offshore)  by backwash. This leads to more input than output of material., helping to build up the beach. As well as that the coastline is also the home for many other kinds of species. As our civilization grows, it is essential that we limit our coastal industry and tourism so that we can maintain the habitat of such animal. Moreover the coastline, has continually proved to be an area for human settlements. For years, humans have settled near the coast due to the many advantages such as: access to water, fisheries and transportation . Additionally, as more and more humans migrated to the coastal areas, all employment was transferred to the coasts. Nowadays, a large number of major cities are located on the coast to receive more of these advantages easily. Finally, the coastline has proved to be an area of tourism for years, especially the beach which offers multiple incentives that attract people. Tourism has become such a large industry, that areas like Hawaii and Guam make a large amount of revenue annually. However, at the same time, as tourism grows larger and larger the effect it has on wildlife is worrisome. Tourism is perhaps the second most important use of coastline due to the revenue it creates.[pic 1]