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Description
Cost-benefit assessments to attest the execution of coastal interventions are increasingly common at both national level - with the Portuguese Environmental Agency demanding this component in the public procurement - and at international level. The AX-COAST is a project that aims to contribute for the improvement of an innovative tool in the field of cost-benefit assessments of coastal interventions. The COAST is an integrated tool for this kind of assessment, combining 3 modules: shoreline evolution module; coastal defence structures pre-design module; cost-benefit module. The proposal is to add the cross-shore processes into the shoreline evolution module, opening the possibility to effectively apply the COAST to a wider selection of coastal areas and to do deeper analysis to artificial nourishments, by assessing the benefits of where to deposit the sediments on the beach. The integration of cross-shore functionality will be led by the University of Aveiro, who has experience in both longshore and cross-shore evolution models and is the author of the COAST. Moreover, in collaboration with Vatnaskil, a Donor Partner, a methodology for using data processed from global datasets to apply the COAST will be developed, taking advantage of the large experience of this partner in the subject. This partnership will also contribute for the COAST tool to be introduced into Iceland, potentially opening the door for applications in the country. The project management will be promoted by R5e Consulting Engineers, who has a vast experience in project management and has the objective of promote the sustained growth of R5m Marine Solutions as a company. R5m Marine Solutions will be responsible for the characterization of socio-economic and environmental benefits of the case study and overall application of the COAST. The successful conclusion of this proposal will allow the internationalization of the COAST at and ultimately contribute for sustainable coastal management policies.