Close To The Edge

Your morning splash…

ith some in Greystones believing that our coastal erosion woes is all down to the new harbour, the Accomplish Project are hoping to compile data on landslides along the east coast to better understand – and plan for – what lies ahead.

Which is why they are calling on those who live, walk, swim, surf, kayak, sail, cycle or just visit our beautiful coasts to participate in their survey.

The hope being that the data gathered will be useful in improving the management of the coast as it’s increasingly impacted by climate change. The national landslides database currently holds almost 3,000 events, but very few come from the coast.

Set up in 2022 by a team of researchers from Dublin City University and Trinity College Dublin, the Accomplish Project hopes to increase the reporting of coastal landslides. “We know from the data that many landslides occuring inland are triggered by heavy or intense rainfall,” says Dr Niamh Cullen, assistant professor in Climate Change And Environmental Sustainability at DCU and the project’s principal investigator.

“One of the climate prdictions is that these heavy rainfall events are expected to increase so, theoretically, we would expect to see an increase in the number of landslides.”

North Beach 11JAN96

Ireland’s coastline is vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including sea level rise, coastal erosion and rainfall induced coastal landslides. The Accomplish team argue that we need better reporting of landslides when they occur.

“Citizens can play a critical role in the scientific process,” finishes Cullen. “They can inform policy and management decisions through participation in projects like this. It’s these small acts by lots of people that is going to make a difference when it comes to climate change.

“Everyone needs to do their bit.”

You can sign up to the Accomplish Project here, or email them right about here.