Some of the world’s major rivers no longer flow to the ocean. They begin to die from the mouth upwards. Extraction of river water for irrigation has dramatically affected the Colorado in the USA, and the Yellow River in China. In between Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan, the drying up of the former inland Aral Sea is an environmental disaster. Australia’s Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) is a large river basin by world standards, but even with management lessons from overseas river basins the River Murray mouth is being choked with marine sand. Read More

Self-isolation has benefits; time is available to look at collected materials stretching back many years. In the words of the late lamented John Chappell, “I went digging deep into one’s stratigraphy”. Read More

Approaching Sydney from the east by sea or by air offers an experience rare for those entering a great city. Perhaps only San Francisco has comparable cliffs at its harbour gates. The majestic North and South Heads flank the entrance to the grand harbour called Port Jackson. These cliffs extend north towards Manly embayment and south to Bondi. It is this southern stretch that I want to reflect upon here. Read More

There have several recent court cases that relate to coastal management. We should be aware that decisions by courts can form a basis for future planning and actions in coastal management. Read More

Back in my undergraduate days, I was briefly fascinated by the work of a famous historian; well famous enough to get on the cover page of TIME magazine in the 1940s. His name is Arnold Toynbee. Read More

Despite all the crises we currently face, the media has found space to highlight two papers published in NATURE in recent weeks that relate to the future of coastal conditions, in particular beaches. Read More

I have long been interested in trying to unravel the driving forces that underpin the geomorphological and sedimentary record of coastal deposits. This has involved the study of sand barrier, river delta and coral reef sequences in different areas of the world. It is no surprise that this work has not been without challenges both in collecting and analysing data on the one hand and interpreting the depositional sequences on the other. One can only keep trying! Read More

A number of ACS members in Adelaide recently attended a wake for Brian Caton. Our condolences to Angela and his family. Brian’s wake had many ‘coastal’ people, representing a mark of respect and appreciation for Brian’s immense contribution to coastal management in SA. Read More

It is hard to believe that only 10 years ago on 18 February, 2010, around 180 coastal wonks gathered in Adelaide to discuss “developing a national coastal adaptation agenda”. It was a Forum sponsored by the then Australian Government’s Department of Climate Change and Energy Efficiency (DCCEE). A subsequent report of the Forum was released by the Department. But how times have changed? Read More

There is a need for the Commonwealth to rethink mechanisms for supporting the states in disaster management through the establishment of a climate change adaptation action arm within the Defence portfolio. A model is offered based on the US Army Corps of Engineers. Read More