Sand Dunes

Sand dunes provide dynamic natural ecosystems that provide protection for coastal communities.

When allowed to establish over time, they are able to provide a home to many species of grasses, wild flowers and insect life as well as specific rare species such as the natterjack toad and tadpole shrimp.

Dunes are dynamic systems and may be just a few years old or date back over 9,000 years but, old or young, this dynamic habitat presents conservation challenges in a landscape where little space is allowed for mobile habitats. Sometimes dunes are hemmed in by golf courses, farmland, and development, and this in turn reduces their ability to act as a constantly moving protection from the impact of the sea, climate change and storms. When natural processes that create sand dunes are interrupted, habitats and species are lost along with their flood and storm protection qualities, bringing more pressure on human coastal communities.

SCAMP will work with Solway’s coastal communities who want to protect, enhance and re-establish their dune systems for the benefit of people, nature and climate, focusing on allowing dune systems to have the space to move inland.