European Coastal Dunes: Ecological Values, Threats, Opportunities and Policy Development

This chapter describes international policy to conserve coastal dunes. Because it is not possible to describe all policy instruments of the world, the authors selected those of Europe as a case study. Perhaps more than other continents, Europe aims at a common and consistent international nature policy for the whole of its coastline.As a result, countries in the European Union have national as well as international legal instruments to protect dunes. This is of interest to other coastal regions of the world where attempts are made for an international cooperation in the management of the coastline.