Examples of human activities affecting the coastline are
land reclamation, recreation at beaches, land use
practices and construction in coastal zones. Coastline
changes produce a positive or negative impact. For
instance, coastline accretion may create more usable
land for recreation or other purposes, which is a positive
phenomenon. However, a resort usually close to the
beach may, after accretion, be out of the view of the new
beach and thus, unattractive to tourist visitors. Also, this
is a negative phenomenon. On the other hand, coastline
erosion may cause problems if it develops towards, for
instance, a residential area. As a result, it can be said
that changes in the shape of the coastline may
fundamentally affect the environment of the coastal zone
(Li et al., 1998; Wang et al., 2006).