Interreg MANABAS COAST

Flanders Hydraulics (FH) and the General Technical Support Division are joining forces as Flemish partners of the Department of Mobility and Public Works in a cross-border Interreg North Sea project called ‘MANABAS COAST’ (MAinstreaming NAture-BAsed Solutions through COASTal systems).

This partnership involves collaboration with twelve organizations from the North Sea region, including Sweden, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Flanders, and France, under the leadership of Rijkswaterstaat.

The project focuses on the implementation of pilot projects in various countries. The Flemish pilot project concerns the monitoring and research of soft sea defences in Raversijde. This will be carried out by Nexperta with support from the Coastal Department (Hydrography).

The core of the work on the Flemish pilot project involves detailed monitoring of the dune for the dike pilot in Raversijde-Mariakerke, combining bathymetric and topographic surveys to collect accurate data with high spatial resolution (with centimeter accuracy, a dm grid, and a frequency of approximately monthly). A data analysis will then be carried out to correlate the observed morphodynamics with hydrometeorological factors such as wind, waves, and tides. This is part of the Living Lab Raversijde.

Thanks to the collaboration with the MANABAS COAST partners, the work on the Flemish pilot project will take on a European dimension, which will contribute to generating new knowledge about the morphodynamic processes of sandy coasts in the North Sea region. This knowledge will form the basis for designing nature-based solutions for coastal protection.

MANABAS COAST will run for five years, from 2022 to 2027, and will receive 60% European funding. The total project budget for WL is approximately €0.5 million, which amounts to approximately €300,000 in funding.