However, this relationship is based on healthy respect - the ocean can be calm one minute and tempestuous the next. The rugged coastline, with its treacherous reefs, has claimed many lives, and Guernsey has had to develop a robust set of flood defences to protect property against the onslaught of ferocious winter gales and ten metre tides.

Maintenance

The Environment Department is the States department responsible for overseeing the maintenance of the Island's man-made and natural coastal defences and is assisted by engineers from Guernsey Technical Services who regularly inspect the structures and recommend repairs where necessary.

Coastal Defence and Beach Management Strategy

In 1998 consultants Posford Duvivier prepared a strategy for the future management of the coastal defences and beaches around the islands of Guernsey and Herm. The report, A Guernsey Strategy for Coastal Defence and Beach Management, was a turning point from what had been largely reactive system of management, dealing with problems as and when they arose.

This strategy divided the coast into coastal units and as well as providing an overview of Guernsey and Herm's coastline, the coastal processes and defences, environmental assets and issues.  It looked at long term strategies for managing coastal defences in these areas and recommended a programme for undertaking monitoring, studies and coastal defence works.

In Spring 2007, Royal Haskoning (previously Posford Duvivier) finalised its report 'Guernsey Coastal Defence Strategy'.  This updated the 1998 report and highlights the key issues for consideration in managing the Island's coastal defences for the future.

The Environment Department continues to undertake this work with assistance from a team of engineers at Guernsey Technical Services, taking into account predictions from latest computer modelling scenarios in respect of climate change.

Climate change

Global average temperatures have risen by about 0.7 degrees Centigrade over the past 100 years. It is likely that the rise over the past 50 years is mainly caused through the use of fossil fuels (coal, gas, and oil).

Temperatures in Guernsey have also risen, particularly over the past few decades.

Global climate models predict a rise in global average temperatures, between 1990 and 2100, of 1.5 to 5.8 degrees Centigrade, taking into account both the range of future emissions projections developed bythe Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and a range of different climate change models.

Predictions for the Channel Islands can be found in a report entitled Scenarios of climate change for islands within the BIC region copies of which can be downloaded on this page or obtained from the Environment Department.