With the global rise in sea levels caused by climate change and frequent extreme weather processes, high-density population aggregation and human development activities to enhance coastal areas vulnerability, populations, resources, and the ecological environment are facing huge pressure. Natural coastlines are being destroyed, and increasingly serious problems, such as coastal erosion and ecological fragility, have become disasters in coastal zones. The coastal vulnerability changed by climatic variables has created a major concern at regional, national and global scales. By comparing the data of two periods in the past 40 years, coastline vulnerability of coastal erosion in mainland China were evaluated by use of reverse cloud model and AHP with 10 indicators, including natural, anthropogenic, social and economic factors, etc. The main factors controlling coastal erosion included the proportion of Quaternary strata, the gradual reclamation of marine areas as land areas (in kilometres) and the percentage decrease in coastal sediment entering the sea. The secondary impact factors included the high proportion of artificial coastlines and the impacts of waves and storm surges under the influence of relative sea level changes. Human activities could further influence coastal vulnerability, making the erosion risk a considerable concern. Legislation, coordinated management system and technology are proposed to improve the quality of the marine ecological environment.
Keywords: China's mainland; Cloud model; Coastal erosion; Vulnerability.
Copyright © 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.