Our Changing Coast

The coast isn't a fixed line — it moves, and a warming climate is tilting the balance toward loss. Let's see it clearly and act early.

Scotland's coastline is not a fixed line on a map — it moves. About a fifth of it (19%, some 3,800 km) is 'soft', erodible shore: dunes, sandy beaches and saltmarsh. On the Moray coast — Culbin, Findhorn Bay and its shifting bar, the Spey mouth at Kingston — those soft shores are exactly where land is won in one storm and lost in the next.

Those natural features are also our best defence. Healthy dunes and saltmarsh soak up wave energy and shelter the land, homes, roads, paths and habitats behind them. When they erode, everything behind is exposed. Across Scotland, around £20 billion of roads, railway and homes sit within 50 metres of the high-water mark; on a cautious, high-emissions assessment, roughly £1.2 billion of that could be at risk of erosion by 2050.

This isn't a distant worry — it's already visible. Lay the shoreline of the 1890s over the 1970s and today and you can see where the coast has drawn back or built out. Since the 1970s about 12% of Scotland's soft coast has retreated more than 10 metres landward (and about 11% has advanced seaward). Small percentages nationally — but where it happens, it takes paths, dunes and sometimes buildings with it.

We're honest about our role. Coastal defence and the science behind it belong to NatureScot, SEPA, local authorities and the researchers of Dynamic Coast — not to a small charity. What Sustainable Planet can do is make the change visible and back the responses that work with nature. Our EnviroWatch map now carries NatureScot's Dynamic Coast data, so anyone can see how their stretch of coast has changed and what's projected for 2050 and 2100.

The cheapest, most resilient defences are often the natural ones: nursing dunes back to health with marram planting and fencing, protecting saltmarsh, and giving the coast room to adjust where we can, rather than only armouring it with rock and concrete. We champion that nature-first approach — and well-evidenced, fair adaptation for the communities on the front line.

You can help by getting to know your local coast on the map, joining dune and saltmarsh care days, reporting the changes and erosion you notice so they're recorded, and adding your voice for coastal adaptation that works with nature — get in touch and we'll connect you.