Coastal Squeeze

Coastal squeeze is the loss of intertidal and coastal habitat when rising sea level pushes the shoreline landward but fixed defenses such as seawalls, embankments, or revetments block the natural inland migration of saltmarsh, mudflat, and dune. The habitat is compressed between the advancing water and the hard structure until it drowns or erodes away. The process degrades nursery, feeding, and natural flood-buffer functions, a recognized threat under the EU Habitats Directive for designated coastal Natura 2000 sites. Managed realignment, deliberately setting defenses back to let intertidal habitat re-establish, is the main mitigation. Coastal squeeze is intensifying with accelerating sea-level rise.