Beach nourishments are a widely used method to mitigate erosion along sandy shorelines. In contrast to hard coastal protection structures, nourishments are considered as soft engineering, although little is known about the cumulative, long-term environmental effects of both marine sediment extraction and nourishment activities. Recent endeavours to sustain the marine ecosystem and research results on the environmental impact of sediment extraction and nourishment activities are driving the need for a comprehensive up-to-date review of beach nourishment practice, and to evaluate the physical and ecological sustainability of these activities. While existing reviews of nourishment practice have focused on the general design (motivation, techniques and methods, international overview of sites and volumes) as well as legal and financial aspects, this study reviews and compares not only nourishment practice but also the accompanying assessment and monitoring of environmental impacts in a number of developed countries around the world. For the study, we reviewed 205 openly-accessible coastal management strategies, legal texts, guidelines, EIA documents, websites, project reports, press releases and research publications about beach nourishments in several developed countries around the world (Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, UK, USA and Australia). Where information was not openly available, the responsible authorities were contacted directly. The study elaborates on the differences in coastal management strategies and legislation as well as the large dissimilarities in the EIA procedure (where applicable) for both marine sediment extraction and nourishment activities. The spatial disturbance of the marine environment that is considered a significant impact, a factor which determines the need for an Environmental Impact Assessment, varies substantially between the countries covered in this study. Combined with the large uncertainties of the long-term ecological and geomorphological impacts, these results underline the need to reconsider the sustainability of nourishments as “soft” coastal protection measures.

海滩养分是减轻沙质海岸线侵蚀的一种广泛使用的方法。与坚硬的沿海保护结构相比，营养被认为是软工程，尽管对海洋沉积物提取和营养活动的累积，长期环境影响知之甚少。维持海洋生态系统以及对沉积物提取和营养活动对环境的影响的研究成果的最新努力正促使人们需要对海滩营养活动进行全面的最新审查，并评估这些活动的物理和生态可持续性。现有的营养实践评论都集中在总体设计（动机，技术和方法，场所和数量的国际概述）以及法律和财务方面，这项研究不仅回顾和比较了营养实践，而且还对世界上许多发达国家的环境影响进行了评估和监测。在这项研究中，我们审查了205个开放获取的沿海管理策略，法律文本，指南，EIA文件，网站，项目报告，新闻稿和有关全球海滩养分（德国，丹麦，荷兰，比利时，西班牙，英国，美国和澳大利亚）。在没有公开信息的地方，直接与负责当局联系。该研究阐述了沿海管理策略和立法的差异，以及海洋沉积物提取和营养活动的环境影响评估程序（如适用）的巨大差异。重大影响（决定是否需要进行环境影响评估的因素）在本研究涵盖的国家之间存在很大差异。结合长期生态和地貌影响的巨大不确定性，这些结果强调了需要重新考虑营养的可持续性，将其作为“软性”沿海保护措施。