qualifications in some cases. The role of possible climatic changes in 

 addition to sea- level rise in influencing shoreline episodic response has 

 been pointed out by several participants. Some have also touched upon the 

 need to take sea- level rise into account in designing coastal structures 

 over a typical design lifespan of 50 years. This issue has been examined 

 in some detail in a recent (1987) report of the National Research Council 

 Marine Board, "Responding to Changes in Sea Level: Engineering 

 Implications," which may be consulted for that purpose. 



As pointed out during the workshop, unlike the situation in the United 

 States, a significant fraction of the global shorelines is not composed of 

 loose material; beaches are seemingly more important, economically and 

 otherwise, in some countries than others. Required spatial scales for 

 long-term shoreline response prediction vary greatly with human and 

 ecosystem needs. Nevertheless, it can be undoubtedly concluded that 

 prediction technology for this purpose is nascent and awaits further 

 research emphasis. 



XIX 



