Resumen

LIZANO R, Omar G.. Beach erosion of Costa Rica, including Coco Island. InterSedes [online]. 2013, vol.14, n.27, pp.06-27. ISSN 2215-2458.

Most of the beaches of Costa Rica, both on the Pacific including Cocos Island and Caribbean coasts, experiencing erosion processes. Some places on open beaches show more accelerated erosion and require immediate action, while beaches into the bay or gulf, also show changes in morphology, but processes are slower and still do not require further corrective action. It's discuss the ocean-meteorological processes that are associated to erosion, like extraordinary astronomical tides and waves, the phenomenon of El Niño and anthropogenic global warming. Also it's relate to geodynamic processes that have occurred or are occurring on both coasts. New studies on sea-level projections indicate a worse scenario in the next 100 years, so that urgent action before the eminent anthropogenic climate change. We recommend further study, beach by beach, in order to determine the erosion or accretion state, and make monitoring in some areas where erosion is accelerated, especially in some very sensitive coastal impact places like sand spits and barrier islands. But the most important is that government entities, directly or indirectly related to this issue, first accept that this is a phenomenon that is occurring in our country, so as to generate the resources  and the necessary policies to address the problem, but also sensitize the public about ocean processes ahead

Palabras clave : Isla del Coco; coastal erosion; sea level; global warming; Maritime Terrestrial  Zone; Coco Island; Costa Rica.

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