Polluter-pays Principle

The principle adopted by the OECD countries in 1972, requires that the polluter should bear the costs that pollution damage or pollution control impose upon society.

Glossary of Terms

Coastal Plain

The low-lying, gently-sloping area landward of the beach often containing fossil sands deposited during previously higher sea levels.

Pile

A long, heavy timber or section of concrete or metal that is driven or jetted into the earth or seabed to serve as a support or protection.

Polluter-pays Principle

The principle adopted by the OECD countries in 1972, requires that the polluter should bear the costs that pollution damage or pollution control impose upon society.

Reflection

The process by which the energy of the wave is returned seaward.

Mean Wave Height

The mean of all individual waves in an observation interval of approximately half an hour.

El Niño

Warm equatorial water which flows southward along the coast of Peru and Ecuador during February and March of certain years. It is caused by poleward motions of air and unusual water temperature patterns in the Pacific Ocean , which cause coastal downwelling, leading to the reversal in the normal north-flowing cold coastal currents. During many El Niño years, storms, rainfall, and other meteorological phenomena in the Western Hemisphere are measurably different than during non- El Niño years.

A warm current that usually appears around Christmas off the coast of Ecuador and Peru . It is often used to refer to episodic (3-5 year) events when the current is particularly intense and dominates the local population of organisms (the abundance of fish in particular). Such events lead to wider regional or global ocean-atmospheric perturbations whose manifestations range from increased sea surface temperatures in the tropical East Pacific to aberrant rainfall patterns. (see also ENSO ).

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Polluter-pays Principle