A summary and review of the work accomplished by the I.G.U. Commission on the Coastal Environment 1972-1984 under the chairmanship of the author. Problems of documenting and measuring coastline changes, comparing historical descriptions, maps, air
photographs, and nautical charts with the present morphology. Selective review of evidence for various kinds of coastline change around the world, starting with Alaska and circumnavigating land areas counter-clockwise. Categories of coastline change identified
Changes on barriers and spits enclosing coastal lagoons in Actas Simposio Internacional sobre las lagunas costeras Bordeaux 8-14 sept de 1981.
, often the consequence of man's impacts on coastal environments. Examples are given of changes that have resulted from the cutting of artificial entrances through barriers or the building of barrages across tidal inlets to exclude marine penetration.