Easter weekend is coming up which marks the official start of the summer tourism season, and every year, the Nice's Promenade des Anglais gets a fresh look.
The beach at Nice is, famously, pebbles rather than sand, and it needs regular maintenance to remain in good conditions for the summer visitors.
Earlier this month, excavators and trucks arrived to drop off 6,000 tonnes of galets - the large pebbles/small rocks that make up the Nice beach.
The process is called l'engraissement (beach nourishment) which has become essential for the coastal city.
The goal is to restore the 4.5 km of coastline, which has been damaged by winter waves along with the effects of erosion, while preserving the beauty of the French Riviera.
In Nice, it's a constant battle to keep the local beaches in their current state against natural elements.
“Without beach nourishment projects, erosion would eventually cause the beach to recede severely. In the long term, it could even disappear,” said Julien Larraun, head of studies and works on hydraulic structures at the Nice Côte d’Azur metropolitan area to French media France TV.
The danger here is not only erosion but the potential rise in sea levels linked to global warming. These two phenomena are forcing the city of Nice to monitor the situation closely using innovative solutions, in order to protect its appeal to tourists and safeguard its infrastructure from destructive waves or flooding.
"Every year, we go to the beaches with a GPS. It provides the coordinates and elevation. Then we compare the data with previous years. That’s when we can see whether or not there is visible erosion.
"And depending on the results, we decide whether or not to reinforce the area," said Emma Vian, project manager for hydraulic studies at Métropole Nice Côte d'Azur.
But for now, the situation is under control, and the Nice coastline is not going to disappear yet. "Here, unlike in other towns, the area behind the beaches is several meters high, and the beaches are wide, so it would really take a significant rise in sea level", said Larraun.
Where do the pebbles come from?
The rocks were collected and cleaned from the bed of the Paillon River, which flows through the city. They are washed and sorted to sizes ranging from 20 to 80 millimetres.
This massive operation costs around €300,000 annually, depending on the quantities transported and their origin.
It takes place every year in the weeks leading up to Easter, and lasts around 10 days.
Coastal erosion in France
With 6,000 kilometres of coast, France is one of the European countries that is most vulnerable to the effects of coastal erosion. For several decades, this phenomenon has been gradually transforming landscapes and challenging the way these areas are maintained.
And Nice isn't the only place to have its own methods. Another example is in the town of Capbreton, located in the Landes département. Pipes over a kilometre long suck up sand from the north beach and deposit it on the other side of the seawall, on the south beach, which is being eroded by the ocean.
"The sand comes from the north. It settles gradually. So all the sand that’s been deposited, we collect it and put it through a somewhat artificial transport system. We move it so it ends up on the southern beaches,” said Eric Hamelin, director of technical services to French TV TF1. "Then, to keep the sand moving, it needs to be mixed with seawater."
Without human intervention, Capbreton’s south beach would no longer exist at high tide.
“We used to do it with trucks. They added sand, but it wasn’t enough. The first storm would wash it all away. Now, we have sand all summer long. So people come to the beach, and we get a nice tourist turnout,” said Sébastien Maubourguet, a surf instructor.
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