President Obama announced Thursday that the federal government was approving a small part of a plan by state and local officials in Louisiana to spray sand on gulf barrier islands to build them up as a defense against incoming oil.

WSJ: Gauging Harm to Ecosystem Could Take Years

Harvey Cedars, a narrow spit of sand in the northern part of the barrier Long Beach Island, has been battling with oceanfront homeowners for years over permission to construct protective sand dunes.

WSJ: Dunes vs. property rights in storm-battered NJ

Habitats in the biosphere reserve comprise barrier islands, beach and sand dunes, salt marshes, maritime forests, tidal creeks, fresh and brackish water impoundments and open water areas.

UNESCO: Biosphere Reserve Information

For the remaining decade he and some hired engineers improved the aqua- barrier design, adding new products like protective sand-filled barrels and the first collapsible crash-cushions.

FORBES: Crash course

We thumbed our phones trying to getting a signal, exchanged texts and surfed Twitter for storm updates, both for our location in lower Westchester County in New York, and for the traditional summer stomping grounds of Beach Haven, New Jersey, a spot of barrier island off the pine barrens where my toes have met sand and salt since the 1960s.

FORBES: The Big Lesson of #Sandy: Connectivity Matters in an Emergency

The Moroccans used them in the fighting and have now deployed them as their main weapon alongside the 900-mile sand wall, the "Berm" - that they constructed as a barrier between Western Sahara and the Saharawi camps in Algeria.

BBC: News Online

Yet the country is still a popular stopover for cruises, and, being that it is home to the world's second longest barrier reef, impressive eco-tourism attractions and relaxing white-sand beaches, tourism is still one of its top sources of revenue.

BBC: Central America��s shift in safety