RISK AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR RIVERBANK STABILITY FROM NATURAL DISASTERS
May 20, 2015
RISK AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR RIVERBANK STABILITY
FROM NATURAL DISASTERS
Who is responsible for riverbank stabilization?
Forestry, Farmers/Land Owners
However, the Ministry of Infrastructure is responsible for de-silting of rivers
What are the future risks for riverbanks?Frequent, heavy rainfall causing flash floods and soil
erosionDeforestation especially by land owners along the
rivers/slopes, trees left in the rivers from deforestationNew plants that did not achieve stability by the time a
hazard occurs
What Happens when a natural hazard occurs and
the environment is unable to withstand the pressures?
HURRICANE TOMAS 2010Damages to Forest sector:1. < 80 landslides majority of
which were on private lands
2. 80% of riverbanks were significantly eroded and left unstable
3. Water intakes compromised
4. Government changed hands and removed Forestry from Agriculture to Ministry of Sustainable Development
5. New management
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Copyright Forestry Dept.
What Forestry did after TOMAS Sourced outside funds for landslide and riverbank rehabilitation - got
some from foreign organizations
Worked alongside players in the water sector to mitigate the impacts on the water resources of the country
Focused on strengthening existing management
Conducted clearing of debris from rivers and began riverbank and landslide rehabilitation through project funding not by government funds
Engaged the schools, NGO’s, community groups, farmers and others in riverbank planting, and planting within landslides that occurred near communities, public road etc.
Concentrated on planting major landslides, and hoped that another hazard would not occur in the near future.
DID THE RIVERBANKS RECOVER IN TIME BEFORE THE NEXT SHOCK?
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Copyright Forestry Department
NO!!!
CHRISTMAS EVE TROUGH 2013!!!
All pictures are Copyright Forestry Department
THE REALITY THAT EXISTED Water was a main cause in the second shock
Riverbanks and soils were still recovering from the first shock therefore could not have withstood the pressures and suffered serious degradation
Rivers were not de-silted enough and silt from hurricane was deposited on either side of river on the banks which just washed back into the rivers during the trough
A wait and see attitude or it is not my responsibility existed Not enough time to recover between shocks Reactive management continued to take place
Government funds to Forestry was reduced therefore limiting their capacity both financial and human resources
Networking between certain sectors such as Planning, Infrastructure, farmers were not strengthened, people still worked within their portfolios and not inter-sectoral
LESSONS LEARNT Risk Management, before, during and after a shock is key in
reducing forest related vulnerabilities especially on riverbanks Riverbanks still not stabilized, due to private land ownership
conflicts, and not enough funds to clear all affected rivers of debris
Recommendations from consultancies needed to be revised, implemented, monitored, evaluated and reported on in order to reduce vulnerability especially in the forest sector
Legal instruments needed to be reviewed, improved upon and enforced
Inter-sector networks needed strengthening, farmers needed to be educated/sensitized
Government was and is in a decrease debt mode so outsourcing project funding was and is the only way
Stop working in isolation Need to build capacity within Forestry and the communities
OPPORTUNITIES After every shock comes opportunity in the form of project funding, training and
capacity building of staff, educating farmers, communities etc.
Funds for stabilizing riverbanks by outside sources
Funds available for a consultancy towards a new management plan
Opportunity to carry out research on species vulnerability – to test what species on a riverbank can be more resilient from the effects of hurricane, flood, etc. especially as climate change is now a main focal point in government and also to see where we can use other measures besides tree planting or a combination of both
Opportunity to implement, assess and evaluate the effectiveness of the new management plan when completed.
New project opportunity to assist with sustainable livelihoods by researching slope vulnerability and rehabilitation in the worst hit farming areas, and by helping farmers select less vulnerable crops for these areas.
Opportunities to strengthen cross sector networks because natural resources belong to everyone.
CONCLUSION When riverbanks are degraded, there occurs heavy siltation, structural
instability along roads, poor water quality, flooding, land loss which was clearly seen after the trough just to name a few. There is a need to stop working in isolation but become integrated with the different agencies and stakeholders.
The need to be informed, to carry out research. The need to accept the understanding that what has been done might not have been suited for at the time.
Research, gather the knowledge needed to implement the most suitable protective measures so that the effects of the hazard would not have such a high negative impact.
It is a fact that we cannot stop natural hazards from occurring but we can mitigate the impacts once we do the research, put in the protective measures, and invest in the correct insurance, in turn reducing the countries dependency on outside funds for recovery, rebuilding, etc. and increasing their coping mechanism when the hazard becomes a disaster.