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RISK AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR RIVERBANK STABILITY FROM NATURAL DISASTERS
11

Risk and Opportunity from Natural Hazards

May 20, 2015

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A snapshot of how riverbanks can be impacted from natural elements and the opportunities that come with it.
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Page 1: Risk and Opportunity from Natural Hazards

RISK AND OPPORTUNITIES FOR RIVERBANK STABILITY

FROM NATURAL DISASTERS

Page 2: Risk and Opportunity from Natural Hazards

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

Page 3: Risk and Opportunity from Natural Hazards

What Happens when a natural hazard occurs and

the environment is unable to withstand the pressures?

Page 4: Risk and Opportunity from Natural Hazards

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

Copyright www.wunderground.com

Copyright Forestry Dept.

Page 5: Risk and Opportunity from Natural Hazards

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.

Page 6: Risk and Opportunity from Natural Hazards

DID THE RIVERBANKS RECOVER IN TIME BEFORE THE NEXT SHOCK?

Copyright Forestry Department

Copyright Forestry Department

NO!!!

Page 7: Risk and Opportunity from Natural Hazards

CHRISTMAS EVE TROUGH 2013!!!

All pictures are Copyright Forestry Department

Page 8: Risk and Opportunity from Natural Hazards

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

Page 9: Risk and Opportunity from Natural Hazards

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

Page 10: Risk and Opportunity from Natural Hazards

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.

Page 11: Risk and Opportunity from Natural Hazards

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.