Kosrae's Coast
Reducing coastal hazard risks on Kosrae
reducing risks
In this section:
An overview
Coastal hazards, such as erosion, flooding and storm (including typhoon) damage, will be a major issue for Kosrae for many years to come.
Many of the coastal hazard problems that are now occurring are due to natural changes and, more importantly, human development decisions, that have evolved or occurred over many decades.
As a result there are no quick and easy solutions to reducing the coastal hazard impacts now facing much of Kosrae's development and infrastructure.
There is no one option that will solve all problems. Seawalls are certainly not a long-term solution in most situations (if only it were that easy).
Reducing coastal hazard risks on Kosrae will involve a range of inter-relating activities which will vary from place to place on the island. Some of these activities will involve making difficult and unpopular decisions.
HELP by ensuring any activities on land do not impact on the coral reef.
HELP by building your house well back from the shoreline on land that is well above high tide levels.
HELP by encouraging a strip of vegetation behind the beach - the wider the better.
Downloads:
(C) Doug Ramsay & KIRMA, 2008
Starting to reverse and reduce the level of present-day coastal hazard risks needs to start now. Such action is crucial if the significant additional impacts that will occur due to the effects of climate change are to be minimised.
Whilst the effects of climate change will occur relatively gradually over time it is imperative that we start planning and accomodating for the potential additional impacts now.
Long and expensive experience, the world over, has taught us that sustainably managing coastal hazard risk is not about trying to change the natural processes causing such hazards, it is about altering the human activities that are at risk from such hazards, and that cause or exacerbate such risk.
Reducing coastal hazard risk is about ensuring that decisions that people make, from individuals to governments, do not result in increased potential for damage, and indeed should help reduce such risks to property and infrastructure.
There is no silver bullet
Sustainably reducing coastal hazard risks is not easy. It takes time and committment.
Given the levels of development around the coast of Kosrae, reducing the impacts that erosion and inundation cause will need to become an integral consideration within all development decision-making from individual, to familty, village and national levels.
The benefits of such approached may not be immediately obvious but over time will gradually reduce risk levels.
Increasing capacity, through effective development decision-making, to enable both the natural coastal systems and people to better cope with, adjust, and respond to the processes that drive coastal erosion and flooding on Kosrae is vital.
Building adaptive capacity