Kosrae's Coast
Reducing coastal hazard risks on Kosrae
case studies
(C) Doug Ramsay & KIRMA, 2008
Sand and coral rubble removal
The issue
The lessons learned
Other areas on Kosrae with similar issues?
Sand mining from the beaches of Kosrae has been, and still is, a major cause of much of the coastal erosion that has occurred on Kosrae over the past 40 or so years. Much of the erosion stems back to the removal of much larger quantities of coral rubble and sand from the reef flat during the period when the circumferential road was being upgraded and other large scale development projects were being constructed.
- Result in more land being lost due to coastal erosion.
- Increase the risk of damage from storms to land and property.
- Cause coastal erosion and increase the risk of storm damage to neighbours land and property.
At present most Government and major construction projects use sand and aggregates from licensed sand mining sites and not from the beach. As a result of this the erosion rate is slowing down as the beaches and reef flat gradually recover from such activities.
Most sand and coral rubble removal from the beach at present is conducted by hand for private house construction, landscaping or landfill. This is often just a few bags at a time. However, with a rapidly increasing population, increasing development, and the current extent of erosion on Kosrae’s coastline, these sand mining practices are still significantly exacerbating coastal erosion.
Taking sand and coral rubble from any part of the coastline will:
On Kosrae, as with virtually every other small island, the most significant issue is not one of controlling sand mining, it is the lack of a ready available and affordable alternative to beach sand. This is by far the main problem and one which it is necessary to tackle if a long term approach is to be adopted to tackling Kosrae’s future aggregate supply and sand mining problems. A report discussing the sand mining issues and ways forward is available for download.
In this section:
- Sand mining
Downloads:
(C) Doug Ramsay & KIRMA, 2008