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The Role of Marine Ecosystems

in Hazard ManagementCoastal Planning for Disaster Management Seminar

June 30th,2006

Angelique BrathwaiteMarine Biologist

CZMU

NATURAL DISASTERS

• Marine and coastal ecosystems act as natural buffers

• Loss of natural buffers turns natural events into human disasters

• “At least 70-90% of the energy from wind generated waves is absorbed depending on how healthy these ecosystems are and their physical and ecological characteristics”

(UNESCO State of the World’s Oceans Report)Coastal Planning for Disaster Management Seminar – June 30, 2006

Coastal Planning for Disaster Management Seminar – June 30, 2006

NATURAL BUFFERS

• Allow waves to dissipate 70-90% of their destructive energy offshore

• Area covered by:– Bank reefs – 15.9

km– Fringing reefs –

1.53 km

• Approx. 80% fringing reefs lost

• Bank reefs decreased from 37.3% - 23.2% over a decade

CORAL REEFS NATURAL BREAKWATERS

Coastal Planning for Disaster Management Seminar – June 30, 2006

ANTHOPOGENIC STRESSORS

Anchor damage

Destructive fishingHarvesting for sale

Tourism pressure

Land based sourcesof marine pollution

Coastal Planning for Disaster Management Seminar – June 30, 2006

MANGROVES NATURAL SHOCK ABSORBERS

• Buffers

• Limit floodwater inundation

• Mangroves covered almost our entire coastline

• Destroyed approx. 95%

• Primarily via coastal construction

Replaced by

Coastal Planning for Disaster Management Seminar – June 30, 2006

RUBBLE, SEA GRASS, BEACH, DUNES

• Not much help in a major disaster…

BUT

• can offer some protection against wave action

Coastal Planning for Disaster Management Seminar – June 30, 2006

ASIA TSUNAMI EXCERPTS

• Human destruction played a significant role in the damage caused by the tsunami in Asia

• When seismic waves struck India’s Tamil Nadu, areas with dense mangroves suffered fewer casualties and less damage to property than those minus barriers

• “Places that had healthy coral reefs and intact mangroves were far less badly hit than places where the reefs had been damaged and mangroves ripped out and replaced by beachfront hotels and prawn farms” (Simon Cripps, Director of WWF’s Global Marine Programme for India)Coastal Planning for Disaster Management Seminar – June 30, 2006

$$$$’s

• WWF estimates that coral reefs provide US $9 billion annually in economic benefits associated with coastal protection

• The Maldives spent 10 million per km to install artificial breakwaters to protect shores after the natural reef was degraded. (Agence France-Presse)

Coastal Planning for Disaster Management Seminar – June 30, 2006

“Education programmes and early warning systems will significantly

reduce the number of human casualties, but it will only be

through careful coastal and land-use planning that the economic

and social costs of such disasters can be kept to a minimum”

Isabelle Louis, Director of WWF International’s Asia-Pacific Programme.

Coastal Planning for Disaster Management Seminar – June 30, 2006

HEALTHY ECOSYSTEMS

SAVE LIVES!

Coastal Planning for Disaster Management Seminar – June 30, 2006