COMMUNITY AND MANAGEMENT OPTIONS FOR COASTAL EROSION

-A Case Study of Negombo Coastal Belt, Sri Lanka

 

Maryanne Kooda Ranjana. U. K. Piyadasa

Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Colombo, Colombo 00300

Department of Geography, University of Colombo, Colombo 00300

The Sri Lankan Coast Conservation

Department has declared that human induced beach erosion is caused by unplanned development along coastal areas.

Studies in other parts of the world also show that human activities either initiated erosion or enhanced its rate.

Introduction

Coastal Erosion

The coastal zone also serves as a focal point for economic

development. Forty percent of the Gross Domestic Production (GDP) comes from the coastal zone with 70 percent of the total industrial output.

The contribution to economic development by way of tourism-related industries is high, as more than 80 percent of the tourism-related infrastructure is located within this zone .

There are nearly 100 sites of special historical, archaeological, cultural and religious significance and 100 more of special scenic and recreational importance scattered within the coastal zone

Importance of Coasts

Beaches and coastal stretches are

continuously subjected to wave action and increasingly threatened by natural processes like storm surges that cause erosion or accretion.

Sand mining for construction, reef breaking for coral mining, reef dynamiting for fish, and removal of coastal vegetation exacerbate the problem.

Threats to Coasts

Loss of Land and

property

Coastal habitats play an important role in the

daily lives of the people in terms of livelihood, economic output, and food production.

The coastal zone holds approximately 24 percent of the country's land area and is home to about 32 percent of the country's population.

Socio-Economic benefits

Expensive Adaptation measures

Rs.2.3 billion have been spent on coastal

stabilization works through the USAID-funded Coastal Resources Management Project (CRMP) from 2000 to 2005 in addition to the government allocation of Rs.100 million annually.

Source: Samaranayake 2005

Costs of managing Erosion

The coastal zone has 65 percent of the

island’s urban areas, and accounts for nearly 80 percent of the country’s annual fish production and 70 percent of its total industrial output.

Loss of coastal lands due to unplanned development increases vulnerability to climate change.

Vulnerability to Climate change

Risks of Coastal Inundation

Source: Disaster Management

Human Intervention of coastal

processes.

Increasing demand for sand, sea and sun

tourism cause ecosystem degradation in the Negombo beach.

Eroding beaches between Wellaweediya and Kadupaduwa were examined to assess the extent of anthropogenic activities.

Demand for sand, sea and sun

Loss and Supply of

sandSource: CoastalWikki.com

The main Objective was to examine the

perceptions of coastal communities in Negombo towards the management of shoreline erosion.

The study identified the sustainability measures used in shoreline erosion in the Negombo Coastal Zone and evaluate the gaps in knowledge about shoreline erosion among sectors of the Coastal Community in Negombo Coastal Belt.

Objective

Coastal Communities The activities identified fall into three

categories namely, removal of beach material, removal of the protection against wave battering and obstruction of sediment supply.

Recognizing and dealing with the variety of stakeholder’s perceptions, values, and goals is currently considered a key aspect of effective natural resource management (NRM) practice.

Voinov and Bousquet (2010) outline two major

objectives that drive participatory modeling: to increase and share knowledge and understanding of a system and its dynamics under various conditions and to identify and clarify the impacts of solutions to a given problem.

Literature Review

Case study sites in Ireland and Scotland

employ participatory modeling with coastal stakeholders using Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping (FCM) to test its potential in measuring and assessing stakeholder perceptions of climate vulnerability both individually and collectively Gray et al(2011).

Literature Review

Free card sorting technique identifies

cognitive structures.

Questionnaire survey of businesses and residents in the area.

Semantic word association tasks are used to capture verbal association

Methodology

Primary Data

Collection

Primary: Interview questionnaires and face-to-

face interviews were used.

Secondary :Coast Conservation Development, Disaster Management Center, Coastal Wiki, UNEP

Data Collection

Shoreline Changes

The findings indicate a significant gap in

knowledge about the long term consequences of beach erosion.

The semantic differentiation allowed for the externalization of mental models.

Residents are convinced that hard structures are not sufficient to protect them from floods, storm surges and coastal erosion

Resident views

Tourist Attraction

Wellaweediya

Hotel owners believe that not all

developments are responsible for coastal erosion, but mostly the unplanned developments.

They believe that the coasts will be dirty and neglected without their intervention. Hard structures are preferred to leaving the nature to take its course.

Hoteliers’ Perspective

Based on interviews of experts there are

drastic changes needed in the perception of coastal communities.

Such changes include retreat from the coastline and the extensive need for stronger CSR requirements by government agencies responsible for coastal protection.

Expert Views

Most of the mangrove forests in Sri Lanka are being eliminated through a combination of Encroachment of human settlements,

Cutting for fuel wood and

Clearing of coastal areas for intensive shrimp culture.

Loss of mangroves

Tourist are also willing to walk a longer

distance to get to the beach so there is no need for hotels to destroy mangroves to build nearer to the shoreline. Some tourists have an estimated willingness to pay for travel cost as high as 500 rupees

Tourist’s Willingness to

pay

The results of the interview survey (Pilot test)

show that the residents want support from government to relocate. They are convinced that hard structures are not sufficient to protect them from floods, storm surges and coastal erosion

Hotels on the other hand believe that unplanned developments are the cause of erosion. The hold the view that hotels do in fact protect erosion.

Discussion

Number of Houses

Number of Hotels

Total Population

Number of family

Number of family without sanitary facility

1281 175 10063 1039 54

Target Sample Size

Youth Population (45%)

source:www.statistics.gov.lk

Rank Range Population %1 10-19 23862 16.792 0-9 23240 16.353 20-29 22137 15.574 30-39 22137 15.575 40-49 18361 12.926 50-59 15612 10.987 60-69 10859 7.648 70-79 4225 2.979 80-89 1441 1.0110 90+ 262 0.18

Total Population 142136.00

The findings suggest that the effective

communication of expert knowledge will be made possible if tourist businesses along the Negombo beach extend CSR responsibility to include educating the public about the importance of mangrove along beaches and the need to build hotels further away from the shoreline.

Preliminary Findings

Lack of knowledge of shoreline retreat Pilot test results Subjective view of respondents Time limitation to complete the research Conflicting views Difficulty in Delineating causes of erosion,

(natural or anthropogenic)

Limitations