The office has been full on recently with community and business consultations following on from the BioRap carried out in February, however luckily for the team, this week also included a pilot beach restoration project in Talihau community.
The project brought together by SPREP, Joanna Ellison, Senior Lecturer at University of Tasmania, Ministry of Environment and Communication and VEPA aims to reduce coastal erosion through ecosystem based adaptation.
So what is ecosystem based adaptation (EbA)?
EbA uses biodiversity and ecosystem services as an adaptation tool. Ecosystem services are the benefits of the ecosystem to humans i.e food, water, resource, security etc.
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| Damage by pigs on fragile coastal vegetation. |
Looking for sites around Vava'u, it was discovered that many of the beaches were suffering from coastal erosion, caused by both human impacts such as sand mining, burning of vegetation and littering as well as pigs destroying the fragile vegetation as well as wave and storm damage.
The site chosen for the pilot project was Talihau, a coastal community who has moderate to severe erosion along the beach. The road had collapsed in part after Cyclone Ian in 2014, however this area needs considerable work done before an EbA. However, the eastern end of the beach was suitable for a rehabilitation plot.
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| Beach clean up by the girls. |
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| The fence being built. |
A fence is erected around the site to prevent further damage to the vegetation from pigs and human use and in heavily scoured areas palm fronds and vegetation are stacked on the edge to catch sand brought into the beach from high tides, waves and storms.
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| Palm fronds placed below greenery and then staked down to prevent waves washing them away. |
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| Access path between the fenced area to reduce impacts on vegetation and scoured areas. |
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| Palm fronds are placed along scoured lip of coast to help catch sand. |
The community of Talihau has named the project "Ma'ae Kaha'u 'o Talihau" and will monitor the progress of the protected site, the palm fronds will be changed out when needed and eventually beach vines will be planted to increase the coastal security. The Ministry of Environment and Communication and VEPA will continue to assist the community. Signs are being made to show the value of healthy beaches.
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| School presentation at GPS Talihau by Winnie from MEC and Paul from SPREP. |
This is an important step in protecting coastlines and it is hoped that more beaches and communities will have EbA restoration programs in the future.
