ALM UNDP

Summary:

Climate change risks for Samoa forecast an increase in average temperature, a rise in sea level, an increase in the intensity of tropical storms and cyclones and a decrease in precipitation, but with more frequent occurences of high intensity rainfall events. Since the 1990’s, climate change impacts such as flooding and coastal erosion have been heavily felt in the project sites. Cyclones Ofa and Val contributed to the erosion of more than 20m of coastline, and affected more than 800m of coastline near these villages. Additionally, all the homes on the seaward side of the main coastal road were destroyed by the storms. Now, these villages only have approximately 100m width of land for residential settlement between the coast and the wetland/stream. The increasing intensity of rainfall has brought regular flash flooding in this area resulting in damage to the homes of families living along the stream pathway, and siltation of the coral reef leading to coral degradation and smaller fish catches. Inland flooding is driven by a number of baseline factors, including the clearing of the watershed area for plantations and livestock farms, but has been exasperated by the effect of climate change.

The CBA project aims to reduce the vulnerability of three villages (Avao, Salei’a, Vaipouli) and their ecosystems to the adverse impacts of climate change by building community capacity and by providing the necessary infrastructure to protect livelihoods and ecosystems. The local adaptation strategy emerged from the Samoan Coastal Infrastructure Management Plan consultants for the district of Gagaemauga III. It was a participatory process involving all sectors of the villages. The project is designed to address both community and ecosystem resiliences by achieving the following outputs:

* Putting in place a retaining rock wall, strengthening vegetation barriers and clearing the stream pathway to increase the resilience of coastal ecosystems to climate change impacts
* Implementing a reforestation programme to rehabilitate terrestrial ecosystems to reduce climate change risks
* Developing community capacity for adaptation through an awareness raising programme

The project also proposes to replant mangroves and to rehabilitate coastal marshlands, which provides an important natural filtering system needed to reduce siltation of the inshore reef that can kill corals. The retaining wall is not only a way to protect the community against climate risks, but also allows residents to replant farmland closer to their homes.

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