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Project in the Maldives

Building Resilience to Tsunamis in the Indian Ocean, the Maldives (UNISDR/ADRRN Project "Selamat")

Strengthening resilience through establishing Coastal bio-shield in Maldives


In general the islands of Maldives are highly prone to natural disasters due to their small physical size, limited natural resources, relative isolation, extreme openness to external shocks etc. High density due to stable population growth, poor infrastructure facilities, limited livelihood options, human resources, and skills are some other factors which make the situation more vulnerable. These characteristics bring the islands under pressure to plan and develop mechanisms to mitigate the possible disasters and strengthen the resilience of the island communities and islands.

In the islands beach erosion, sea water inundation due to sea swelling and flat topography of the islands, strong wind with heavy rain, change in the patterns of wave action which facilitates shore line change are some the major risks observed by the local population. In some cases the human activities such as eradication of the coastal vegetation, sand mining also attribute to the problem. It was reported by the local population the problem of beach erosion is severe during the recent past. Some time the high wind speed also damages the houses and carries away the roof top in the islands. The tsunami waves of 2004 December had struck destroyed houses in the islands and sea water intrusion damaged the agricultural lands and crops.

Local coping mechanisms

Promotion of selected tree species as bio barrier in the coast is the local practice in the islands to protect the beach from the natural hazards. The islanders identify a list of plant species which are good to withstand the shore erosion and block the strong wind coupled with heavy rain. They are 1. Banyan, 2. Coconut, 3. Dikka, 4. Funa (the timber is good to make boat), 5. Kurethi, 6. Kaandu (traditionally the unripe fruit is used as a vegetable), 7. Hinud, 8. Medili, 9. Mahu, 10. Bread fruit etc. The other method adopted by the islanders was construction of break walls in the sea near the shore with rocks/boulders and coral reefs from the sea. But the walls could not stay for longer time; they need good foundation to with stand the wave movement.

Promotion of bio-shield:

Promoting a multilayered and multispecies bio-shield could be an appropriate mitigating mechanism. This would also include shrubs which would act as soil binders and prevent sand erosion. The species selected for bioshiled development should be suitable to coastal conditions and economically beneficial trees preferred by the local men and women. This could promote the natural resilience of the coastal areas.

For establishing the bio-shield the scientific soil management is vital for healthy growth of the plants. Since watering could a problem the planting should be done during the rainy season. The biosheilds would support water and soil conservation which would improve the environmental condition of the islands. The species in the bio-shields can support some of the local economic needs (like coconut, timber etc) of the island communities. Selection and mix of the species should be based on the space and height of the biosield required to the selected coastal area.

The bio-shield will be developed in close collaboration with the island community. The local leaders and community members would be involved in risk analysis and the preparation of vulnerability map of the island with specific reference to natural hazards. Experienced island elders would be involved in the species identification and to share their knowledge about season, planting and other management aspects. A joint plan will be developed for bio-shield on the inputs derived from the results of vulnerability mapping exercise and the discussions with the island elders. The plan will be implemented with the active partnership of Island development council, youth group and the NGOs.

The following table gives the sub activities, time frame and the expenses for an area of one ha bio-shield plantation

Size: 1ha -100 m length x100 m breadth -10000m (2.54acres)
Tree sp Spacing: 3m between trees and 3m row to row
Total number of plants: 1110 one ha plantation



Sub-projects
There are 4 components for the Selamat project in the Maldives other than Disaster Risk Reduction planning and training



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