The construction of 450 meters of Nature-Based seawall for the village of Namatakula has begun, which would benefit about 300 villagers and a primary school.
The seawall will protect close to 60 households in the village from coastal flooding, coastal erosion, and infrastructure damage.
The Ministry of Waterways will oversee the project with a grant of FJD 38,139.00 from the British High Commission.
While officiating at the groundbreaking ceremony at the village in Sigatoka, the Minister for Waterways, Environment and Agriculture, Dr Mahendra Reddy highlighted the significance of building a Nature-based eco-friendly seawall that would address concerns for the village.
Minister Reddy applauded the initiatives of the British High Commission in supporting the #FijianGovernment’s efforts towards building resilience amongst the coastal communities, which are the most vulnerable to climate change.
“The project today is a significant initiative for coastal erosion management and environmental rehabilitation using a Nature-Based Solution (NBS),” Minister Reddy said.
“Environmental rehabilitation involves restoring the degraded landscape, with the natural features of the locality, and returning it to its original diversity. The clean-up undertaken post Tropical cyclones and floods, and the restoration of heavily eroded coastlines or riverbanks are good examples of environmental rehabilitation.”
British High Commission’s Head of Network Strategy and Operations Tim Hanson commended the initiatives of the Ministry of Waterways using Nature-Based approaches to protect the Namatakula community.
“The objective of the project is to reduce the vulnerability of the Namatakula site to coastal inundation and erosion, and to create enabling conditions for scaling up and replicating the project impact beyond the immediate target areas,” he said.
“Through creation of a “living breathing seawall” by the community, assisted by the Ministry of Waterways, the project will protect the community coastline from being washed out and will bring life back into the marine biodiversity, and forge a permanent home for some of the most sought after marine species, replenishing fishing stocks and boosting food security.”
Village headman, Josevata Nagasaukula lauded the timely intervention by the government that will safeguard the village from coastal flooding. “During high tides, especially during the cyclone seasons, most of the villagers had to evacuate their houses and seek shelter somewhere else because of the threat of coastal erosion and flooding,” he said.
We thank the government of the day, the Ministry of Waterways, for the construction of the seawall that will not only protect the village but will also secure our land.
Close to 450 meters of a hybrid sea wall, will be built by the Ministry of Waterways with bouldering work, land reclamation, rows of mangroves and vetiver planting (last line of defense) to protect the village coastline.