CBA Samoa: Adaptation to Flooding and Sea Level rise - Avao, Vaipouli, Salei'a

This Community-Based Adaptation project focuses on the villages of Salei’a, Avao and Vaipouli in Gagaemauga III District, Samoa. These villages, which contain a population of just over 700 inhabitants, are located on the northernmost point of the island of Savaii. Agriculture and fishing are the main sources of income and livelihood for the villages.

The villages front the sea with the two extensive reef breaks approximately 60m from the beach.  The first one directly fronts Avao village and is the location of rapid coastal erosion over the past 10 years where several homes and beach fale tourism development were washed away. A well-constructed seawall now protects the western end of this break, which extends the length of Vaipouli and Salei’a. Behind the old villages of Salei’a and Vaipouli and part of Avao is an extensive wetland formed out of the stream. The stream is the only river system on this northern part of Savaii. This river has an extensive water-catchment and reservoir from which the water system for the district is piped.

The project site is home to threatened ecosystems such as coral reefs, mangrove forest, and mixed herbaceous coastal march which houses some threatened biodiversity as identified in the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan. These include toloa (Anas superciliosa); tolaifatu (Myiagra albiventris); manuma (Ptilinopus perousii); manutagi (Ptilinopus porphyriaceus); and several of the smaller endemic birds. The wetland was once a mixed of mangrove forest and herbaceous coastal marsh, but since the 1990’s, the mangroves have been mostly decimated while the coastal marsh has also diminished. It does perform a fish nursery function for juvenile fish.

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 to the area.

This Community-Based Adaptation 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 providing the necessary infrastructure to protect livelihoods and ecosystems. It was designed through a participatory process involving all sectors of the villages. The project is designed to address both community and ecosystem resiliencies through a mixture of infrastructural and capacity-building activities.

The project will install a rock retaining wall, strengthening vegetation barriers, and clearing the stream pathway. It will also implement a reforestation programme to rehabilitate terrestrial ecosystems. Community capacity for adaptation will be developed through an awareness-raising programme.

Finally, the project proposes to replant mangroves and rehabilitate coastal marshlands, which provide 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 it also allows residents to replant farmland closer to their homes.