CDCM Training: Project Issues and Recommendations

Caribbean Coastal Engineering Issues

Throughout the courses, participants were surveyed on the principal coastal management issues in the participating countries and the region. The following issues have been consistently identified as the major impediments to proper coastal zone management generally, and with regard to coastal infrastructure in particular, in the Caribbean:

• Piecemeal environmental legislation;
• Lack of enforcement of existing laws and regulations;
• Absence of land use policies;
• Absence of a central coastal zone management unit;
• Lack of political will;
• Inadequate resources for data collection and monitoring;
• Destructive exploitation practices, including sand mining;
• Sea level rise;
• Vulnerability to natural hazards;
• Political interference;
• Need for continuous training programmes (at UWI and on a regional basis);
• Lack of appropriate design support tools;
• Need for improved networking and communications through a regional network;
• Need for updated and better access to bathymetric data; and
• Need for a framework for development of national implementation plans.

Recommendations

The CDCM Training program has successfully sensitized and trained selected individuals in the target countries to issues related to coastal infrastructure design, construction and maintenance. The activities and lessons of the project must now be expanded to a larger audience within the region and must be institutionalized within appropriate institutions in the region. A three-pronged strategy is recommended, consisting in further training to build critical expertise, the provision of coastal information management and dissemination tools, and the preparation of island-specific implementation plans for coastal zone management (CZM). These activities could be carried out under a two-year institutional capacity building project, resulting in the consolidation of a coastal engineering program at the UWI.

1. Building of academic capacity in coastal engineering at UWI. This would entail establishing formal arrangements with universities and specialized institutions such as ODU and the Coastal Hydrology Lab of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, to facilitate exchanges of personnel for short working visits, including students and young professionals; collaboration in the use of laboratory services; assistance with coastal data collection and research addressing critical coastal management issues in the Caribbean; and collaboration in the preparation of academic and technical publications.
2. Design and implementation of a follow-on training program. This program would address the needs and gaps identified by the participant and teachers involved in the recently completed training program. It would be implemented by the same institutional partnership, and would be structured so that it would maximize opportunities for further capacity building at UWI.
3. Organizing an annual Caribbean Coastal Management Workshop/Conference. The conference would offer an opportunity for coastal engineers in the islands to present lessons learned and to exchange experiences in the implementation of island specific plans and projects. In addition, the conference would offer a forum to address development policy issues involved in coastal zone management, and would make a significant contribution to creating awareness of coastal issues among policy makers in the region.
4. Developing a web-based network linking academic and specialized institutions with practicing coastal engineers and managers. The purpose of this web site is to support and facilitate the exchange of information and access to expertise relevant to coastal engineering and coastal zone management in the region and outside. This would include making available the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Coastal Engineering Manual, a powerful tool for planning and engineering of coastal projects.

1. Promote the full utilization of the Coastal Resources Inventory System (CRIS), developed under the CPACC project and installed in 12 English speaking Caribbean countries. CPACC (Caribbean Planning for Adaptation to Global Climate Change) is a four-year project funded by the Global Environment Facility. Identifying and reducing coastal vulnerability through capacity building in coastal management is an important component of the project.
2. Support the development of regional scale advanced coastal processes modeling. Such modeling is essential to improve the understanding of coastal processes typical to Caribbean islands. Included in this activity will be the validation of the TAOS tropical storm modeling system with actual observations from the region. The TAOS modeling system is being used by various institutions in the Caribbean to produce coastal hazard assessments and information of relevance to coastal design and coastal zone management. The potential to expand to the Caribbean U.S. government regional hurricane water level and wave models (developed for the Gulf of Mexico) will also be explored.
3. Contribute to the maintenance and improvement of the coastal climate, sea-level and beach monitoring networks installed by CPACC and COSALC (Coast and Beach Stability in the Caribbean Project). These two projects, and several others, have produced information and introduced practices aimed at improving coastal zone management and engineering. The UWI program, with its focus on networking and capacity building, could play an essential role in linking and integrating the various ongoing initiatives in climate observation and beach monitoring.
4. Facilitate the production of and access to bathymetric survey data. The region needs a mechanism that maintains a current inventory of bathymetric data for critical coastal areas and that coordinates further investments in obtaining such data. The application of SHOALS (Scanning Hydrographic Operational Airborne Lidar Survey) will be explored.

1. Update the CRIS and the national GIS systems with recent coastal information. Relevant information is being collected sporadically in the context of ongoing coastal development projects. For various reasons (lack of a designated coastal zone authority, tendency on the part of private contractors not to share results of studies), little of that information is presently captured and entered into a national data base that can be used by all agencies operating in the coastal area.
2. Identify critical and at risk locations, develop monitoring strategies. Each island has known coastal problem spots that need priority attention due to their importance in the nation’s development.
3. Develop and implement, on a pilot basis, an Island Coastal Management Plan. The formulation of these plans should be coordinated by the institution or mechanism entrusted by government with the mandate for coastal zone management. Partnering with the private sector (tourism, fisheries, etc.) is essential for sustaining implementation.
4. Disseminate the methodology and results of the pilot through training workshops.