EU Delegation inspects Mangrove project

Jul 19, 2013 News

– as venture nears conclusion

As the three-year Guyana Mangrove Restoration Project (GMRP) comes to a close, Head of the European Union Delegation to Guyana Ambassador Robert Kopecký together with other members of the Delegation paid their final visit to the Golden Grove/ Belfield, East Coast Demerara Reserve.

A view of the reserve at Golden Grove/ Belfield.

Initiated in 2010, the project was implemented to support Guyana’s Low Carbon Development Strategy (LCDS) to mitigate severe effects of overtopping of Guyana’s sea defence in light of current climate conditions caused by global warming.
It was noted during a presentation at the Mangroves Visitors’ Centre, Cove and John, East Coast Demerara, that 90% of the country’s population as well as agricultural production exists on the coastline; an area that is particularly prone to flooding, as it lies one and a half metres below sea level. Thus the need to protect Guyana’s defences against the rise of sea waters became the key focus of the project.
From its initial stages, with 4,165,000 Euros (approximately G$ 1.1 Billion) being put into the project by the European Union, the 22,632 hectares of mangroves that existed has increased significantly.
Ambassador Kopecký reported that compared to his first visit to the Golden Grove/Belfield reserve at the beginning of 2012, the progress can be seen. “I’m sure that the last disbursement (of funds) in the beginning of this year with the EU project, the Government of Guyana with the Ministry of Agriculture will continue to invest in the mangroves along the coast”.
The progress seen on the reserve, however, was not a direct spin-off of routine seedling replanting. As stated by National Agriculture Research & Extension Institute (NAREI)’s Project Coordinator Kene Mosely, seedlings had been previously planted on the site but had not survived.
An investigation into the conditions of the soil where the mangrove seedlings were planted revealed that the site was too low and in order for the mangroves to be sustained, the soil must be elevated.

The EU delegation and media operatives at the site.

Following a collaborated effort with NAREI and the Ministry of Public Works’ sea defence division, a coastal engineering plan was developed that not only supported the elevation of the soil, but also made way for breaking wave energy that would kill seedlings.
The plan encompassed a Geotextile tube-like structure, filled with sand that was anchored into the water bed. As a result of the break in harsh waves and support of soil elevation, the mangrove plants came back naturally.
Also, to support the natural regeneration of the mangrove plants, spartina grasses were planted. According to Mosely, the grass was shown to support the accretion of the soil as well as making way for the plants to regenerate naturally. The technique will most likely be replicated at other reserves facing similar issues of regeneration.
Apart from the apparent benefits derived from the mangrove restoration project, further positive results included a Management Plan and a Nursery Manual that was derived from the programme; community involvement, where communities were tasked with both protecting and monitoring the growth of the plants and the formation of the Mangrove Reserve Producers Cooperative Society (MRPCS), which allowed for men and women, particularly unemployed mothers, to generate alternative livelihoods and sustained incomes by means of the production of mangrove-by products.
Following the presentation, members of the media along with Ambassador Kopecký; EU Programme Officer, Susana Fernández Rodríguez; Benedict Madl of the European Commission Delegation in the Philippines; and European Union Delegation Chargé D’ Affaires Derek Lambe were given an informative tour of the reserve.