After the Tsunami, a Push for Green Reconstruction
by TreeHugger on 01.12.05
As tsunami relief efforts across Asia continue to help needy people, plans for rebuilding the region are also beginning to take shape, and many environmental-minded groups are calling for careful planning for sensitive coastal regions.
"Healthy ecosystems can save lives," said Isabelle Louis, the World Wildlife Fund’s Asia-Pacific director. "Places that had healthy coral reefs and intact mangroves, which act as natural buffers, were less badly hit by the tsunami than those where the reefs had been damaged and mangroves ripped out and replaced by prawn farms and poorly planned beachfront hotels."
The MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, another enviro-helper, said that mangrove-restoration projects in the region, which have restored some 37,000 acres of the swampy groves along the coastline, saved hundreds of families in fishing villages from the tsunami's fury.
WWF emphasizes the role of natural buffers such as coral reefs, marshes, and forests in limiting the impact of the tsunamis. And once humanitarian needs are met, reconstruction, according to WWF, should involve environmentally-sustainable coastal planning, such as not building within a safety zone delimited by the high-tide mark.
Furthermore, along with the WWF, the Worldwide Fund for Nature is warning against indiscriminate over-logging of lumber to reconstruct the region. Though some trees will certainly be needed for emergency housing, forest resources should be managed sustainably, in order to avoid other natural disasters. Via Grist ::Planet Ark ::Terra Daily [by MO]
As it turns out, if you're interested, there's now a project under way to provide natural construction books, titles with lots and lots of photos and diagrams, with authors and suppliers in tow, to folks in Sri Lanka, through a US-based organization which had already been assisting Sri Lanka with construction issues years prior to this disaster. Two documentary film makers in Manhattan, who were also working on a documentary on natural construction in developing countries are lending participation to this effort. If you have ideas, titles you want to recommend, potential sources for additional funding, please contact me. The other work we are doing for Sri Lanka, such as shipping water purifiers, and raising funds to afford fishermen new boats and repairs are posted on the www.greenburbs.com website, click the tsunami link. 18,500 boats were destroyed in Sri Lanka alone! Remy C.