Bio-diversity

The proposed project is to reduce the vulnerability of Fagamalo village and the surrounding ecosystems from the impacts of climate change. Fagamalo village was once the government centre for the north of Savaii with the district hospital, district secondary school, government offices, and businesses all located here, but cyclones Ofa and Val in the early 1990 s totally destroyed this government infrastructure, businesses and most of the village residences along the foreshore. The cyclones and subsequent strong wave surges has eroded away around 50m of old coastline. Whilst several families have relocated inland, the majority of the village still resides on the coast due to the convenience of access and most importantly, a lot of the traditional lands and family gravesites are still around. To reduce the impacts of cyclones and flooding on the households, the wetland and coastal ecosystems around Fagamalo, the project is proposing to take out the existing rock jetty acting as a groyne which is contributing to the rapid coastal erosion, and affecting the coral regrowth in the inshore reef. The village is also highly vulnerable to climate risk from the flooding of the Satoalepai wetlands directly behind village homes. To slow down the flooding risk and provide easy access for families along the coast to higher grounds during natural disasters such as cyclones, storm surges, and non-climate change disasters such as tsunami s, the existing access road will be upgraded. The upgraded unsealed access road will also provide the buffer between the flooding and the family homes while on normal days, it will reduce land-based pollution from affecting the wetlands.

Samoa