GEORGE TOWN, Guyana - The low-lying Caribbean nation of Guyana (The Land of the Jaguar) is on the frontline in the battle against rising seas.The majority of Guyana's population lives on its coastline, which is below sea level and heavy rainfall often makes things much worse.
Now this poor nation spends up to $6m a year - money it can ill afford - building up damaged sea walls, maintaining sluice gates which close when the tide is high and purchasing new equipment to pump the water back out to sea when the tide is low.
However, The World Bank and Global Environmental Facility have approved $3.8 million in grant funding to protect low-lying coastal areas in Guyana threatened by rising sea levels, an official said on Friday.- This is the first project of its kind to be approved under the Global Environmental Facility's Special Climate Change Fund. It will look at ways to improve coastal drainage in the small South American country.
Gerald Meier, a consultant with the World Bank's hazard risk management group, said the project was responding to the catastrophic flooding in Guyana in 2005, which affected most of the inhabited northern coast of the country where up to 90 percent of the population lives.- He said the Conservancy Adaptation Project would collect technical data about the land and the rising seas that would help the government to make informed decisions on reducing Guyana's vulnerability to flooding.
- Using a computer model and an aircraft-guided remote sensing system, World Bank experts will be able to collect topographic data of how much of the land is sloping into the sea around Guyana. It will also establish how surface water could be drained and will look at how future development will impact drainage.
According to Meier, the coastal topography of Guyana is very gently sloping and if someone just builds a mound around their house, that can have an impact on somebody else downstream.Caroline Anstey, the bank's country director for the Caribbean, said reducing Guyana's vulnerability to floods was critical for its economic stability.
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