On 26 December 2004 a devastating tsunami hit the coasts of South and South East Asia, causing the deaths of over 200,000 people and enormous environmental damage.

Soon after the tsunami, NGOs in the affected countries appealed for support in their efforts to recover damaged coastal ecosystems and to lobby for ‘green reconstruction’ and for reform of coastal zone policies.

Following these urgent pleas from their local partners, four international organisations (WNF, IUCN NL, Both ENDS and WI) developed the project Green Coast: for people and nature after the tsunami. Oxfam NOVIB (Netherlands) was prepared to finance the Green Coast project for a period of 2,5 years.

Partnership initiative

Green Coast is a partnership initiative, led and managed by Wetlands International. Green Coast works science based and uses a community-based approach with a strong focus on gender equity. Green Coast aims to rehabilitate the livelihoods of coastal communities through the restoration of coastal ecosystems. Marine and coastal ecosystems support a diversity of natural life, including birds, fish & seafood and provide other services for coastal communities such as fuel wood and potential for eco-tourism. Coastal forests also form a natural barrier, a green belt, protecting against natural disasters such as storms and cyclones.

Achievements

Green Coast has been successfully implemented in tsunami affected coastal areas in Aceh, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, South India, South-Thailand and Malaysia. A total of 91,000 tsunami affected people in these coastal areas have benefited from rehabilitated coastal ecosystems; more than 1100 hectares of mangrove and coastal forests, 2,5 km of sand dunes and 100 hectare of damaged coral reef & sea grass beds were restored and protected. Evaluation of the project results and outcomes show that an additional 12,000 people benefit from increased income from livelihood activities supported by Green Coast such as fishing, small scale aquaculture, eco-enterprises, home gardening and livestock.

Wide implementation of Green Coast approach

Because of its successful approach, a second phase of Green Coast in Aceh has been granted by Oxfam NOVIB to further restore damaged coastal ecosystems and prevent further environmental degradation through post-disaster infrastructure development projects.

Furthermore, funding has been received for Green Coast follow up in Thailand, in Trang Province. On behalf of the Green Coast partners, Wetlands International is planning to implement the Green Coast approach to West African coastal areas, which are vulnerable to the impacts of sea level rise and salt water intrusion.