Professor Sieuwnath Naipal of Conservation International Suriname last week kicked off a project to stop the coastal erosion and salinization of arable land at Weg naar Zee, near Paramaribo, Suriname.
The project is based on the concept of Building with Nature and consisting of five permeable dams.
The dam captures sediment and helps to establish a healthy sediment balance.
Once the near shore bed level has sufficiently risen, mangroves will regrow, developing a natural water defense protecting the hinterland against flooding and further erosion.
The approach is a replication from the Building with Nature program along the coast of Central Java.
A similar technique has been used by Wetlands International, Ecoshape consortium and the Indonesian government in partnership with research institute Deltares, consultancy firm Witteveen + Bos, and other partners to stop coastal erosion in Central Java.
Professor Naipal studied the technique and asked the local Conservation International (CI) office for support.
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