COASTAL EROSION AND

FLOODING

BY

Ikegbunam, Ifeoma (Mrs)

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iikegbunam@ymail.com

Being a Paper Presented at a Pubic Lecture Organized by the

Anambra State Ministry of Environment, Awka
in commemoration of the 2014 World Environment Day Celebration
Theme: Raise Your Voice Not the Sea Level
Th, 2014.
Date: Thursday June 5Th
Venue: Women Development Centrel, Awka.
Time: 10.0am Prompt

Towards Minimizing Climate

Impacts

contents
Expression of appreciation/gratitude
introduction
Conceptual issues
Vulnerabilities,Impacts positive &
negative
Profiling of the 2014 World
Environment Day
Addressing the Theme: Raising your

23

Appreciation

I wish to express my gratitude to the organizers of

this workshop The Anambra State Ministry of
Environment, for their kind gesture in inviting me
to speak in an occasion of the World Environment
Day Commemoration, and on the topical issue
such as Coastal Erosion and Flooding as a
consequence of climate change especially, as it
affects small island developing nations

Introduction
Ever since the landmark United Nations
conference on Human Environment held in
Stockholm, Sweden, from June 5-16 1972,
global attention has increasingly be drawn
to the political, social and economic
problems confronting the global
environment with a view to taking
corrective actions.
The World Environment Day was
established by the united Nations general
Assembly in 1972. the first world
environment day celebration was held in

Introduction
continued
Prior to the Stockholm conference of 1972,
were the Ramsar convention of 1971 aimed at
protecting the Wetlands, The Vienna
Convention 1985, Montreal Protocol1987, for
reducing ozone depleting substances , the
Helsinki Meet 1989, the London Conference,
1990 for setting the legal framework of action
UN recognizes Climate Change as a common
concern of mankind in 1988, and established
IPCC in 1989
The Basel Convention 1989, on trans-boundary
movement of hazardous wastes and their
disposal.
4
UN conference on Environment &

Introduction
continued
The UN Convention on Biological Diversity , CBD, 1992, the
UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, 1992. etc
One theme remain consistence in all these conventions and
protocols- protection of the human environment from
anthropogenic activity driven environmental changes
capable of destroying the life support systems including the
air, land and water.
after Rio 92 that the concept of sustainability became the
development mantra via Agenda 21.
Today, we think globally and act locally, and local issues have
their global interests and actions.

Conceptual Issues
Concept of Flooding
Flooding is any relatively high flow that overtops the natural or
artificial bank in any part of the river, stream, embankments, etc
resulting to inundation of an area not normally covered by water.
Flooding occurs when the river or stream channel is inadequate to
accommodate discharges from catchment areas. It is the temporary
rise in the level of the river, lake, sea, etc that leads to inundation of
adjacent floodplain and other areas depending on the magnitude of
the flood, its flow velocity, and the topography of the area in question
Flooding is a normal activity of the river and other surface water
bodies, especially during receipt of input from wider drainage basins
as a result rainfall (as surface runoff inflow), discharges from
reservoirs, dams, or surges from sea or ocean leading to inundation of
littoral and riparian neighborhoods and locations.
Floods on the other hand are high flow of any surface water or river
that overtops its normal confining walls, banks and embankments.
The hydrologist sees flood as extreme hydrological event which occur
when the amount of rainfall received over a basin overwhelms the
river or stream channel networks capacity to accommodate the
6

Conceptual Issues
contd.
Dimensions of flooding includes; Riverine flooding caused by
heavy rainfall, snow and ice melt as spring thaws bring ice
jams & associated flooding in cold climatic regions , flash
floods- associated with intense storms, coastal floods or storm
surge floods or tidal surges- occur when onshore winds and
hurricanes causes the sea level to rise over low lying coastal
areas. More catastrophic if occur during high tide leading to
tidal surges. Coastal flooding can result from seismic set
waves aka tsunami
Low lying areas and areas downstream of rivers, dams, etc,
are mostly vulnerable to flooding
Coastal erosion: most streams and rivers are bordered by flat,
low lying areas called flood plains carved into the landscape
by river/stream bank erosion.
Annual surges and tides have led to bank cutting, erosion and
flooding, and valley widening, which are normal activities of a
river and part of the triumvirate of erosion, transportation and

Conceptual Issues
contd.
Rivers and flowing water bodies experience tidal activities
which results to temporary channel changes namely; below
bank, bank full and above bank or bank breaking.
Flooding occurs at the bank breaking stage and the river is
said to have broken its bank and in tide.

Impacts and
Vulnerabilities
Floods have both positive and negative impacts
Early civilizations were built around major river valleys such
as the Nile , Tigris and Euphrates , the Ganges, Irrawaddy and
Indus, the Yangtze (a.k.a Chang) and Huang Ho (yellow River)
the Mekong, the Mississippi, the Amazon, the Niger, Zaire, etc.
Expectations are built on annual flooding of these rivers for
nutrient rich suds and sediments deposition on the floodplains,
on which the agricultural prosperity these regions depends.
Floods recharge natural ecosystems, and enhance natural
sanitation and purification/detoxification of water bodies.
Fishermen eagerly await the yearly tides for bumper catch of
fishes.
+ beyond the positive impacts of flooding lies a plethora of
devastations and catastrophes.
These includes structural damage to bridges, buildings, road
beds, and utilities, soil erosion, destruction of properties, live
stocks, human lives, contamination of water supply points with
raw sewage, dangerous levels of bacteria, toxic and hazardous

Impacts and
Vulnerabilities
Environmental pollution and sanitation challenges; and land
degradation, loss of economic trees and farm crops and
consequent starvation, social crises and displacement of
people.
Millions of metric tons of sediments choke river channels,
displaces water and over time, raises river bed.
Death and destruction caused by floods and coastal erosion
surpasses those arising from earthquakes, and volcanic
eruptions
With between 300 inland floods yearly Losses are in the range
of billions of dollars impacting around 520million people world
wide (Global Resources, 2013).
Death toll from floods are spine breaking. For example the
Huang Ho River flooding of 1887 following extensive rainfall
that lasted for months caused rise in the river and spilled flood
water about 3meters deep into the adjoining area and spread
to 129,500 square kilometers of the country side. It left
1
900,000 and 6million people dead including those that died
from widespread starvation. And in 1931, flood episode led to 0

Impacts and
Vulnerabilities
And in 1931, its flooding led to the death of 4million people.
Huang Ho is aptly dubbed Chinas Sorrow.
the Yantze River also in China , flooded in 1911 and claimed
100,00 lives and in 1931, 145,000 deaths and 3,700,000 via
starvation.
Hurricane Katrina induced flooding in the Gulf of Mexico in
August 2005 led to storm surge that killed 1,836 people and
damaged properties worth over $100billion .
December 26, 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami (9.3 magnitude
submarine) initiated flood in Indonesia led to 300,000 deaths ,
left more than 1.5million homeless and billions of dollar worth
of properties damaged. It affected states on the coastal areas
of S.E Asia and completely submerged several islands. On the
whole 13 countries including countries in Africa.
In May 2008, Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar with storm
surges and flooded the densely populated Irrawaddy delta
1
killing more than 100,000 people.
1
South East Asia have potentials for flooding because of their

Profiling the 2014 World

Environment Day
Annually The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
rallies millions of people around the World for action on a
particular issue of global concern weaved around a theme.
THE 2014 World Environment Day commemoration focuses on
small island developing states and climate change.
These small Island Developing states stand on the greatest
risk of extreme hydro-meteorological events such as coastal
erosion and flooding especially those arising from climate
change impacts.
Climate change renders coastal communities most vulnerable
to flooding and storm surges.
These states includes the Maldives, Samoa, Kiribati, Marshall
Islands, Sri-Lanka,Tuvalu, Brunei, Suriname, Trinidad and
Tobago, Guam, New Caledonia, Seychelles, Mauritius , etc.
1
1

Profiling the 2014 World

Environment Day
What then is climate change and how is it going to
affect these nations?
Climate change is the change in climate
parameters such as rainfall and temperature which
brings about warming conditions with a lot of
meteorological implications.
Studies have confirmed that during the last 100
years, the Earths temperatures has increased by
0.740C as a result the water level of oceans have
gone up by 15cm partly due to thermal expansion
of water and partly due to melting of glaciers
resulting to an average sea level rise of 1.5mm per
year over the last century, 1.7mm/year in the 50 12
years, and 3mm/year in the last decade. This

Profiling the 2014 World

Environment Day
It has been estimated that the melting of the worlds ice caps
will result to 20% increase in the water of the oceans and will
submerge 35% of the total world landmass .
The IPCC projected a continuous increase in the global
temperatures if current GHG emission is not curtailed.
The catastrophe caused by the rising sea level may be gauged
by the fact that more than half of the world population lives
within 60km of the sea.
These populations are likely to be submerged and affected by
the ingress of salt water from the sea due to rising sea levels.
Rainfall is likely to increase in higher latitudes, incidence of
flood and drought will also increase in frequency
Clean water availability may reduce
Food production will be affected in vulnerable areas indirectly
via by pests and plant/animal diseases.
There may be large scale migrations and displacement of
1
people, etc.
3

Profiling the 2014 World

Environment Day
The UN have made spirited efforts to compel nations to cut
down emission of GHG into the atmosphere in order to save
humanity the catastrophic consequences of collapsing ozone
layer.
Through UNFCCC
Marakesh Accord (conference of parties)
Kyoto Protocols, and recently the Doha Amendment to kyoto
The Bali Action Plans
Carbon Trading
The Cancun Agreements, etc
All these are efforts to contain global warming which is a
precursor of climate change.
Human activities are at the root of global warning and by
extension climate change via:
Unsustainable patterns of urbanization and mushrooming of
1
cities
4
Consumption of hydrocarbon energy

Raising Your Voice not The Sea

Level
In addressing the theme of this years WED celebration,
individuals, govts, etc are required to:
Cut down excessive consumption of fossil fuels
Reduce our carbon and ecological foot prints
Embrace clean energy
Sustainable living
Sustainable transportation
Land use zoning and de-zoning
Sustainable water mgt
Sustainable infrastructure and building design
Disaster response planning and emergency management
Develop strategies for urban growth plans
Support national and international agreements to reduce GHG
emissions
Enforce the implementation and use of energy efficient
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technologies

Raising Your Voice not The Sea

Level

Develop alternative energy sources other than fossil fuels

Plan coastal and estuarine lowland buffer zones
Diversify economic and employment bases and opportunities
Promote environmental conservation
Etc

THANKS AND GOD

BLESS
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