Both children and adults will be participating in project activities, and environmental awareness will be built through river clean up, beach clean up, and village clean up efforts.
Project implementation will be carried out partly through the mobilization of community members from Monkey River Village and the broader MRWA membership. The villagers have pledged their support to provide local expertise to expert advisers and in the development of the road map.
Emphasis on Sustainable Livelihoods
The beach is a key attraction for tourists who visit Monkey River village. The continued loss of the beach will affect the livelihood of the community, in particular the tour guides, restaurant and hotel owners. According to the villagers, the guided tours have to be modified due to the river being too shallow in certain areas. If this continues trend continues, this source of income may also be lost. The restoration of the beaches and the improved flow of the river would ensure that this type of tourist activity continues to be a source of income.
Replication of project activities
The project has been successful in developing the Road Map which is the first phase in restoring the functionality of the Monkey River. The Road Map has been distributed to key partners and decision makers working in the areas of water resources management and coastal zone management. This can facilitate replication of the results in other parts of Belize, for e.g. installation of geotubes in Hopkins Village, another community facing erosion problems. Those MR villagers trained in geotube installation can train others.
In order to achieve the long-term goal which is to ensure the ecological integrity of the PHMR, the project will need to follow-through with a second phase which will focus on implementing the Road Map. Project expansion will require additional funding and establishing partnerships with entities that have a shared interest.
Inovative Financial Mechanisms
The project will use various approaches to capture and share the knowledge, lessons learned and best practices gained through the implementation of the project. These include: (1) a series of one-page fun-facts infographic handouts on watersheds will be distributed to educational institutions, NGOs and community leaders and members; (2) the creation of a MRWA facebook page; and (3) systematic photo documentation of activities and progress to be archived and shared via Facebook. The project aims to reach a wider audience by capitalizing on existing communication outlets (i.e. newsletters, social media) of its MRWA members.
Project sustainability
There are several factors that will determine the sustainability of outcomes once the project has come to an end. One of these factors is stakeholder ownership. The MRWA, its Board of Directors in particular, was clearly committed to the successful implementation of the project. MRWA as a young organization with limited resources realized that to successfully implement the current project, and even achieving long-term initiatives, would require the engagement of diverse stakeholders. This intended approach was evident as the project proposal stated that ?The engagement strategy for the development of the road map will ensure a broad base of support and inclusiveness, which should build a coalition of active and invested agencies, institutions and communities. This will lead to sustained funding opportunities and investments from a broad range of sources as the issues driving the context for this project cross over multiple disciplines and subject matters.? The project was a start to build partnerships and networks, however, much more effort will be required to achieve the continued support of existing partners and to bring new partners to the table.
According to one of the MRWA Board members, the Association is sustainable in the fact that there is a common vision that is easy to garner support for. Currently, however, the MRWA Board members, who have full-time commitments, function as staff. In order for MRWA to remain very active, it requires more sustained funding to hire full-time staff.
Another factor that contributes to sustainability is social empowerment. The project has empowered the people of Monkey River by providing them with the knowledge to install geotubes to alleviate the erosion problem. The Monkey River community has also gained knowledge about the causes of erosion and the best practices necessary to restore the watershed?s function. The people of Monkey River are still faced with the threat of beach erosion, however, they can apply this knowledge when considering future development plans for the community. There should be a sustained and vested interest in the work of the MRWA.
Environmental and ecological sustainability as it pertains to the functionality of the Monkey River watershed will be dependent partially on the effective implementation of the Road Map developed under this project. The Road Map describes the most likely causes of river degradation and erosion and defines six restoration goals and the actions needed to satisfy each restoration goal for the Monkey River, its watershed and its shore. According to the authors of the Road Map document, the achievement of each goal will result in improved habitat and better water quality. It is therefore necessary to have follow-up phase(s) to implement these actions.
Environmental sustainability can also be affected by climate change related impacts. The Road Map document cautions that hurricanes and sea level rise are major threats to residents of the Monkey River watershed. Given that more intense hurricanes are predicted in relation to climate change, there may be an increase in coastal erosion, despite watershed restoration efforts. This may result in shoreline stabilization measures such as geotubes being ineffective in safeguarding the beach. The Road Map document recommends that the Monkey River villagers consider evaluating options for resettlement, in the event that resettlement becomes necessary.
Capacity - Building Component
This project aims to build the capacity of the Monkey River Watershed Association to implement necessary actions in the coming decade(s).
Gender Focus
he roles of men and women vary greatly within the context of this project. Ten communities comprising of at least three distinct cultures?Creole, Mayan, and Hispanic?are all actively involved and affected by project implementation. In all cases, gender roles are quite specific with little overlap. To a large extent, men are the primary income earners, such as fisher folk, hunters, farmers, tour guides, boat captains, and construction workers, while women primarily tend to the needs of the children, are care-givers and home-makers, although in some cases women also run businesses such as restaurants and shops or are teachers. The chairpersons of most villages and village council members have historically been male, although that trend is changing.
Access to economic and environmental resources is generally shared in all communities within the context of the project. Watershed issues affects everyone equally, and there is no indication that one gender will either benefit or be impaired by project planning or activities. In all communities, gender roles are well established and children are socialized to internalize these roles and prepare for adulthood with different and specific roles through the way families function and how children are raised.
Project Results
The main project outcome was achieved which is a Road Map of actions required to restore the functionality of the Monkey River and to protect Monkey River Village from further loss of properties and support healthy ecosystems in PHMR, while balancing the social, environmental and economic needs of stakeholders.
The expected results at the output level as stated in the project proposal are listed in Table 2 below. Overall, 90% of the outputs were fully or almost fully achieved. Only one output was not completed.
Of significance is the achievement of Output 1.2 which is the installation of
5 geotubes, measuring 400 feet in length, which were placed along a portion of the Monkey River shoreline to prevent further beach erosion that was threatening several homes. The geotubes were installed during the period August to October 2018 and to date they are still intact and working properly (see Annex 7). One structure belonging to Mr. Claude still faces imminent threat.
There were 3 partially achieved outputs. These included:
Output 1.1 ? Brief report detailing the initial situation assessment and recommendations for a design for near-term mitigation effort
A stand-alone report detailing the initial situation assessment and design recommendations does not exist. The situation assessment and design recommendations had to be pieced together from several sources which included:
1) Minutes of a MRWA meeting briefly describing the 26th October, 2017 site visit to Monkey River Village by a team comprising of: Tencate (manufacturer of geotubes) representative; 2 experts from USGS and 1 expert from the University of North Carolina Wilmington; and 2 representatives from Lazarus Construction. During this visit the placement of geotubes, site preparation and installation strategy (depth, spacing, overlap) etc. were discussed (Peter Esselman, pers. comm.).
2) Input (verbal) from the PC, MRWA President, Monkey River villagers and a Belizean geotechnical engineer.
3) Schematic designs by Tencate showing different geotube design options.
Output 1.3 - 5 Volunteers from Monkey River Village trained to maintain the installation, and assess and report on its condition through time
The project proposal states that volunteers from Monkey River Village would be trained to maintain the installation and assess and report on its condition through time. The data would then be aggregated and summarized with assistance of USGS scientists.
Five volunteers from Monkey River Village were trained to do the installation. These villagers also used their initiative to devise a most efficient way of installing the geotubes given the local conditions. Currently, several of the villagers stated that they are observing whether the geotubes are working or not working. These visual assessments are not being recorded in a systematic manner which will make future analysis difficult.
The University of Central Florida through their Citizen Science Geographic Information System (GIS) programme in Belize became aware of the project and provided drone imagery showing changes in beach composition since installation of the geotubes (see Road Map document, pg.7).
Output 2.1 - Educational seminar on coastal erosion delivered to village residents, MRWA members, NGOs
A separate educational seminar was not delivered to village residents by the USGS experts, however, during their 24th ? 28th October, 2017 visit, the USGS experts engaged in one-on-one or small group discussions with the Monkey River villagers and a few representatives of the other watershed communities. The team and the community members discussed issues facing the watershed and better practices to reduce the impact level on the watershed. This information was used to develop the White Paper and Road Map.
Output not completed
Output 3.4 - 10 community members trained to collect data about the river and coast in their locality
This activity was not initiated during the implementation of this project. For future consideration, the USGS experts make suggestions for a ?minimum recommended? research program that would provide critical information on key questions pertaining to watershed management (see Road Map document). Future data collection programs could be based on this recommended research program.
