Jurgenne Primavera, a renowned marine scientist from Mindanao in the Philippines, has pushed anew the need to legislate the creation of “coastal greenbelts” across the Philippines in the wake of the devastation wreaked by typhoon “Odette” (international name: “Rai”).
“We have to move from disaster response to resilience, specifically coastal resilience … for a country yearly blighted by 20 storms which make landfall where the sea meets the sand, meaning on the beach lining most of our 36,300-km long coastlines. So we need coastal greenbelts,” she posted on social media.
Primavera, who was born and raised in Agusan del Norte and was named by Time Magazine as “Hero of the Environment” in 2008 for her work in mangrove conservation, said the coastal greenbelts were needed by the country decades ago.
According to her, mangroves can greatly help mitigate the impact of typhoons in coastal areas.
She cited a study by McIvor et al in 2012, which states that a greenbelt 100 meters wide will absorb or reduce wave energy by up to 60 percent.
Primavera raised the need to establish coastal greenbelts following Odette’s wrath, which caused massive destruction on Siargao Island in Surigao del Norte and Dinagat Islands province in Mindanao and other parts of the Visayas.
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Marine scientist presses creation of ‘coastal greenbelts’ to cushion typhoon impacts