This follows on the heels of 5/31/09 front page articles in Honolulu's two major newspapers, Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star Bulletin, addressing the suffocation of Molokai's reef. Unfortunately, both articles gave solutions short shrift, and cursorily presented fences as a solution. Appallingly absent was mention of the use of vegetative barriers to halt the flow of sediment to the ocean--a low-cost, highly effective, permanent solution to the problem.
How do we know this?
Because we can evaluate the results of a decade-long effort in Vanuatu, whose problems mirrored those of present-day Molokai. From 1995 to 2002, Don Miller, an experienced erosion expert, led a band of dedicated local volunteers armed with sacks of Vetiver slips into Vanuatu's southern gullies, where they systematically installed rows of plants into weathered volcanic tuff and breccia on grades of approximately 35degrees where no plantings had survived. When awash in heavy rains, the bare slopes were dumping high volumes of silt onto nearby coral reefs.
Although the erosion control project was closed down shortly after the installations (the government cited "lack of funds"), the good work had been done. Vetiver slips and indigenous plantings grew into semi-permeable hedges that filtered out sediment before it reached the island's coastal waters and the reef.
Today the Fisheries Department reports dramatically improved conditions on the reefs down current from areas that have been stabilized by established Vetiver hedges for several years. Large volumes of sediment have been retained and some areas now boast a nearly-complete cover of indigenous shrubs on previously infertile, bare, eroding land. Along with the reef, the shellfish industry has recovered, and ni-Vanuatuan fishermen are happy--and grateful.
Could this success story be repeated in Hawaii? Absolutely. Success requires completion of four steps: coordination by stakeholders (landlords and land-users), an installation plan, Vetiver plants, and installers. Whaddya say, eh?! Call me: 808-536-5444. I'll answer.
To see Don Miller's remarkable work on Vanuatu, visit vetiver.org and enter Vanuatu Vetiver to access Don's Picassa gallery.
Showing posts with label Vanuatu. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vanuatu. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Cane Fire! Vetiver hedges protect sugar cane, too
This is the second story today that I've cockaroached from The Vetiver Network. The following exchange between Dick Grimshaw and John Greenfield addresses the application of the Vetiver System to agriculture dear to Hawaii: sugar cane fields and native forests.
From Dick Grimshaw:
The recent fires in California remind us of its devastation to property and to the local ecology. Often these fires are so hot that they burn off most of the ground vegetation. Recovery is
slow and, during the delay, the land is exposed to rainfall and resulting erosion, high rainfall runoff, and sometimes land slippage.
Plenty of evidence shows that it's difficult to burn green Vetiver. Although Vetiver may burn off, sometimes completely, when it's dry, it recovers quickly within weeks. This enables the hedge to meet its design objectives.
Green vetiver hedges are very dense, and fire has difficulty penetrating them. Under these conditions, the hedge acts as a fire break to slow creeping fires. Where Vetiver in Fiji was grown in conjunction with sugar cane it survived the annual fire that was set before the cane harvest.
On Vanuatu (South Pacific) Vetiver hedges were used to improve moisture and soil fertility to facilitate the replanting of forests destroyed by fire. This successful process is described on the TVNI website. The new forests were also subject to fire; those that were burned recovered quite quickly because the Vetiver started regrowing (ex-hibernation) as soon as the tree canopy was incinerated. The revived hedges reduced erosion and runoff which helped the trees to recover quickly.
Find representative images of this Vetiver recovery at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/VetiverNetwork/VetiverSystemsAndFire#
John Greenfield responds:
Dick has made a valid point here: green Vetiver hedges in the tropics are virtually fireproof. Let me make a slight correction to keep the record straight.
Dick reports that Vetiver in Fiji grown in conjunction with sugar cane survived the annual fire that was set before the cane harvest.
Unlike nearly every other cane-growing country, no cane in Fiji was burned before harvesting. If it was, the sugar company penalized the grower, because burned cane results in slightly caramelized sugar that costs more to refine. In Fiji, growers burn the trash generated by the cane harvest. (Like Hawaii,) Fiji has no snakes, or dangerous vermin that would require a pre-harvest fire, but you do have to watch for hornets.
The amazing thing about Vetiver hedges in the cane fields is that, following harvest, the cane grows rapidly and in a matter of months completely shades the vetiver from the light. At the next harvest, (12 months later for ratoon crops ,18 months later for plant crops) the hedge is plunged into full sunlight, then must survive the heat of a trash fire before once again being shaded again by the next ratoon crop. This process repeats for years but doesn’t effect the Vetiver's viability. I don’t know of many plants that can withstand this rough treatment.
From Dick Grimshaw:
The recent fires in California remind us of its devastation to property and to the local ecology. Often these fires are so hot that they burn off most of the ground vegetation. Recovery is
slow and, during the delay, the land is exposed to rainfall and resulting erosion, high rainfall runoff, and sometimes land slippage.
Plenty of evidence shows that it's difficult to burn green Vetiver. Although Vetiver may burn off, sometimes completely, when it's dry, it recovers quickly within weeks. This enables the hedge to meet its design objectives.
Green vetiver hedges are very dense, and fire has difficulty penetrating them. Under these conditions, the hedge acts as a fire break to slow creeping fires. Where Vetiver in Fiji was grown in conjunction with sugar cane it survived the annual fire that was set before the cane harvest.
On Vanuatu (South Pacific) Vetiver hedges were used to improve moisture and soil fertility to facilitate the replanting of forests destroyed by fire. This successful process is described on the TVNI website. The new forests were also subject to fire; those that were burned recovered quite quickly because the Vetiver started regrowing (ex-hibernation) as soon as the tree canopy was incinerated. The revived hedges reduced erosion and runoff which helped the trees to recover quickly.
Find representative images of this Vetiver recovery at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/VetiverNetwork/VetiverSystemsAndFire#
John Greenfield responds:
Dick has made a valid point here: green Vetiver hedges in the tropics are virtually fireproof. Let me make a slight correction to keep the record straight.
Dick reports that Vetiver in Fiji grown in conjunction with sugar cane survived the annual fire that was set before the cane harvest.
Unlike nearly every other cane-growing country, no cane in Fiji was burned before harvesting. If it was, the sugar company penalized the grower, because burned cane results in slightly caramelized sugar that costs more to refine. In Fiji, growers burn the trash generated by the cane harvest. (Like Hawaii,) Fiji has no snakes, or dangerous vermin that would require a pre-harvest fire, but you do have to watch for hornets.
The amazing thing about Vetiver hedges in the cane fields is that, following harvest, the cane grows rapidly and in a matter of months completely shades the vetiver from the light. At the next harvest, (12 months later for ratoon crops ,18 months later for plant crops) the hedge is plunged into full sunlight, then must survive the heat of a trash fire before once again being shaded again by the next ratoon crop. This process repeats for years but doesn’t effect the Vetiver's viability. I don’t know of many plants that can withstand this rough treatment.
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
We CANNOT wait forever!!
In the early 1960s when I first started my professional career as a conservationist and agriculturist in Zambia, soil erosion was a major problem. Nearly 50 years later worldwide erosion is worse. When I worked in Ethiopia 40 years ago, the cost of highway maintenance was very high because of bad drainage and erosion, which are still major and worsening problems in most developing countries. When I worked in eastern Nigeria 30 years ago, the formation of massive gullies was so bad that houses were engulfed. Today the situation is even more dire. When I worked in India 20 years ago, irrigation without recharge was depleting groundwater. Water issues are even worse today. In the past 10 years, water supplies throughout Asia have become increasingly contaminated by agricultural and industrial waste, resulting in serious health problems. Climate change and global temperature changes are causing more violent weather, which results in more frequent and serious storm-related disasters.
What is the world doing about all this?! VERY LITTLE! Why? Politics, cost, the enormous scale of the problem, wrong technologies, agenda conflicts, APATHY, LACK of COURAGE, and LACK of LEADERSHIP. If ACTION is not undertaken on a wide scale many people will die, and our natural resources will be destroyed. The CHALLENGE is to do something, and to do it SOON. Achieving quick results simultaneously in many locations requires community involvement and commitment, and the use of relatively simple technology that can be applied at micro scale.
Very few technologies can meet this challenge. The VETIVER SYSTEM (VS) is one that can. It is easy to train community leaders in VS fundamentals; the work is documented and readily available in the public domain. Vetiver plant material is quickly and easily propagated, and people, given some fairly minor technical support, can identify key locations that require VS application. Here's just one example: A few weeks ago I described the way erosion sediment had destroyed inshore fisheries and coral reefs in Vanuatu. VS stabilized the area and allowed reforestation to occur. By stopping sediment flows, Vetiver allowed the reef and fisheries to recover. This is just one example of thousands of sites that needs help. One publicized application every decade will not solve our problems! Every time a tropical storm strikes the Caribbean, tons of island sediment land in the sea. Effluent from leaking septic systems and other point sources (mines, industrial sites) washes onto beaches and into the sea, and personal property is destroyed. This devastation is predictable and can be prevented. On a small scale, VS can control septic tank effluent. The application of VS followed by tree planting can stabilize point source erosion sites, including watershed minetailings - a source of water borne contaminants. Similarly, VS can stabilize sea walls/dykes, riverbanks, bridge abutments, and roadscan, which can minimize infrastructure and flood damage. The list goes on. This one technology can do it all!
Tens of thousands of paid persons in developing countries are doing very little and making even less impact. They should be retrained and put to work. I can guarantee that these workers will respond positively to good leaders. Schools should introduce VS as part of the curricula for rural children. We know it works! The East Bali Poverty Project changed the lives of 10,000 families by introducing Vetiver to children. No more starvation. No more unbalanced diets. These communities now enjoy good clean water and improved health, roads that don't collapse, and hillsides that don't slide. See http://www.vetiver.org/g/community.htm If nothing is done, developing communities will eventually vanish, and, so, too, the world's resources. As President-Elect Obama says, "We CAN." I say, "We MUST." Now is the time for ACTION - not TALK.
Dick Grimshaw
What is the world doing about all this?! VERY LITTLE! Why? Politics, cost, the enormous scale of the problem, wrong technologies, agenda conflicts, APATHY, LACK of COURAGE, and LACK of LEADERSHIP. If ACTION is not undertaken on a wide scale many people will die, and our natural resources will be destroyed. The CHALLENGE is to do something, and to do it SOON. Achieving quick results simultaneously in many locations requires community involvement and commitment, and the use of relatively simple technology that can be applied at micro scale.
Very few technologies can meet this challenge. The VETIVER SYSTEM (VS) is one that can. It is easy to train community leaders in VS fundamentals; the work is documented and readily available in the public domain. Vetiver plant material is quickly and easily propagated, and people, given some fairly minor technical support, can identify key locations that require VS application. Here's just one example: A few weeks ago I described the way erosion sediment had destroyed inshore fisheries and coral reefs in Vanuatu. VS stabilized the area and allowed reforestation to occur. By stopping sediment flows, Vetiver allowed the reef and fisheries to recover. This is just one example of thousands of sites that needs help. One publicized application every decade will not solve our problems! Every time a tropical storm strikes the Caribbean, tons of island sediment land in the sea. Effluent from leaking septic systems and other point sources (mines, industrial sites) washes onto beaches and into the sea, and personal property is destroyed. This devastation is predictable and can be prevented. On a small scale, VS can control septic tank effluent. The application of VS followed by tree planting can stabilize point source erosion sites, including watershed minetailings - a source of water borne contaminants. Similarly, VS can stabilize sea walls/dykes, riverbanks, bridge abutments, and roadscan, which can minimize infrastructure and flood damage. The list goes on. This one technology can do it all!
Tens of thousands of paid persons in developing countries are doing very little and making even less impact. They should be retrained and put to work. I can guarantee that these workers will respond positively to good leaders. Schools should introduce VS as part of the curricula for rural children. We know it works! The East Bali Poverty Project changed the lives of 10,000 families by introducing Vetiver to children. No more starvation. No more unbalanced diets. These communities now enjoy good clean water and improved health, roads that don't collapse, and hillsides that don't slide. See http://www.vetiver.org/g/community.htm If nothing is done, developing communities will eventually vanish, and, so, too, the world's resources. As President-Elect Obama says, "We CAN." I say, "We MUST." Now is the time for ACTION - not TALK.
Dick Grimshaw
Sunday, October 12, 2008
The Vetiver System shields coral reefs from sediment
Dick Grimshaw writes:
I have frequently written about the need to use the Vetiver System to rehabilitate eroding land and thus stop eroded sediment from moving downstream to coastal waters where it destroys coral reefs and coastal fisheries. VS is particular useful for small island erosion rehabilitation.
Since erosion on small tropical islands tends to be massive and close to the beach and sea, stabilizing a particular area will generate immediate benefit to the adjacent water and coral. Don Miller, a New Zealander who works on Vanuatu in the south Pacific, has, over many years, inspired local people to reforest a particularly badly-eroded area near Port Patrick. [By the way, Vanuatu is 1,090 miles east of northern Australia, 310 miles northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and south of the Solomon Islands. Thank you, Wikipedia!] The results have been spectacular. View a modified Power Point presentation at http://www.vetiver.org/VAN_REEF/VAN-reef2.htm).
In my travels around the world I've seen many instances of coastal waters turned brown by sediment flows. If you don't travel, take a look at Google Earth images of Hawaii, Fiji, Jamaica, Honduras, the Indonesian islands, and many more. The Vetiver System is the best, cheapest, and greenest way to address the problem. In addition to halting sediment flows to the sea, it prevents sewage and other pollutants from reaching pristine beaches, improves groundwater (reduced ground water on many islands is becoming a major problem), increases crop yields and generates biomass for fuel, forage, and, as value-added products, handicrafts. The Vetiver System is available to everyone who wishes to use it, and, if applied correctly, it will work.
I have frequently written about the need to use the Vetiver System to rehabilitate eroding land and thus stop eroded sediment from moving downstream to coastal waters where it destroys coral reefs and coastal fisheries. VS is particular useful for small island erosion rehabilitation.
Since erosion on small tropical islands tends to be massive and close to the beach and sea, stabilizing a particular area will generate immediate benefit to the adjacent water and coral. Don Miller, a New Zealander who works on Vanuatu in the south Pacific, has, over many years, inspired local people to reforest a particularly badly-eroded area near Port Patrick. [By the way, Vanuatu is 1,090 miles east of northern Australia, 310 miles northeast of New Caledonia, west of Fiji, and south of the Solomon Islands. Thank you, Wikipedia!] The results have been spectacular. View a modified Power Point presentation at http://www.vetiver.org/VAN_REEF/VAN-reef2.htm).
In my travels around the world I've seen many instances of coastal waters turned brown by sediment flows. If you don't travel, take a look at Google Earth images of Hawaii, Fiji, Jamaica, Honduras, the Indonesian islands, and many more. The Vetiver System is the best, cheapest, and greenest way to address the problem. In addition to halting sediment flows to the sea, it prevents sewage and other pollutants from reaching pristine beaches, improves groundwater (reduced ground water on many islands is becoming a major problem), increases crop yields and generates biomass for fuel, forage, and, as value-added products, handicrafts. The Vetiver System is available to everyone who wishes to use it, and, if applied correctly, it will work.
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