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63-83, 1997
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D a v i d C h e m a n e , a* Helena M o t t a b & M u s s a A c h i m o c
aINAHINA, National Institute of Hydrography and Navigation, Av. Karl-Marx 153, C. Postal
2089, Maputo, Mozambique
bMICOA, Ministry for the Coordination of Environmental Affairs, Av. Acordos de Lusaka
2115, C. Postal 2020, Maputo, Mozambique
CDepartment of Geology, Faculty of Sciences, Eduardo Mondlane University, C. Postal 257,
Maputo, Mozambique
ABSTRACT
The Earth is affected by the emission of different gases which are largely
generated by human activities. The "blanket" these gases form around the
planet is likely to affect the climate balance. The resulting warmth could
cause partial melting of the polar ice-caps, as well as the thermal expansion
of the sea water, with the consequence of harmful degrees of sea-level rise. I f
global warming becomes a reality, with the consequential sea-level rise
Africa's numerous islands and all its low-lying coastal areas, which include
large areas of Mozambique, would be severely affected. This paper describes
how the projected sea-level rise would affect a particular area in Mozam-
bique, which is just one of the many vulnerable areas. The article also focuses
on the broader framework for integrated coastal zone management in
Mozambique and its enormous challenges, that aims to accommodate not
only the current problems the coastal zone is facing, but also those resulting
from the projected accelerated sea level rise. © 1998 Elsevier Science Ltd.
All rights reserved.
1. I N T R O D U C T I O N
The coast of Mozambique is not only one of the most valuable natural assets
of the country but also its most vulnerable front. Coastal resources in the form
of fisheries, agriculture, tourism and forest have the potential to contribute
significantly to the national income as well as of providing social and eco-
nomic benefits to the population that lives in this area.
The coastal zone from Ponta do Ouro in the south to latitude 16° S, immedi-
ately north of Angoche, is composed of unconsolidated Quaternary to Recent
sediments, mostly sand dunes and sandy plains, but interspersed with heavier
textured soils (alluviums) at the larger river mouths. In the northern part,
around latitude 16° S, including Macambo, Nacala and Memba bay areas,
Tertiary basalt occurs. From Angoche northwards, heavily faulted Cretaceous
to Tertiary sediments line the coast.
The morphology of the coastal area is characterized into low lands, rising
landwards above 200 m between 15 and 140 km from the shore. The coastline
is characterized by a strip of beaches, recent dunes and inland lagoons in the
south; by mangroves, swampy depressions and series of low beach ridges in
the centre and mangroves, small dunes alternating with cliffs in the north. 1
The existing alluvial valleys have fertile clay soils and a steppe-like vegeta-
tion. There are predominantly extensive plains and inland dunes with poor
Integrated coastal zone management 65
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A warm current meanders in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Mozambique.
The surface temperature of the sea varies between 25 and 29°C and its fauna
and flora are typical of the warm water. Coral reefs exist along the Mozambique
coast specially in Bazaruto, Nacala and Pemba, the Mozambique Island and
Nacala areas, and others are located further south. Mozambique protects
some coral reefs by law, for example in the Inhaca Island; however, in the
north, where the majority occur, no legislation has been made to protect them.
Various species of turtles breed along the coast and on islands in the
Mozambique Channel and they are also protected by law; however its en-
forcement is defective.
The territorial offshore waters extend for about 100000 sq. km, with the
potential for commercial fisheries estimated at about 391000 t.2s representing
the most important resource, and distributed as follows:
• crustaceans (shallow- and deep-water shrimp, lobster and crabs) accounting
for about 41 000 t,
Integrated coastal zone management 67
Some of the resources in this ecological zone are exploited at their maximum
capacity as is the case of shallow-water shrimp.
In Mozambique, the total mangrove coverage has been estimated at
500 000 ha, as a result of the many rivers that drain into the coast. The most
recent study to determine the rate of deforestation of the mangrove vegetation
in Mozambique shows that the average rate of mangrove depletion in the last
18 years is about 4%. However, it has reached levels of up to 15.2% in
Maputo Province and 4.9% in Sofala Province, while in Gaza and Cabo
Delgado Provinces is nil. 3
The spill of more than 16 000 t of heavy fuel-oil from the Katina P tanker in
1992 off the coast of Mozambique put many marine ecosystems and the
mangrove forests in serious danger. The resulting impacts are still being
monitored.
There are no systematic studies about the sources, and levels of pollutants
in marine waters. What is known however is that the main sources are
land-based, especially from coastal cities, agriculture, mining and port activ-
ities. What should be noted here is that most cities in Mozambique are located
on the coast and they do not have any kind of sewage and effluent treatment
before discharge into the sea.
Improper land husbandry and subsequent soil erosion are degrading some
estuaries by causing excessive deposition of silt, which smother plants and
reduces their accessibility to fish and other marine animals. In addition,
sewage and industrial-waste dumping have played a major role in the degra-
dation of estuaries, e.g. the Espirito Santo estuary (Maputo). Measures aimed
at protecting some estuaries (e.g. 15 000 ha of Zambezi delta, 20 000 ha in the
Pomene reserve and 70 000 ha of Espirito Santo estuary) have been introduc-
ed and will be extended to the remaining.
Because of the relatively easy accessibility using artisanal fishing methods,
estuaries are very important in providing livelihood for local communities for
their subsistence and commerce. On the other hand, there is little exploitation
of meso-pelagic resources, because of the lack of proper fishing equipment and
capital. 4
Coastline changes have been observed over the years and may also result from
local human action, which tends to interfere with natural sedimentation
processes or other processes which occur at the interface between the ocean
and land. Examples of such activities include removal of coastal natural
vegetation such as mangroves, dune vegetation, destruction of offshore bar-
riers, e.g. coral reefs, tourism, extracting economic minerals from dark sands,
or sand mining for constructions.
No detailed work in sediment dynamics and shoreline changes is yet
available.
being freely able to retreat landward, in response to the rising sea. At present,
however, coastal constructions (dykes, walls, groynes, etc.) at the mainland
block landward migration of coastal systems.
Sea level today is generally inferred from sea-level data of sufficient length.
Mozambique sea-level records are full of gaps and consequently inadequate
for sea-level trend estimates. However, records from neighbouring regions,
like South Africa, show trends comparable to the global estimates. Therefore,
predictions of future sea-level rise around southern Africa may be adopted
from globally modelled studies. 6 It is generally recognized that sea-level rise
will further exacerbate already existing problems in coastal areas rather than
create new ones. In many parts of the world, human activities in the coastal
areas have increased natural subsidence causing a faster sea-level rise than the
projected acceleration due to global warming. Therefore, coastal states must
seek solutions for their current problems which accommodate the potential
impacts of future sea-level rise.
In Mozambique about 40% of the population live and work in coastal
districts. 7 Domestic and international tourism is now the fastest growing
industry, employing thousands of people.
The increasing pressure on coastal resources and any changes in sea-level
are likely to have far reaching socio-economic and environmental conse-
quences. Thus, the current environmental legislation must incorporate
measures to avoid endangering future populations and environments in the
event of sea-level rise. For this purpose it is necessary to identify, classify and
map vulnerable areas. Clearly, this is not an easy task because of the lack of
physical, demographic and economic data. In particular, thematic and appro-
priate topographic maps are not available.
Given the available resources and time frame for the proposed vulnerability
assessment the AVVA (Aerial Videotape Assisted Vulnerability Analysis) s
method was applied as it is rapid and the physical data obtained are satisfac-
tory for a first-order vulnerability analysis, i.e. high risk areas can be identified
and mapped. The most vulnerable area, the city of Beira was selected for
a more detailed study.
From the point of view of the impacts to sea-level rise the coast of Mozam-
bique can be subdivided into three regions as follows:
• Region of bays: less vulnerable.
• Region of rivers: high risk (inundation & erosion).
• Region of lagoons: moderate (erosion).
70 D. Chemane et al.
The region of bays is about 670 km long and lies between the mouth of river
Rovuma to Mozambique island. The coast consists mainly of sedimentary
bedrocks (calcarenites, limestones, sandstones) and coral reefs and therefore is
stable.
The region of rivers lies between Mozambique island and the Bazaruto
island and is about 900 km long. This region is characterized by rivers which
drain into the sea through estuarine systems and deltas, where some major
and secondary harbours are located. The coastline in this region is very
unstable due to deposition of materials brought by rivers and erosion of the
river edges by strong currents towards the mouth. The rivers meander into the
sea through unstable bars and change their course with time, eroding or
depositing material to modify the coastline shape. There are villages where the
coastline has retreated or advanced as much as up to 1 m per year in the last
40 years, e.g. Chinde (Zambezi delta). Erosion has been identified as a serious
problem in some regions, including particularly the city of Beira where many
property and infrastructures (e.g. roads) have been already lost.
The region of lagoons extends from Bazaruto island to Ponta de Ouro and
is characterized by densely vegetated dunes. Some major towns, including the
capital, and many beautiful holiday resorts are located there. In many coastal
cities roads built along the shore are restricting the ability of the shore to shift
and adjust under the action of strong winds and waves, giving rise to an
unbalanced displacement and distribution of sand. Both erosion and ac-
cretion occur mainly as a consequence of the existing man-made structures.
In the south, the coastal zone as a whole is characterized by cemented
interior dunes of pleistocene age and lagoonal/marsh zone enclosed by subre-
cent to recent exterior dunes; recent large and small dunes are restricted to
a narrow N - S belt from Ponta de Ouro through the eastern coast of Inhaca
and Portuguese Islands up to the north.
Preservation of these dunes was attained during high sea-level stand and
the consequent infiltration and precipitation of carbonates from marine
waters resulting in the formation of beach rock that forms the ridges at several
places in the south (e.g. Inhaca island). Erosion is moderate and is mostly
restricted to the main headlands due to the wave action and longshore
currents.
around 60000 t and can handle millions of tons of cargo per year, from
containers, bulk and crude oil.
Around the harbour, a city has developed to become the second largest city
of Mozambique and is home for more than 200 000 people according to 1980
census. The current population is thought to be far in excess of this figure.
Most of the town is below high water level and several channels have been
built to prevent flooding and reduce the effect of fast rising water during floods
on the fragile ridge protection.
Beira is located at centre-east of Mozambique at the mouth of Pungu6 river,
which discharges huge amount of sediments into the forelying bay. It is a flat
physiographic unit consisting of old beach ridges, cuspate spit, marshes,
wetland and storm ridge (Fig. 2).
The bay has semi-diurnal tides with a daily inequality of 0.4 m. The mean
spring and mean neap tidal range amounts to 5.7 and 1.7 m, respectively. The
currents are very strong reaching up to 5 knots in the dredged channel.
Heavy rainfall occurs from December to March and the average annual
rainfall amounts to 1200-1500 mm. The dominant wind direction is from
southeast. From October to February there is a chance for southerly and
easterly winds.
3.4. Geomorphology
Beira has mostly been built on the old beach ridges and the old spit, with vast
areas that appear to be pounded by the ridges, marshes and wetland. Storm
ridges occur locally, e.g. at Praia Nova. Evidence of these physiographic
features, with the exception of storm deposits, were not distinctive in the field,
because of urban development. However, the cuspate spit is still readily
discernible on aerial photographs of 1959. Small fragments of single ridges
appear randomly surrounded by marshes. The marshes, with a network of
older small tidal streams draining the surface, and sometimes dashed by
vegetation are tentatively interpreted as a filled bay which was then vegetated
by mangroves. Today this area is separated from the modern bay by a narrow
beach ridge and is often flooded during spring tides.
The old sand spit is extended into the old filled bay from Ponta Gea
headland, known as Grande Hotel. The cuspate shape of the spit may be
partly due to the overwash by wave action and appears also to be related to
the outgoing tidal currents from the filled bay. The abandonment of the old
beach and the building up of a new beach may have resulted from a slight
lowering of sea level. Indeed, between 7000 and 4000 years BP the sea level
was about 2.4 m above the present level. 9 Dismembered ridges rising out from
the modern coastal marshes suggest subsidence of the land, that is partly
72 D. Chemane et al.
BEACH RIDGES
DUNE
STORM RIDGE
BEIRA
1958-1960
1/50 O0 0
LEGEND
I~ BLUE-Stream network
1 BROWNISH ORANGE-Beach ridges
GREEN-Flooded area
r~l NON COLOR-MorIh-F wet lend
The beach from Macuti Lighthouse to Ponta Gea headland shows features of
an eroding beach with a southward littoral drift. The drifting trend was
inferred from bedform patterns in the runnels and on the top of the sand ridges
and from the vertical accretion of sediments close to the groynes. Erosion is
severe at Ponta Gea headland area, known as Grande Hotel (Fig. 3).
Increased coastal erosion as a result of future sea-level rise is modelled using
the Brunn rule (see Table 1, Fig. 4): 1°
SL
R
(h + B)
74 D. Chemane et al.
Fig. 3. Detailed view of the Grande Hotel area in the Ponta Gea headland. Increased erosion
has caused many infrastructures to collapse.
TABLE 1
Beach erosion predicted by the Brunn rule
0.2m 0.5m lm
Erosion (in m)
For S, scenarios of 0.2, 0.5 and 1 m increase in sea-level are assumed, the likely
response to global warming by 2025, 2080 and 2100, respectively. 11 The berm
height B is taken from the beach profiles (Fig. 5) and is between 1 and 4 m. The
maximum depth of closure h is taken as 18 and the distance to this depth, the
active profile width, is taken from the hydrographic chart (about 20 km).
Integrated coastal zone management 75
Fig. 4. Indiscriminate cutting of mangrove in intertidal flats is a common practice. The mud
pebbles and balls left behind on the surface are indicative of strong erosion.
In Beira, and several kilometres on either side along the coastal strip, the
prominent ridges appear to be not connected to each other. These ridges are
separated by low relief plains that extend backridge, with some of them
transected by several inlets. Taking into consideration this geomorphological
features the impacts of sea level rise for the different future scenarios men-
tioned above are discussed as follows.
Scenario 1: sea-level rise in 0.2 m by the year 2025. The coastal impacts in
response to this amount of sea-level rise will not differ from those observed
during the field survey, which coincided with the maximal predicted tidal
range of 7 m. The sea water spills over the sea wall onto the road and flow
through the fissures of the wall protecting the port pavement and this will be
more frequent in the future. The sea water will inundate the low relief marshes
which will openly connect to the sea following erosion of the existing beach
ridge beyond the sea wall. Waterlogging problems already exist and they are
expected to increase as well as the associated engineering problems, following
the gradual elevation of water tables.
Scenario 2: sea-level rise in 0.5 m by the year 2080. In addition to the above,
the remaining coastal ridges will be overwashed by waves and the low relief
76 ,9, Chemane et al,
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Integrated coastal zone management 77
plains inundated by sea water. Part of the town, including the port and
probably the airport, will be inundated at high tides during spring. Many
parts of the city already faces problems related to domestic waste disposal.
The waste is not removed but buried in the vicinity of the houses. So
environmental problems are expected to increase along with related health
problems.
Scenario 3: sea-level rise in 1 m by the year 2100. The same as for scenario
2 but more extensive. As a consequence, a kind of relief induced barrier islands
could be formed. It is estimated that 40% or around 42.5 km z of the total area
of the city will be permanently inundated. The navigation channel is likely to
be affected following the changes in water circulation and sediment distribu-
tion, with the groyne system submersed and no longer effective in preventing
the drifting of sediments into the navigation lane. While losing land by itself
could be accomodated by allowing for landward migration, the cost of losing
the existing infrastructure such as the airport and the port is simply huge and
the country's already fragile economy cannot afford it. If mitigation measures
are not taken timely and the port activities are suspended the economy of the
region will probably collapse as the port is the main driving force. More than
200000 people will be directly affected. In addition, not only the country's
economy but also of some neighbouring countries will be affected too. They
currently use the port for the export and import of commodities and crude.
The remaining options imply higher transportation costs which will inevitably
trigger a rise in prices, thus affecting even more people.
4. ICZM IN M O Z A M B I Q U E
the Parliament enacts the Environmental Law with the aim to guarantee that
all the activities related to the management of natural resources are under-
taken in a correct and coordinated way by all the stakeholder, starting from
the planning and decision-making level. Institutional arrangements have not
yet been set up for coastal area management, but studies for that purpose have
already been initiated. The Environmental Law is the umbrella law for all
environment-related aspects in the country.
On the legal side, the major step is the expected ratification of the Environ-
mental Law by the Parliament, which constitutes the first attempt to intro-
duce a new concept of the environment and a new vision and strategy for its
management, both for the institutions' activities and for the public awareness
in general. Due to the broad and general nature of this law, specific regula-
tions must be produced to address specific issues and needs. While formula-
ting national environmental legislation the country has adopted and ratified,
in the last few years, important international environmental conventions, such
as the Biological Diversity, Climate Change conventions, the Basel and the
Bamako Conventions and the Convention on Desertification.
In order to guarantee coherent, uniform and harmonized practices, the
process of legislation production is also being undertaken by a multisectoral
group coordinated by MICOA.
The main constraints in relation to the issue of coastal zone management
have been pointed out, some priority measures are herein proposed, both to
solve institutional organization problems as well as the gaps in the legal
framework.
areas. Activities like training local decision makers (governors, local adminis-
trators, stakeholder and others) are among the tasks to be implemented for the
improvement in the utilization of coastal resources.
Research and monitoring capacities will also be installed. The current
knowledge about the situation of the coastal resources and their potential and
development is rather sectoral (Forestry Department dealing with mangroves
and reserves, Fisheries Research Institute with commercial fisheries, etc.).
In order to build the capacity for the activities of Training, Research and
Monitoring of the coast, a Coastal Zone Management Centre in Xai-Xai is
considered of paramount importance. Among others, the Centre will entail
activities like research, survey and data collection, technical assistance to local
governments, promotion and implementation of popular awareness cam-
paigns, carry out short-term training courses on natural resource manage-
ment, conduct environmental impact assessment of development activities
within the region, promote and implement experimental and demonstrative
activities in the field of coastal natural resource management and sustainable
development, etc. 14
At this stage, funding from DANIDA (Danish International Development
Agency) is already in place for an experimental phase of two years, starting in
January 1997. Offices and a guest house are being built, equipment for
research and information will be purchased and a minimum staff (manager,
house keeping staff) will be recruited. Funding has also been made available
for training and research. A feasibility study shall be completed at the end of
the two-year period, which will lead to the construction of a larger infrastruc-
ture. Funds from the European Union, U N E P and SIDA/SAREC (Swedish
International Development Agency) have been pledged and shall be available
at short term, and are intended to support development and good practices
pilot-projects, demonstration projects, research and training. The present
work was funded by the US Country Studies Programme.
the centre will project and install two more research units in the coast of
Mozambique (one in the Central region, and other in the North).
Among the projects already being implemented, there are at least three
projects on coastal resources management by local communities, involving
funds from donors and local communities (one in the north, and two in the
south) worth together about 1.5 million dollars.
Other projects refer to the improvement of management practices on
coastal-urban areas (e.g. Mozambique island). Also, others were designed and
await in the pipeline for funding and they mainly address specific issues in
different parts of the coast, e.g. management of mangroves, rehabilitation of
coastal areas affected by erosion, as is the case of Beira and Nacala cities.
5. CONCLUSIONS
REFERENCES
Sayao, Octavio, Integrated coastal area management Plan For Xai-Xai, Mozam-
bique, Draft Report of The First Mission And Sectorial Report, Acqua Engineer-
ing Inc, 1995.
Integrated coastal zone management 83