Dr. Carlo Elisca S. CEROME
Consultant - Urban Management Specialist Maritime Service and Navigation, Haiti
Title: The impact of Sargassum on integrated coastal zone management in the Great South of Haiti
Biography
Biography: Dr. Carlo Elisca S. CEROME
Abstract
This article reflects on the impact of Sargassum on integrated coastal zone management in Haiti. It highlights the various local researches on invasive species in general, especially “the Sargassum seaweed”. In terms of purpose, it would emphasize the misdeeds of Sargassum seaweed on the tourist industry, fisheries, and the health of the population. This article offers a new understanding of coastal risks. While the natural dynamics gives coasts intrinsic mobility and, in most cases, a downward trend towards the lands, the evolution of human facilities obeys an inverse logical progression towards the sea and coastline resolution. The combination of strong "natural" hazards and stakes concentrated in a small area creates a great vulnerability on the coastal strip. Haiti, with its 1771 km of coastline and being an island crossed by seismic fault is a high risk territory. I intend to present a model to better approach the integrated coastal zone management at high risk. This model is based on statements made to restore and protect coastal tourist place called "Camp-Louis" dilapidated after the earthquake of January 12, 2010. This intervention is a pilot project that could be applied in the management of the risks of coastal erosion in countries with a coastline that are overgrown with seaweed Sargassum.