Community stabilises cliff slopes to safe their village from landslides and coastal erosion

Basic info

Hazard: Landslide, Coastal Erosion

Nature-based Solution: Live pole drain, live ground anchors, high density planting, live crib wall, brush layer

How it started

Starting point: individual

First approaches:

Getting started: I moved to this village not so long time ago and I wasn’t aware of the local hazards by the time I moved here. Actually, my neighbour told me about these local challenges and risks of the houses built along the cliffs. Since it also might affect my house, I was immediately willing to join them.

Finding (Nature-based) Solutions

Selecting a solution: We started searching online for possible solutions. Also, one of our community is a geologist and could support us at first. But after getting in contact with the university and Naturalea, we had a good selection of possible solutions.

Assessing needs: We had a long list of equipment and needed to consider which is feasible and low-cost.

Co-creation – Finding collaborators

Collaboration: We contacted the University of Glasgow and the Glasgow Caledonian University and also Naturalea as experts in planting vegetation for stabilization.

When: During the entire project

Financial Support

Before: Financial support was difficult to get and the equipment we needed was not as cheap as we thought it might be. Through the university, we got engaged in the OPERANDUM project which could support the NBS implementation.

After: We are still in the middle of the project but as expected the vegetation will start growing and so the slopes will be stabilised

Beyond the project

After the project: This means that if everything goes as expected we won’t need further funding

Overall Experience: We are very excited about the great collaboration and that we managed with our community to take action.

Lessons Learnt: Covid-19 was delaying the implementation of the NBS.

Best Practice: Once you know about a hazard in your area that might affect yourself go and talk to your neighbours. Collaboration with the universities and Naturalea was super helpful!

Narrator's Details

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