5 MARCH 2015
While beaches undergo a natural cycle of erosion and deposition over time, many beaches can erode and not recover, causing loss in island land area and beach width. In Kiribati, most of Abaiang atoll's sand beaches have been eroding, and this may be partly due to human impacts such as pigs tied to beach edge trees, trampling of beach vines and seedlings, and sand mining.
SPREP has developed a community guide for "Coastal Ecosystem-based Rehabilitation", which explains how to assess beach condition, decide on actions needed, and how to do rehabilitation. Methods include community education on beach values and damage, access control to allow vegetation recovery, beach vegetation planting, and brush barrier protection.
Source: SPREP