2.13 - Trinidad And Tobago Flashcards
What is a SID?
Small Island Developing state
How much of Trinidads population live or works on the coast?
70%
When do winter storms occur?
Nov-Apr
- have higher swell waves
What direction does the wind come from?
NE-SW
- East coast beaches are subject to southerly LSD
- Thus have highest erosion rates (Coco Bay and Guyaguayare Bay)
What happened in 2014 at Manzanilla beach?
- Coastal flooding along 20km of beach
- 300m of main access road was destroyed
- cut off access to SE
- cost £5m to repair
What is the geology of the Trinidad coastline?
- Low grade metamorphic rock
- weak sandstone and alluvial deposits
Where is the oil industry based in Trinidad?
Guayaguayare
- main source of GDP and exports
What is the SLR per year?
0.06m
What is the erosion rate at Guayaguayare Bay
0.63m/year
Where do most people live on Trinidad?
Mayaro
- Beachfront properties are valued at £700k
How many tourists visited Trinidad last year?
400,000
- desirable beach location
- growing eco-tourism industry
What is the main economic threat posed by the high erosion rates?
- Trinidad is dependant on petrochemical industry
- all major natural gas pipelines come to shore at Guayaguayare and then onto rest of island
- infrastructure losses are harder to cope with due to smaller economies of scale on SIDs
How import is oil to Trinidads economy?
Forms 40% of GDP
80% of exports
How could erosion affect tourism?
Nesting sites for leatherback turtles could be lost
- are an attraction for tourists
Manzanilla beach could be destroyed
- loss of tourism and hospitality industry
What are the potential social losses due to erosion?
- cash crop plantations could be lost - loss of livelihood
- value of beachfront properties can decrease, may lead to breaking up of communities if they relocate
- individual management attempts further up coast can negatively affect communities down the beach - tension