Title: Enduring Geohazards in the Caribbean: Moving from the Reactive to the Proactive
Edited by: Serwan M.J. Baban
Publisher: University of the West Indies Press
Reviewer: Barbara Nelson

The book, Enduring Geohazards in the Caribbean: Moving from the Reactive to the Proactive, is a scholarly work useful for both undergraduate and postgraduate students who are interested in geohazards and geohazards management, geographical information science, remote sensing, engineering, geography, geology, hydrology, environmental science and management.

It is a compact overview of flooding and landslides in the region and offers the best approaches and technologies for managing them to decision makers in government, industry and commerce.

Editor Serwan M.J. Baban says, "Its objective is to contribute, in a small way, to promoting awareness among academics, geohazard specialists, users and policymakers, of the nature and extent of geohazards-associated problems and of the range of possible solutions to manage floods and landslides in a sustainable fashion."

Serwan Baban is professor of environmental geoinformatics, head of the School of Environmental Science and Management, and director of the Centre for Geoinformatics Research and Environmental Assessment Technology, Southern Cross University, Australia. He was formerly a professor and research coordinator for the Centre for Caribbean Land and Environmental Appraisal Research at the UWI, St Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago.

The geography, climate and weather conditions, limited physical size, finite natural resources, dependence on agriculture, tourism and high population densities concentrated in hillsides and flood plains are common characteristics of states in the Caribbean. These characteristics make them vulnerable to geohazards.

Economic development

The region is going through rapid economic development with a fast rate of urbanisation, population growth and questionable agricultural practices, development that has led to floods, landslides, deforestation, soil erosion and extinction of many animal and plant species.

Baban suggests that a more rigorous approach to geohazards research is needed in the region. It would enable scientific coordination and agreement and allow for conclusive management approaches to emerge and be implemented. This would replace the selective and reactive project-based research used thus far.

The transformation, however, has been hampered by the lack of an effective and reliable information base. There is an absence of a national data depository for hazard events where the events can be recorded and quantified for post-analysis.

The book originated from the regional workshop 'Enduring Geohazards (Landslides and Floods) in the Caribbean Region', held in the Learning Resource Centre at the UWI, St Augustine, Trinidad, in 2004. The meeting brought together experts from the Caribbean region to discuss geohazard issues and problems and to intensify efforts towards a coordinated approach to manage them. There are also invited contributions made by experts from the Caribbean and worldwide.

Strategies identified

Among the strategies identified to handle geohazards in the region were the need to develop holistic and scientifically based management approaches, identify and map critical slopes using early warning systems, as well as using new technologies such as remote sensing and geographic information systems.

Chapter 1: In 'Enduring Landslides and Floods in the Caribbean Region', Angella Cropper suggests that the Caribbean region could better manage its vulnerability to the effects of such events by building its resilience, preparedness and adaptation. She proposes some approaches to this and suggests that these may be the most fruitful areas for intervention in preparing the region for 'enduring' geohazards. Cropper is assistant secretary general and deputy executive director for the United Nations Environment Programme in Nairobi, Kenya.

Sections one to three

There are four chapters in Section 1 - Landslides. Section two (Chapters 6-9) deals with Floods. Section three is titled 'Geohazards Management' and has five chapters.

In Chapter 8, Rafi Ahmad, head of the Unit for Disaster Studies in the Department of Geography and Geology, UWI, Mona, uses Jamaican examples to show that debris floods and debris flows are pervasive in small and steep channels throughout the Caribbean. "Debris flows and debris floods are commonly misidentified as water floods, and it has been shown that many of the recent disastrous flood events in the Caribbean were sediment flows rather than water floods as commonly assumed."

The writer aims "to encourage the decision to make the necessary provisions for sediment flows as in a majority of cases … it is the deposition of sediment rather than water that leads to death and destruction."