Enhancing resilience against floods in the Lower Motowoh community, Limbe, Southwest Cameroon

Abstract

Purpose Floods and landslide threats were addressed under the Frontline process in the city of Limbe, Southwestern Cameroon. The purpose of this paper is to present actions undertaken through building local community resilience to floods which are a major threat in the city, with impacts on the local community ranging from death to complete destruction of services and livelihoods. Design/methodology/approach The actions carried out were informed by the GNDR-supported Frontline survey conducted in 2015 in which the Lower Motowoh community rated floods as an important threat. A series of reflection and learning sessions with the community members was carried out to better understand the problem. Scoping studies on the causes and extent of floods along river Njengele were undertaken by GEADIRR and the community team. Findings The findings of this paper indicated that the main problem resulted from river channel blockage caused by indiscriminate dumping of refuse into the waterway and sediment deposition from upstream. Further reflection and action planning led to preparatory meetings between GEADIRR and ten community leaders. The unanimous action adopted was to dredge the river. Dredging was carried out in late April and early May of 2016 using a hired bulldozer. Social implications Follow-up shows that after many years of misery from floods, often associated with the loss of loved ones and property, about 500 community residents who benefited from the action did not go through this dreadful ordeal again during the rains of 2016 and 2017. People are currently rebuilding on the reclaimed land which was previously abandoned due to flooding. Originality/value Current challenges include changing the mindset of community members about the adverse effects of indiscriminate dumping of household waste into the waterway. It was also a big challenge convincing some members of the community who felt that floods are a natural phenomenon unstoppable by man.

Stakeholders’ Perception of the Triggering Mechanisms and Determinants of Flooding in Limbe, South West Region of Cameroon

“…The factors such as soil type, drainage conditions, human encroachment on the river channel were perceived to be triggering mechanisms but of a lesser extent. These findings are in line with those of Buh [2], Buh [3], and Buh and Aka [10].…”

“…The anthropogenic factors on the other hand included: increasing population, deforestation, human encroachment on river channel, inadequacy / narrowness of drains, reclamation and draining of wetlands, uncontrolled waste disposal and poor urban governance. These findings are in line with those of Buh [3], Lambi [5], Fogwe [6], Kometa and Lambi [9], Buh and Aka [10] and Mosima [11].…”

An Overview of Flood Risk Analysis Methods

“…Numerous methodologies that are presented as a novelty are not found in the current practical activity, as there is no validation of them in real-case scenarios. Some national organizations do not have the technical and economic support to implement such methods in their current activity [129][130][131][132][133][134][135]. Research into the effectiveness of the methods presented in the published articles and their implementation in the current applications of the profile organizations should also be encouraged by giving the minimum requirements of IT infrastructure (hardware and software), professional training, and access to specialized databases.…”

The Urban Data Justice Case Study Collection

“…Initial disinterest from local government and resistance from some community members were influenced by the visible actions and the resulting reclamation of low-lying land which was now habitable and led eventually to greater community participation and government support. The process of data gathering and presentation therefore triggered an iterative process engaging both community and government (Wong and Aka, 2019) Kiribati the activity led to establishment of multi-stakeholder partnerships capable of organising mangrove restoration and other risk reduction activities. In Malawi a respondent cited the benefits of action focused on local priorities as a contrast to the more usual project-based activities defined by external funders.…”