Staunching the flow: St. Kitts and Nevis’ Fight to Keep its Soil

(United Nations Environment Programme) When you are a small island nation, every inch of space counts. But from rising sea levels to natural disasters and coastal erosion, in the age of climate change many islands are shrinking before their citizens’ very eyes.

Amongst those most at risk is the twin-island federation of St. Kitts and Nevis. Set in the Lesser Antilles, St Kitts and Nevis is threatened by both by sea level rise and the region’s increasingly frequent and severe hurricanes.

But while the most visible threat to the island nation might be due to headline-making natural disasters, a less obvious enemy is slowly eating away at the islands from within – soil erosion.

The enemy within

St. Kitts and Nevis’ mountainous terrain is largely made up of sandy loam, cut through with ‘ghauts’ – narrow, deep gullies that deliver rainwater down the slopes. While the ghauts play a key role in maintaining the islands’ forest ecosystems, they are also ideal channels for eroding soil – and shifting land use, coupled with a lack of soil conservation measures, has resulted in acute erosion around the Federation.

Read more at: United Nations Environment Programme