Strengthening Flood Resilience in Data-Sparse Agricultural Regions: A Planning Approach for Coastal Guyana

Coastal Guyana concentrates most of the country’s population and agricultural production in low-lying polder landscapes that are increasingly exposed to flooding from intense rainfall, sea-level rise, and deterioration of drainage and irrigation infrastructure. Engineering design and resilience planning in these settings are often constrained by limited hydrometric monitoring (discharge, water levels), incomplete documented drainage network, and restricted access to institutional datasets. This paper presents the value of using a low-information framework for flood resilience planning and preliminary hydraulic design in data-sparse agricultural regions, using the 364 km² part of Guyana’s Mahaica–Mahaicony catchment as a case study. The framework integrates (i) rainfall frequency analysis from long-term gauge records, (ii) remote sensing and global datasets (DEM and land-use/land-cover) to delineate sub-basins and screen flood impact, (iii) simplified runoff and volume-based drainage calculations consistent with rice-field storage and saturated soils, and (iv) structured stakeholder engagement to identify flood-prone areas, operational constraints, and feasible interventions. Six-sub-basins are used for developing a routing strategy to distribute runoff volumes and to explicitly incorporate upstream detention in the wetlands, thereby reducing peak flows conveyed northward through constrained canal corridors. High-level drainage canals, dedicated conveyance paths for critical sub-basins, and dual-purpose drains supporting both drainage and irrigation storage are used to determine preliminary cross-section designs, which are then assessed with 1D hydraulic modelling under tidal boundary conditions. The approach supports phased investment planning that improves flood safety, protects livelihoods, and increases agricultural reliability while aligning with national adaptation priorities.