From eroding coastline to depleted fish stocks, the effects of climate change are being felt along West Africa’s coast and governments and environmental groups are coming together to talk about what can be done to mitigate its impact.
The ocean breaking on southern Senegal’s coastline does not look much different from any other beach. But a closer a look at the Palmarin peninsula, reveals a different story, uprooted palm trees mark eroded coastlines and vestiges of buildings mark where a village was washed away two decades ago.
An island visible from the tip of Palmarin used to be connected to the peninsula, but rising waters and a tidal wave in 1987 separated the two with the gap getting wider and deeper with each year, according to local residents.
A master’s student working at the World Wildlife Fund in Senegal, Annika O’Dea, says Palmarin’s coast serves as just one example of how climate change has affected the ecosystems of West Africa.
“This ecosystem is more important than many because it is one of the most productive marine ecosystems in the world, because of the upwelling of the Canary currents,” said O’Dea. “And because it is an interconnected ecosystem, it really requires international cooperation.”
Seven countries along West Africa’s coast, including Senegal, Mauritania, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde, gathered for a USAID-funded conference this month, the first of three scheduled, to discuss and compare climate-change concerns in the region.
A WWF coordinator in Gambia, Ibrahima Mat Dia, explained on a field trip for participants about one village in Palmarin called Kad Diakhanor that will eventually have to move due to encroaching waters.
“This village has to be relocated somewhere else, but for the community, there are not enough facilities over there, they do no want to move,” said Dia.
Sierra Leone Environmental Protection Agency Director Kolleh Bangura says he sees similar situations in his country.
“I also look at Sierra Leone and Senegal having very similar problems,” said Bangura. “Part of the problem, are trans-boundary problems, which you have to sort of approach on a regional basis. What is happening on the coastline is not entirely the making of the Senegal.”