KNOWLEDGE SHEET 4 P R O T E C T I N G T H E R E G I O N ’ S N AT U R A L R E S O U R C E S KNOWLEDGE SHEET 4 Protecting the Region’s Natural Resources T he West African coastal zone hosts critical natural resources and habitats that provide important ecosystem services. The area’s natural resources play vital roles in the functioning of the shoreline, providing natural protection against erosion, pollution, sea level rise, and extreme weather events. Coastal and marine ecosystems, including cold-water coral reefs, sea- grass meadows, mangrove forests, and coastal wetlands and lagoons, also provide indispensable ecosystem services for the fisheries sector, as spawning and nursery areas for fish. The region is home to thousands of species of animals FIGURE 1  Ecosystems provide many important and fish, including migratory birds that use the coast as a services feeding ground. More than 1,000 species of fish, several species of cetaceans, and five species of endangered marine turtles live off the West African coast. Challenges Many factors are contributing to the destruction and degradation of coastal and marine natural resources. The clearing of land, changes in land use, and the use of coastal forests for biomass, building material, and medicines—all of which hurt natural resources—are occurring at an alarming rate. The increasing frequency of natural hazards – severe and extreme weather and climate related events – also puts immense pressure on coastal resources, often resulting in tremendous losses in a very short period of time. West and Central Africa have lost 20–30 percent of their mangroves over the past 25 years (Wetlands International 2012). Guinea’s mangroves—one of the largest in the region—reportedly shrunk 37 percent between 1980 and 2012 (Giri and others 2011; UNEP 2007). This loss is a problem because a large proportion of fish species require a habitat that includes mangroves, cold-water coral reefs, and seagrasses to reproduce. Mangroves shoreline against storm surges, other extreme weather and coastal forests also play a key role in protecting the events, and rapid erosion. KNOWLEDGE SHEET 4 P R O T E C T I N G T H E R E G I O N ’ S N AT U R A L R E S O U R C E S In several countries, the reliance of the construction Pollution—caused by the dumping of solid waste, effluent sector on coastal sand mining activities is causing sig- from raw domestic and industrial waste, and eutrophication nificant damage along the coast, including loss of land, caused by agricultural run-off—is degrading wetlands, ecosystem degradation, loss of coastal vegetation, and mangroves, and coral reefs. Marine pollution, commer- erosion. Dams built to produce hydroelectric power and cial fishing practices, and hydrocarbon exploration and provide irrigation trap sediment upstream, reducing the production are degrading the extensive cold-water coral supply of sediment to the coasts. River systems, such as reefs in the archipelago of Cabo Verde. Hydrocarbon and the Senegal, Volta and Niger, play an important role in mineral mining and production are contributing significantly the ecosystems of West Africa, where many tributaries to the degradation of coastal and marine environments. enter the sea. The construction of dams, such as the Kindia and Konkouré dams in Guinea and the Akosombo Protection of these vital resources, from both natural and dam in Ghana, alter the water and sediment discharge, man-made risks, is key to the viability of economic activity reducing the sediment loads that reach the coast and on the coast, the protection of human settlements, and exacerbating erosion. the survival of many plant and animal species. Solutions A variety of interventions have proven successful in REFERENCES protecting coastal natural resources. They include the establishment of protected areas, the granting of Territorial Giri, C., E. Ochieng, L. L. Tieszen, Z. Zhu, A. Singh, T. Use Rights for Fisheries (TURFs), blue carbon trading, Loveland, J. Masek, and N. Duke. 2011. “Status and land use planning, regional environmental analysis, and Distribution of Mangrove Forests of the World Using strategic environmental assessment of major infrastructure Earth Observation Satellite Data.” Global Ecology and investments. Biogeography 20: 154–59. UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme). 2007. Recognition of the crucial role of natural resources such as Mangroves of Western and Central Africa. Report mangroves, coastal forests, and wetlands in disaster risk produced for UNEP-DEPI under the UNEP Biodiversity reduction is growing. Rehabilitation of mangrove forests Related Projects in Africa. http://www.unep.org/ and other forms of green infrastructure—as a stand-alone regionalseas/publications/otherpubs/pdfs/Mangroves_ solution or in tandem with traditional infrastructure (often of_Western_and_Central_Africa.pdf. referred to as “grey infrastructure”)—can help reduce disaster risk and improve coastal management. It is often Wetlands International. 2012. Mangroves and Coastal much less expensive than grey infrastructure (WRI 2012). Conservation. http://africa.wetlands.org/Whatwedo/ Mangrovescoasts/tabid/2943/language/en-GB/Default The destruction and degradation of coastal natural .aspx resources has transboundary impacts. Joint efforts are WRI (World Resources Institute). 2012. Green vs. Gray therefore needed to develop win-win solutions. Regional Infrastructure: When Nature Is Better than Concrete. collaboration and integrated decision making on the part http://www.wri.org/blog/2012/06/green-vs-gray of West African coastal countries is paramount if long-term, -infrastructure-when-nature-better-concrete. viable solutions are to be identified and implemented. The West Africa Coastal Areas Management Program (WACA) is a convening platform that aims to assist West African countries to sustainably manage their coastal areas and enhance socio-economic resilience to the effects of climate change. The program also seeks to facilitate access to technical expertise and financial resources for participating countries. www.worldbank.org/waca 3/2016