KNOWLEDGE SHEET 8C | POLITICAL  A D A PTATI ON TO RISK KNOWLEDGE SHEET 8C | POLITICAL Governments’ role in Safeguarding the West African Coasts from Climate Change Engaging Public Institutions on Safeguarding West African Coasts from Climate Change. Population figures in West Africa showing the high population density in the Coastal regions (source: USGS 2015) • Environmental conditions of the coastal regions • Agricultural production in West Africa accounts in West Africa continue to deteriorate steadily, for up to 35% of the region’s GDP and employs in part due to rapid population growth and 60% of the workforce. It is mainly rain fed coastal migration and the unsustainable use agriculture with only about 4 percent of the of natural resources total agricultural land irrigated. Flooding from coastal sea level rise will threaten the agricul- • Projected increase of flooding in low and coastal tural production as well as the communities areas, which are already undergoing erosion, situated on the coast. might severely impact marine ecosystems and coastal livelihoods 1 KNOWLEDGE SHEET 8C | POLITICAL  A D A PTATI ON TO RISK Challenges • Uncontrolled and spontaneous use of coastal land due to unclear land tenure and lack of The West African coastal region suffers from political and regulation governance challenges to effectively safeguard coastal resilience: • The construction of hard engineering solutions • A lack of enforcement of existing regulations in coastal requires detailed planning (for example in zone management. Ghana the construction of immovable structures within the shoreline zone prone to inundation • The need for coordinated mechanisms of monitoring was not sufficiently planned out) climate change risks. • Development of institutional and individual • A lack of design and implementation of zoning regula- capacities for addressing the geophysical and tions that can protect the local populations in coastal socio-economic aspects of coastal vulnerability areas that are sensitive to rising sea levels. is key to promoting coastal resilience. • The increasing demand for hydrocarbon extraction in coastal regions of Mauritania, Côte d’Ivoire and Ghana leads to localised sea-level rise (land sink), increased coastal erosion and increased pollution risk. Poor plan- The coastal areas of West Africa represent 31% of the ning and regulation enforcement of these extraction region’s population and accounts for 56% of the region’s activities presents a serious risk for human-induced GDP (World Bank, 2016). These coasts host major cities, changes both at the coastal region and upstream. This ports, agro-industries, fisheries, off-shore petroleum trend will, in the long term, concern the entire West exploration and production. An estimated sea level rise African coastline. of 1m by 2100 could inundate 1,120 km2 of land putting an estimated 113 million people at risk in West Africa Potential Solutions (UN, 2015). The cost of protecting all densely populated shorelines at risk with seawalls and groins across the West Regional and international policy and programmes’ best Africa region was estimated at US$1.14 billion in 2008 practices have demonstrated that specific actions can be (IISD, 2008)..However as erosion worsens an increasing taken to bring about significant changes and increase number of defense systems need to be built such as the dramatically the resilience of coastal areas to climate two-phase US$ 246 million Ada Foah Coastal Defense change, such as: project in Ghana (2017) or the US$ 35 million coastline • Integrated regional coastal zone management: At fixation project in Cotonou Benin (2014) (Oirere 2016). national level, countries can include climate change and Poor choices regarding the location of infrastructure and adaptation issues into national coastal zone manage- breakwaters, limited environmental regulation, and human- ment policies and initiatives. These can then be unified induced pollution, coupled with population pressures and with national programs from neighboring countries to form cross-boarder programs. In Ghana, which can overexploitation of coastal natural resources, have led to be considered a forerunner of strengthened national rapid degradation of coastal ecosystems that in turn further policy and programs, the Government has developed exacerbates the effects of climate change. However, a five District ICM Toolkits, a number of technical studies growing number of decision makers have taken action and training events. These fed into policy proposal, as by introducing environmentally sound risk management well as practical work in coastal districts. policies, initiatives and legislation that take into account prevention and management of the coastal region to • Coastal protection and management of natural demonstrate that climate impacts at coastal regions are coastal ecosystems: better protection measures and reversible. For instance the Mangrove Charter for West management, coupled with better spatial planning Africa that is in place to protect and rehabilitate all of West of cities and infrastructure in West Africa, will help to alleviate risks related to sea level rise. Africa’s mangroves. As well as the Strategic Program for Vulnerability Reduction and Adaptation to Climate Change • Improved national land reforms: the process of land in West Africa whose overall objective is to develop and reforms in West Africa began 20 years ago, with vary- strengthen resilience in the West Africa to address climate ing degrees of progress and success. Participatory change and extreme weather events by 2030. approaches are needed to take better account of the 2 KNOWLEDGE SHEET 8C | POLITICAL  A D A PTATI ON TO RISK Coastline Fixation To Prevent Erosion From Siafato
 To Cotonou East. Photo: Boskalis International complexity of rights and actors involved. Land policy EXAMPLES OF BEST PRACTICE must be addressed from a regional and cross-border viewpoint in order to better integrate common prob- lems linked to the management of shared natural The international case study in Argentina shows the resources (drainage basins), transhumance livestock benefits of producing roadmaps for policy design production and displaced populations, etc. and monitoring and the power of participatory • Improved national and regional mangrove man- approaches to bring about sustainable solutions. agement and restoration: Togo, for example, has implemented the National Action Plan for Mangrove Mar del Plata is the third largest urban city/area Conservation, including an inventory of mangroves of the Buenos Aires Province in Argentina. It species, a reforestation program, conversation of is a harbour city that has a total population of endangered species, ecotourism and a program of 600,000 inhabitants. The city has a predominantly regional cooperation. This Action Plan has resulted tourist profile, in that the population doubles in the awareness of nearly 2500 local stakeholders on in the summer season coupled with the recent the need of sustainable management of mangroves; development of a fishing industry, Mar del 1200 local stakeholders capacity built in sustainable Plata has been converted into one of the main management of mangroves based on Farmer Field fishing ports in Argentina. The demand for water School methodology; The creation of 10 local networks increases considerably in the summer season in 10 villages and the creation of the National Forum due to tourism. There is an overexploitation of on Mangroves amongst others (ANCE-Togo. n.d) the aquifer under the current structure of water extraction for domestic, commercial and industrial • Identification and prioritization of hotspots for coastal use whereby the municipal management faces a erosion: For instance in Côte d’Ivoire, a hotspot scoping serious problem of water resources management. exercise helped to identify the most vulnerable areas Storm water drainage discharges into the sea, to coastal erosion and to plan activities accordingly. which affects the water quality at the beaches • Hard and soft engineering solutions: The implemen- and the ocean, which consequently affects tation of hard (breakwaters etc) and soft (dune resto- recreation, fishing and tourism. Flooding during the ration etc) engineering solutions. For example, the $85 rainy season coupled with insufficient vegetation million (USD) Ghana Keta beach stabilization project cover, causes soil erosion resulting in sediment for reclamation and flood control was implemented build-up in the wastewater network, which to restore and stabilize a severely eroded portion of then does not function efficiently. Sea-level rise the Ghana coastline. 3 KNOWLEDGE SHEET 8C | POLITICAL  A D A PTATI ON TO RISK coupled with overexploitation of the aquifer has • Improve access to environmental information resulted in saltwater intrusion in the confined to the local public. aquifers and coastal erosion. To help solve these • To develop a cost-benefit analysis of the dif- climate change related issues, local stakeholders ferent water treatment alternatives to enable were brought together for the first time under high-level decision making on the best eco- the WaterClima LAC project, to implement collaborative agreements to develop systems to nomically and socially viable solution. share and communicate projections of threats These actions contributed to a road map and an and local climatic events (EU Project WaterClima action plan agreements that have improved the LAC). The local actors have agreed to: coordination at local level to climate response • Encourage inter-sectorial cooperation for the including the local communities, business operators management of water resources. and policy makers that have came together to solve • To develop an integrated system to share and their common problem. Strengthening integrated communicate projections and threats and multidisciplinary and participatory approaches for small-scale climate events. enhanced coastal management will help improve • Design Inclusive water management systems the prospects for sustaining coastal resources and through participatory processes. communities. REFERENCES • ANCE-Togo. n.d. Sustainable mangroves conservation • Oirere, Shem. 2016. “West Africa Seeks Growth with project. Retrieved 2017 from http://ancetogo.org/ Less Cost to Its Coast.” Fairplay. Retrieved 2017 en/sustainable-mangroves-conservation-project/ (https://fairplay.ihs.com/dredging/article/4260561/ west-africa-seeks-growth-with-less-cost-to-its-coast). • Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the • United Nations. 2015. World Population Prospects United Nations. 2015. Agricultural Growth in West https://esa.un.org/Unpd/wpp/Publications/Files/ Africa. http://www.fao.org/3/0f8b3750-6734-4d0c- Key_Findings_WPP_2015.pdf a69d-d0f5c4c77e53/i4337e.pdf • World Health Organisation (WHO). 2014. WHO • IISD (International Institute for Sustainable global health expenditure atlas http://www.who.int/ Development). 2008. Assessing the security implica- health-accounts/atlas2014.pdf tions of climate change for West Africa: Country case • World Bank (WHO), 2016: Supporting Africa’s Climate studies of Ghana and Burkina Faso. https://www.iisd. Change Agenda. http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/ org/pdf/2008/security_implications_west_africa.pdf en/128961452593217408/20160113-TICAD-Jamal.pdf 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 4