coastal erosion - The African Mirror

Nov

2023

By LOUCOUMANE COULIBALY and MEDIA COULIBALY

Ivory Coast tourist haven battles coastal erosion and rogue waves

ON a shrinking strip of beach in southeast Ivory Coast, hotel owner Habib Hassan Nassar has to stack thousands of sandbags each week to protect his property from the rising sea. Thanks to the metres-high sandbag barricade, the Kame Surf Camp hotel clings to its section of beach in the resort of Assinie, even as the waves hem the hotel in on three sides and, in a recent surge, devastated the businesses of its neighbours. "Frankly, I am exhausted," said Nassar, 50, who first came to the area as a child when this stretch of beach on the Gulf of…

Jul

2022

By The African Mirror

Senegalese island keeps coastal erosion at bay with stakes in the sand

ENVIRONMENT

NGOUDA DIONE SIMPLE wooden structures padded with coconut tree fronds are helping residents of Diogue island in southern Senegal to win back stretches of sandy beach from the Atlantic swells that threaten much of the West African coast. In some areas, half-submerged tree stumps and crumbling abandoned buildings show the impact of the waves - and the ongoing degradation of coastline, where 56% of West Africa's economic activity is generated and around a third of its population live, according to the World Bank. "The ocean was so far away that we used to hear it without seeing it," said Angele…

Apr

2021

By The African Mirror

Trust and coast eroded, Indian fishing hamlet boycotts polls

WORLD

ANURADHA NAGARAJ PETITIONS, protest and hunger strikes failed so this week hundreds of Indian families used their vote to highlight the coastal erosion and flooding that is swallowing their village. An estimated 7,000 voters boycotted Tuesday's local elections, saying there was no point in voting since government never listens nor fulfils its pledges to protect their fast-shrinking corner of southern Kerala. "We have written petitions, talked to officials, gone on hunger strike and every year the worsening coastal flooding and its impact on our lives is there for everyone to see," said Thushar Nirmal Sarathy, a resident and lawyer. "The…