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DiagnosticDiagnostic 4 FOR THE WEST AFRICAN COASTAL AREA THEWESTAFRICANFOR COASTAL REGIONAL SHORELINE MONITORING MONITORING SHORELINE REGIONAL STUDY AND DRAWING UP OF A UPOF STUDY ANDDRAWING REGIONAL DIAGNOSTIC MANAGEMENT SCHEME 2010 REGIONAL SHORELINE MONITORING STUDY AND DRAWING UP OF A MANAGEMENT SCHEME FOR THE WEST AFRICAN COASTAL AREA The regional study for shoreline monitoring and drawing up a development scheme for the West African coastal area was launched by UEMOA as part of the regional programme to combat coastal erosion (PRLEC – UEMOA), the subject of Regulation 02/2007/CM/UEMOA, adopted on 6 April 2007. This decision also follows on from the recommendations from the Conference of Ministers in charge of the Environment dated 11 April 1997, in Cotonou. The meeting of Ministers in charge of the environment, held on 25 January 2007, in Cotonou (Benin), approved this Regional coastal erosion programme in its conclusions. This study is implemented by the International Union for the IUCN, International Union for Conservation of Nature (UICN) as part of the remit of IUCN’s Marine Conservation of Nature, helps the and Coastal Programme (MACO) for Central and Western Africa, the world find pragmatic solutions to coordination of which is based in Nouakchott and which is developed our most pressing environment as a thematic component of IUCN’s Programme for Central and and development challenges. It supports scientific research, Western Africa (PACO), coordinated from Ouagadougou. manages field projects all over the world and brings governments, UEMOA is the contracting owner of the study, in this instance non-government organizations, through PRLEC – UEMOA coordination of the UEMOA United Nations agencies, Commission. The work has been carried out under the supervision of: companies and local communities together to develop and implement policy, laws and best The PRLEC1-UEMOA Regional Steering Committee set practice. up to improve the orientation of the different projects and oversee their diligent and efficient execution. This is presided IUCN is the world’s oldest and over by the State, which holds the presidency of the Council of largest global environmental Ministers of UEMOA. network - a democratic membership union with more than 1,000 government and NGO The PRLEC- UEMOA Regional Scientific Committee, member organizations, and established with a view to assisting the UEMOA Commission almost 11,000 volunteer scientists in validating the technical and scientific contents of projects in more than 160 countries. initiated within the framework of the implementation of PRLEC. This committee also expresses a technical and scientific opinion on all the reports drawn up within the framework of the implementation of this programme. Overall direction: Malick Diallo, UEMOA, Director of the Environment and of Water. Papa Goumba Lo, President of the Regional Scientific Committee of UEMOA Regional Programme to combat Coastal Erosion. Overall coordination: Mathieu Ducrocq, IUCN, marine and coastal Programme Regional Coordinator for Central and West Africa: Technical and editing coordination: Jean-Jacques Goussard – EOS.D2C / EAM-GEOME 1 Programme to combat Coastal Erosion, UEMOA (West African Economic and Monetary Union). 1 REGIONAL SHORELINE MONITORING STUDY AND DRAWING UP OF A MANAGEMENT SCHEME FOR THE WEST AFRICAN COASTAL AREA REGIONAL MANAGEMENT SCHÉME - REGIONAL DIAGNOSTIC SUMMARY What the coastal players have to say …… Penda M’Béga, daughter-in-law of the village chief, Saly-Poste: "We were strongly affected by the destruction of our palaver tree, the baobab, during the last rainy season." Baboucar Diom, Village Chief, Saly-Poste (translated from Wolof): "I was born here and I grew up here. The damage we had this year was unprecedented. The sea has been advancing gradually for a long time, but it had never destroyed homes before. This year (during the last rainy season) four houses were destroyed, including one of mine. When I was a child, we had to walk a long way – like from here to the Fram hotel (ml: 200 to 300 metres) to reach the sea." Mamadou Pouye, village chief, Saly-Nakhniakhal (translated form Wolof): "Before the sea moved a lot, we had a house we had to give up in 1985 to move to higher ground. It is still there but there is no room round about it to leave our canoes. At Saly-Niakhniakhal, our village-district, there wasn’t much damage because it’s further from the sea than Saly-Poste, for example. I have been the village chief for over thirty years. In the past, the sea never came as high up as that. Our grandfathers couldn’t have imagined that this would happen. I remember in 1939, when my father came here to build this village, you had to walk 800 m to reach the beach. Today that has all gone; you have to build as high up as possible." Mamadou Diarra, Rural Community of Malikunda: "We have had major problems with the sea level rising. In one coastal village: the sandbag dykes built in 2002 by the villagers were destroyed by the waves. At Baling too we have problems. This site is a rehabilitated village. It used to be called ‘Tropical’ and was a leprosy centre. The damage has been to property: the market was destroyed. The main cause is the lack of drains. During the drought years, people built anywhere, in particular in areas that were flood-prone but this was not visible because of the drought. People built homes there without digging drains, without thinking about making the area viable. When the rains returned, these areas were flooded or destroyed." Christophe Diouf, village chief, Palmarin Facao: "Right next to here, there used to be dunes 3 m high that the sea has eroded and eliminated. When I was young (I’m around fifty years old today) we practiced sport, went for walks and played on the dunes. Today, the beach is right on the edge of the village. Erosion is the biggest environmental problem we have here. I fear for the future, of course, because we have coastal erosion on one side and river erosion on the other (the first is responsible for the second)." Jean-Paul Guillon, Djidjack tourist camp, Palmarin: "This year, here, the sea has risen a lot more than in previous years: approximately ten metres more." Cécile Sar, nurse, who lives in Palmarin: "The sea rising is terrible. When I was little there were lots of trees between the village and the sea. Now the sea is right at the edge» These quotations were taken from the report on how coastal erosion is perceived in Senegal, produced by Marie-Laure de Noray Dardenne within the framework of the SDLAO study. 2 REGIONAL SHORELINE MONITORING STUDY AND DRAWING UP OF A MANAGEMENT SCHEME FOR THE WEST AFRICAN COASTAL AREA REGIONAL MANAGEMENT SCHÉME - REGIONAL DIAGNOSTIC SUMMARY ABBREVIATIONS ANCORIM Atlantic Network for Coastal Risk Management CDC-ST Coastal drift current – sediment transport CILSS Comité Inter Etats pour la Lutte contre la Sécheresse au Sahel – Inter-state committee for combating drought in the Sahel DEM Digital elevation model ECOWAS Economic Community of West African States GCLME Guinea Current Large Marine Ecosystem GHG Greenhouse gas MEA Multilateral Environmental Agreements OMVG Gambia River Basin Development Organization OMVS Senegal River Basin Development Organization PRCLEC Regional Coastal Erosion Control Programme (UEMOA) RAMPAO Network of West African marine protected areas SRTM Shuttle Radar Terrain Model SSA Sub-Saharan Africa SWAC Sahel and West Africa Club UEMOA West African Economic and Monetary Union UNEP United Nations Environment Programme IUCN International Union for the Conservation of Nature WA West Africa WALTPS West Africa Long-Term Perspective Study 3 REGIONAL SHORELINE MONITORING STUDY AND DRAWING UP OF A MANAGEMENT SCHEME FOR THE WEST AFRICAN COASTAL AREA REGIONAL MANAGEMENT SCHÉME - REGIONAL DIAGNOSTIC SUMMARY TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 7 2. WEST AFRICAN COASTAL AREA: THE CAUSES OF THE FRAGILITY .................... 9 Which types of sediment supply? ...................................................................................................................9 An entity composed mainly of soft and dynamic coastal areas ......................................................................9 A relatively “defenceless” coastal area .........................................................................................................10 The continental shelf .....................................................................................................................................11 A regional sediment legacy that is redistributed and shared within the large hydrosedimentary compartments ...............................................................................................................................................11 Coastal facies and profiles ............................................................................................................................12 3. COASTAL BIODIVERSITY: THE COMMON LEGACY OF THE COASTAL STATES . 14 Dense Guinea-Congolese forest ..................................................................................................................15 Sea turtles and coastal erosion ....................................................................................................................18 Conservation and natural infrastructure .......................................................................................................18