West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use FACULTY OF ARTS AND HUMANITIES DEPARTMENT OF GEOGRAPHY MASTER RESEARCH PROGRAM ON CLIMATE CHANGE AND HUMAN SECURITY Social Vulnerability to Coastal Erosion: Empirical Assessment of Gunjur Village in The Gambia Thesis No………………. Thesis submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Master Research Degree Domaine: Humanity and Social Sciences Mention: Climate Change Specialty: Human Security Submitted by: Muhammad Leroy ALBERT GOMEZ Supervisors: Prof. Olatundun Janet Adelegan, Director Capacity Building WASCAL Dodou Trawally, Director Technical Services Network/NEA The Gambia Approved by: Chair of Committee: Prof. Jean Mianikpo Sogbédji Committee Member: Prof. Agbeko Kodjo Tounou Director of Program: Prof. Kouami Kokou October 2015 i Disclaimer The views expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of The Government of the Republic of The Gambia, WASCAL, University of Lomé or the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF). ii DEDICATION To My father, Albert W. Gomez and my mother, Julia D. Innis for all their sacrifices. My dear wife, Isatou Colley, and son, Serigne Fallou Gomez, for their encouragement, patience and endurance during my Masters Research Program. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am very grateful to Almighty Allah for the grace given to me to be part of this innovative Masters Research Program. I would like to specially thank the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) that funded the program and the West African Science Service Center on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use (WASCAL) for offering me the Master Research Program in Climate Change and Human Security Scholarship. Furthermore, I am indebted to all lecturers who have imparted their knowledge on me, in one way or the other, during my course work period at the University of Lomé. I am particularly grateful towards Prof. Kouami Kokou, Director of WASCAL Togo, Professor Adote Blim Blivi, Dr. Aklesso Egbendewe-Mondzozo, Dr. Georges Abbey, Prof. Agbeko Kodjo Tounou, Prof. Jean Sogbedji, Miss Sefako and other members of staff in the academic and management team of WASCAL, Université de Lomé for their training, guidance, encouragement and support. I am grateful to the mentorship of my thesis supervisor, Prof. Olatundun Janet Adelegan, Director of Capacity Building at WASCAL Headquarters Accra, Ghana; as well as to my co- supervisor Mr. Dodou Trawally, Director of Technical Services Network, National Environment Agency, The Gambia for his support and guidance. I thank all my colleagues for their support and meaningful company; it was an immense pleasure to have met you all. Special appreciation to Joshua Ntajal for assistance rendered in the vulnerability analysis, Kebba Bah, Lamin Jammeh and Buba Touray for their support during the field survey, and to Ousmane Diouf Sane from batch1 MRP CCHS. Thereon, my appreciation goes to the Alkalo of Gunjur Omar Jiki Darboe and the people of Gunjur for their hospitality and support during my field work. Moreover, I am thankful to the staff of the National Environment Agency, especially the Executive Director, Mrs. Ndey S. Bakurin, for allowing me a study leave to participate in this Masters Research Program. And finally, to my relatives: George N. Innis and Elizabeth Innis. Hitherto, I would like that everyone that I could not mention here find the expression of my deepest gratitude. It is my earnest prayer that Almighty Allah rewards all of you bountifully (Amen). iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Table of Contents DEDICATION .................................................................................................................. III ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .............................................................................................. IV LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................... VIII LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. X 1. LIST OF PHOTOS ..................................................................................................... X 2. LIST OF MAPS .......................................................................................................... X LIST OF ACRONYMS ..................................................................................................... XI ABSTRACT ................................................................................................................... XIII RESUME ........................................................................................................................ XIV MOTS-CLES: EROSION COTIERE, CHANGEMENTS CLIMATIQUES, GUNJUR, MENAGE, RESILIENCE ET VULNERABILITE. ..................................................... XIV 1. CHAPTER 1 ................................................................................................................. 1 1.1. Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 1.2. At Study Site Level ................................................................................................... 2 2.1. Problem Statement ................................................................................................... 2 1.3 Problem Statement ................................................................................................... 3 1.4 Objectives of the research ........................................................................................ 6 1.5 Research Questions .................................................................................................. 6 1.6 Organization of the Study ........................................................................................ 6 2. CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................... 7 2.1. Agriculture and Fisheries ......................................................................................... 7 2.2. Climate Change Impacts – Socio-economic ............................................................. 8 v 2.3. Coastal Erosion and Sediments .............................................................................. 10 3. CHAPTER 3: MATERIALS AND METHODS ....................................................... 12 3.1. The Area of Study ................................................................................................... 12 3.2. METHODS ............................................................................................................. 14 3.2.1. MOVE Conceptual Vulnerability Assessment Framework ................................. 14 3.2.1.1. Characteristics of the MOVE Framework ....................................................... 16 3.3. Data Collection ....................................................................................................... 17 3.3.1. Socio-economic Data ......................................................................................... 17 3.3.2. Sampling Method .............................................................................................. 18 3.3.3. Vulnerability Data ............................................................................................. 19 3.4. Data Analysis .......................................................................................................... 19 3.4.1. Normalisation of indicators using functional relationship................................... 21 3.4.2. Overall Vulnerability of Households .................................................................. 21 3.4.3. Creation of Vulnerability Map ........................................................................... 21 3.5. Expected Outputs ................................................................................................... 22 4. CHAPTER 4: RESULTS ........................................................................................... 23 4.1. GUNJUR HOUSEHOLD SURVEY RESULTS .................................................... 29 4.2. The results of the exposure mapping ..................................................................... 39 4.3. The results of the susceptibility mapping .............................................................. 40 4.4. The results of the resilience mapping..................................................................... 41 4.5. The results of the vulnerability mapping ............................................................... 42 4.6. The Focus Group Discussion (FGD) Outcome ...................................................... 43 4.6.1. PARTICIPANTS CHARACTERISTICS ........................................................... 43 4.6.2. Focus Group Deliberation .................................................................................. 45 4.6.3. Historical aspect of coastal erosion, its negative impacts and associated problems in Gunjur ......................................................................................................................... 45 4.6.4. Perception of climate change ............................................................................. 46 4.6.5. How they cope with coastal erosion/ adaptation ................................................. 46 4.6.6. Climate change and manifestations .................................................................... 46 4.6.7. Justification ......................................................................................................