- Title: Ivory Coast town sinking underwater as coastal erosion advances in 2019
- Date: 1st January 2020
- Summary: LAHOU KPANDA, IVORY COAST (FILE) (REUTERS) AERIAL VIEW OF A CEMETERY VARIOUS AERIAL VIEWS OF CEMETERY AND SEA APPROACHING ELDERS/COMMUNITY LEADERS FROM THE VILLAGE WALKING THROUGH GRAVEYARD THAT HAS BEEN RAVAGED BY THE ENCROACHING SEA CROSS ON A GRAVESTONE IN FRONT OF THE OCEAN GRAVES IN THE CEMETERY GRAVES WHERE BODIES HAVE BEEN DISINTERRED (SOUNDBITE) (French) DANIEL LOHA, ELDER FROM THE VILLAGE SAYING: "Today we live in anguish. What will happen tomorrow if no one comes to the help of the village? We will disappear. But today it is our dead who are leaving. You know, in Africa, our parents, our ancestors are very important to us and to see them scattered in the sea is heartbreaking and every day that God brings to us we are haunted." AERIAL VIEW OF THE VILLAGE DIVIDED BY THE SEA ENTERING THE LAGOON WITH VIEW OF VILLAGE BELOW STRIP OF LAND WITH RUINS OLD COLONIAL HOUSE THAT IS IN RUINS, MAN WALKING PAST VARIOUS OF RUINS OF HOUSE WHERE THE FIRST PRESIDENT OF IVORY COAST FELIX HOUPHOUET BOIGNY STAYED WHEN HE CAME TO VISIT GRAND LAHOU IN 1954 COLLAPSED HOMES MADE OF WOOD AND BAMBOO IN FRONT OF COLLAPSED BEACH FRONT CHILDREN LOOKING DOWN AT THE COLLAPSED BEACH FRONT YOUTH BELOW SAMUEL AMOUSSOU AND HIS WIFE LOOKING AT DESTROYED HOMES AMOUSSOU TALKING TO HIS WIFE IN FRONT OF DESTROYED HOMES ABANDONED PLASTIC GERRY CAN ON THE BEACH REMAINS OF COLLAPSED FOUNDATIONS ON THE BEACH (SOUNDBITE) (French) LAHOU KPANDA RESIDENT, SAMUEL AMOUSSOU, SAYING: "We live here (Lahou Kpanda) but since the sea was threatening our home, we didn't know what to do and so we took off and went on the other side (of the village)." (SOUNDBITE) (French) LAHOU KPANDA RESIDENT, ALBERT AKA MIEZAN, SAYING: "We used to sell woodin (wax cloth seller), there were several businesses that came to bring their goods here and all the shops fell into the water. Today, you need to look here, this is the prison, (VISUALS OF STONES ON THE BEACH) there where the stones are, there, the stones you see in the water now, that is the prison that is there (VISUAL OF MIEZAN) the sea took everything." DOGS WALKING PAST REMAINS OF THE PRISON DRONE VIEW OF THE VILLAGE IN BETWEEN THE SEA AND THE LAGOON AERIAL VIEW OF THE SAND BANK THAT REMAINS OF HALF OF THE LAND STRIP ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (FILE) (REUTERS) SIGN READING 'OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH CENTER' (French) PROFESSOR JACQUES ABE, FROM THE OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH CENTER AT HIS DESK ABE'S PROFILE (SOUNDBITE) (French) PROFESSOR JACQUES ABE, HEAD OF THE OCEANOGRAPHIC RESEARCH CENTER (CRO) SAYING: "The old city of Grand Lahou cannot be on the UNESCO natural heritage list, it doesn't exist anymore. At the time they rang the alarm to see what could be done with that part (of the city), but all these historical buildings are gone now." LAHOU KPANDA, IVORY COAST (FILE) (REUTERS) AERIAL VIEW OF LAHOU KPANDA VILLAGE WITH CHURCH ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (FILE) (REUTERS) DOCTOR DIEKETE MOISE ANTOINE, TEACHER AT THE INSTITUTE OF TROPICAL GEOGRAPHY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF ABIDJAN WITH ANTHROPOLOGIST DR. JOACHIM DIAMOA LOOKING AT PHOTOCOPIES OF A BOOK WITH PICTURES OF GRAND LAHOU PHOTOCOPY READING (French): 'Grand Lahou. In Search of the Lost City' BACK OF DIAMOA AND DIEKETE'S HEADS AS THEY TALK (SOUNDBITE) (French) DR. DIEKETE MOISE ANTOINE, INSTITUTE OF TROPICAL GEOGRAPHY, UNIVERSITY OF ABIDJAN SAYING: "What you need to do in the Grand Lahou is to plug the breach, at the level of the cemetery, open up in front of Bandama (river) so that the water can then flow there and put things in place dams so the water does not snake around, that the water instead go straight, and straight into the sea. That is what needs to be done. That's all. It’s feasible. Technically it is feasible. It is just a question of costs." ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST (FILE) (REUTERS) FISHING BOATS IN THE SEA AND INDUSTRY IN THE BACKGROUND PEOPLE WALKING ON THE BEACH HOUSE DESTROYED BY THE SEA IN A STORM ROOF OF BUILDING DAMAGED BY THE SEA IN A STORM PETER BASSEY, A PASTOR, SITTING IN FRONT OF HIS HOME WITH SANDBAGS BELOW, HE HAS LIVED THERE FOR 20 YEARS BASSEY TALKING TO PEOPLE SITTING IN HIS DOORWAY BASSEY WATCHING THE SEA FROM HIS DOORWAY BASSEY'S FACE WATCHING THE SEA WAVES (SOUNDBITE) (French) PASTOR PETER BASSEY, SAYING: Sometimes it comes right up and over the house. And it falls here, enters the house and we have to take it out by hand. This happened twice and now it’s started to break the building. It already broke the first building there, it was a room, here a school room for children, and that was the shop for the churchâ€, but everything is gone." PEOPLE WALKING ON THE BEACH PAST DESTROYED BUILDINGS LAHOU KPANDA, IVORY COAST (FILE) (REUTERS) SHEEP BRAYING, STANDING ON A GRAVE, IN FRONT OF THE SEA SHEEP ON TOP OF GRAVE IN CEMETERY
- Embargoed: 15th January 2020 11:03
- Keywords: Grand Lahou climate change coastal erosion rising ocean levels
- Location: LAHOU KPANDA AND ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST
- City: LAHOU KPANDA AND ABIDJAN, IVORY COAST
- Country: Ivory Coast
- Topics: Environment
- Reuters ID: LVA001BUCCXG7
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:Residents of the town of Lahou Kpanda are living with the pain of watching the remains of their ancestors drift out to sea from cemeteries because of the unwavering coastal erosion going on in Ivory Coast.
Climate change, rising sea and silt levels, and loss of mangroves has displaced thousands of people over the last 30 years.
Today, even the dead are drifting away. Waves crashing into the cemetery of this once famed colonial town, shattered graves and locals said they saw the bones of their ancestors float off to sea. Many have since disinterred their loved ones to a more sheltered resting place.
"Today we live in anguish. What will happen tomorrow if no one comes to the help of the village? We will disappear. But today it is our dead who are leaving. You know, in Africa, our parents, our ancestors are very important to us and to see them scattered in the sea is heartbreaking and every day that God brings to us we are haunted," said an elder from Lahou Kpanda.
When coastal erosion began devouring the main town of Grand Lahou the population was relocated 18 kilometers inland in 1973 whilst some migrated westward to Bandama. But with land receding at an average of 1 to 2 meters a year, and a loss of 10 metres over a period of just 2 days in 2011, the old city has all but disappeared and the threat to the population still looms over them. The dilapidated prison building was the most recent to sink into the sea earlier this year.
A fisherman living in Lahou Kpanda, Samuel Amoussou, said he moved out of his home last June because of the threatening sea.
Business used to be brisk 30 years ago, the locals say, with shops dotted along the shore. Over the years, a hospital, police station and the regional school have all gone underwater.
"We used to sell woodin (wax cloth), there were several businesses that came to bring their goods here and all the shops fell into the water. Today, you need to look here, this is the prison, there where the stones are, there, the stones you see in the water now, that is the prison that is there the sea took everything," said a local Albert Miezan.
Amongst the very few grand buildings still standing are the summer house of the country's first president Felix Houphouet Boigny.
The World Bank held a workshop in Grand Lahou in 2016 to find solutions and said at the time that 40,000 people across the 30-kilometer coast risked losing their livelihoods despite abundant fishery and agriculture because of climate change and coastal management
In a report published this year, "The Cost of Coastal Degradation in West Africa", it said Ivory Coast was the country in West Africa most affected by floods, coastal degradation and calculated the economic cost to the country at 2 billion US dollars for 2017, equivalent to 4.9% of its GDP.
For the whole of West Africa that figure is more than 3.8 billion US dollars a year. Coastal erosion from climate change significantly affects West Africa's coastal assets because of a rising sea level, elevated sea-surface temperature, flooding and coastal erosion. Home to 31% of the region's population, which is growing at a rate of 4% per year, this area is especially important as it accounts for 56% of the region's gross domestic product (GDP) said the World Bank.
Very little beyond carrying out studies has been done since then.
The local population feels abandoned by the government and tried to include Grand Lahou on the list of UNESCO protected sites in an effort to shore up funding to save the peninsula.
But experts say it is too late.
"The old city of Grand Lahou cannot be on the UNESCO natural heritage list, it doesn't exist anymore. At the time they rang the alarm to see what could be done with that part (of the city) but all these historical buildings are gone now," said Professor Jacques Abe, the head of Oceanographic Research Centre (CRO) based in the capital of Abidjan.
Other experts say there is a solution.
"What you need to do in the Grand Lahou is to plug the breach, at the level of the cemetery, open up in front of Bandama (river) so that the water can then flow there and put things in place dams so the water does not snake around, that the water instead goes straight, straight into the sea. That is what needs to be done. That's all. It's feasible. Technically it is feasible. It is just a question of costs," said Dr. Diekete Moise Antoine, who teaches at the Institute of Tropical Geography at the university of Abidjan.
The CRO explains the problem is that the rising sea carries sediment to the mouth of the Grand Bassam river forcing it to find a different path to spill into the sea which amplifies the phenomenon of erosion and Antoine says opening the mouth and draining the silt would resolve the problem.
But the task of saving the country's coast line is gargantuan with erosion threatening the capital itself.
In Abidjan coastal erosion and climate change is threatening major economic infrastructures such as the Ivorian Refining Company, the International Airport and the Autonomous Ports of Abidjan and San Pedro, as well as residential facilities and hotel facilities.
Storms lashing the coast of Port-Bouet in Abidjan are gradually destroying pastor Peter Bassey's buildings which are beginning to crumble.
"Sometimes it comes right up and over the house. And it falls here, enters the house and we have to take it out by hand. This happened twice and now it's started to break the building. It already broke the first building there, it was a room, here a school room for children, and that was the shop for the church. But everything is gone," Bassey said.
Studies to open up the mouth of the river have been delayed by works in Abidjan to build a dam and drain the laguna due to be completed next year.
The World Bank and government are trying to attract private money to fight erosion.
A United Nation environment expert said at the International Abidjan Convention on coastal management earlier this year that the Atlantic facing African nations would need between 400 and 450 million US dollars to solve the coastal degradation problem and that they were in talks with the European Union and African development Bank to get funding.
But some experts say extreme climate events that are becoming increasingly common could cause erosion of up 20 meters per year in the next few years, and more drastic measures are needed.
For the beach of Port Bouet in Abidjan Prof. Abe said they need 20 billion CFA ($33 million) to put in place technology to reduce the power of the waves to protect the shore line. If nothing is done today, he estimates the sea will reach the airport in 30 to 40 years. - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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