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Africa Climate
Change Effects
EGYPT: Egypt's Port of Alexandria Likely
to
Lose Popular Beaches In Next Decades
Even at the present rate of sea level rise, the beaches of Alexandria Governorate, Egypt's second largest city, will disappear over the next few decades. Cabins, casinos, houses as well as major government and private buildings near the beaches will be damaged or destroyed. A rise of only half a meter would doom nearly all the beaches, while a rise of one meter, posited in the other studies in this series, would inundate more than 1,200 km2 of the Governorate, containing most of the agriculture and much of the industry and residential areas, affecting the coastal population of two million. It is obvious that protection is essential.
NIGERIA: More Than 3 Million May Have
to Move from
Lowlands in Nigeria
Nigeria's coast has a low slope, and the Niger delta, the largest Africa, is flatter still. With sea level rise, inundation along the coast would extend many kilometers inland and perhaps 100 km up the delta, bringing serious consequences to the people and the economy.
An estimated 25 million people, 28 percent of the population, live along the coast, more than a third below the two meter inundation zone. Two thousand industrial establishments, 85 percent of the country's total, as well as a majority of the oil exploration and exploitation facilities, are concentrated on this lowland. The nation's largest city, Lagos, the former capital, is expanding rapidly on ground often no more than one meter above sea level and subject to periodic flooding. The Niger delta contains the wetlands and lagoons which are the spawning grounds for commercial shrimp and oysters, and bait fish for the large tuna industry. And it is the site of 1300 oil wells which generate 90 percent of export and foreign exchange oil earnings.
SENEGAL: Senegal's Shoreline is Already
Receding and
Salinity Threatens Wetlands
All effects of sea level rise would impact the coast of Senegal - the estuaries, the delta, the long, sandy ocean stretches - but erosion of residential, industrial and tourist areas would be the most serious. More than half the population and most of the economic activity is concentrated in the coastal zone, and the high birth rate and expansion of the tourist industry are likely to exacerbate problems. Many thousands of international tourists, particularly from France, supply important foreign exchange to the country. The most feasible response is likely to be nourishment of beaches to protect the string of single row tourist houses and villas built close to the shore.
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