Can African countries stop coastal erosion?

“Within just five years we lost almost 20 metres of the shoreline and it does not seem to be slowing with time.”

Climate experts say up to 60% of Africa’s coastal land could disappear within the next 50 years due to coastal erosion resulting from sea-level rise. In this episode of Africa Daily, Alan Kasujja discusses the impact of this on coastal communities, and what they need to do to avert the worst possible scenarios.

He speaks to Saida Idris, a resident of Kipini village on the Kenyan coast where 10 kilometres of dry land have been lost to the sea and a thousand people forced to relocate over the last decade.

Conservationist George Odera, who witnessed the changes as they unfolded in Kipini for over a decade, shares expert opinion.

And International development consultant and former Principal Environmentalist at the African Development Bank, Dr Hany Shalaby, gives an overview of how coastal erosion is manifesting along the Mediterranean shorelines in North Africa and on the seven thousand kilometre-long West African coastline.