Togo is a low-income country in West Africa bordered by Ghana, Burkina Faso, and Benin. Although Togo’s poverty rate fell from 61.7 percent in 2006 to 53.5 percent in 2017, poverty and inequality remain extremely high, especially in rural areas where 69 percent of households were living below the poverty line in 2015. The country is divided into five administrative regions and runs a unitary presidential republic system with a parliament.

On December 31, 2020, a field visit by the Minister of Environment and Forest Resources, Mr. FOLI-BAZI Katari, and his counterpart, the Minister of Maritime Economy, Fisheries and Coastal Protection, Mr. TENGUE Edem Kokou, allowed them to get acquainted with the realities of the people living in the coastal areas. 

Dovi Woollens has lived along the coast of Baguida, Togo for her entire life. She makes her living from the sea, by selling fish and seafood in her local community. In recent years, Dovi has struggled to make ends meet because fish are no longer as plentiful, and it’s harder to have a good catch. All along the coast of West Africa, fishermen and women like Dovi face similar threats to their livelihood. They are on the frontlines of climate change, coastal erosion and pollution.

Preserving and protecting the coastline along West Africa is critical. A large proportion of West Africa's population lives in areas that are most at risk of coastal erosion, where rising tides threaten their livelihoods and the communities they have built and lived in for generations.