I am pleased to announce  that our ministers launched two new programs to preserve our coasts.

Madji (left) spent her childhood on the beaches of Bargny Guedj, Senegal, but her grandfather's house where she stayed as a child no longer exists today, carried away by the waves.Thousands of people living along the coasts of West Africa share the same story as Madji. Beyond the shattered lives, this harsh consequence of erosion, pollution and floods is very expensive in Benin, Côte d'Ivoire, Senegal and Togo.

All along the West African coast, communities are starting to preserve and protect their shared coastal resources and work towards enhancing resilience. The WACA Program fosters scaled up investments to solve coastal problems while encouraging regional cooperation and planning.

The communities who have lived on West Africa’s coastal areas for centuries are at the greatest risk of climate change. As sea levels rise, and severe weather events increase in frequency due to climate change, the safety and wellbeing of coastal communities is at peril, with poor and marginalized populations proving most vulnerable. Without concrete measures to mitigate and adapt to the effects of climate change, West Africa’s development achievements, as well as hopes for continued growth and poverty reduction, will be severely compromised.

Climate Change and Ocean Systems specialist, Professor Ove Hoegh-Gulderg, conveys his regret for being unable to attend the Blue Economy Conference in Mauritius. He emphasizes the important of urgent global action on climate change and ocean conservation to prevent a disastrous loss of ocean habit that will have very damaging consequences to people and the environment. The ocean is essential for life on earth, and supports millions of species and billions of people.

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.

WACA  was presented as bringing key solutions to coastal resilience by World Bank Director, Karin Kemper (watch starting at 40:00) at a 24 hour Econothon.

Saint Louis’s coastal community is losing ground to the ocean each year, and families are losing their possessions, food and homes to coastal erosion, flooding, even breaking waves. But West Africa’s countries are working together, with the support of WACA, to create new solutions to protect the most vulnerable.

The celebration of Earth Day should cause us to pause and consider the state of our planet.

Video of the additional protocol to the Abidjan Convention