West African Coastal Area: Challenges and Outlook - The Land/Ocean Interactions in the Coastal Zone of West and Central Africa - page 12

A further consequence of the intensification of tourism
resides in the specialisation of the functions of the coast,
breeching its multi-functional equilibrium, with the emer-
gence of conflicts over use on the beaches which are
gradually contracting because of erosion, in particular with
the activities related to fishing (canoe landing, fish pro-
cessing, smoking, etc.) (SDLAO, UEMOA-IUCN 2011 ).

To summarise:
• The coastal zone today concentrates 31 % of the
total population and 51 % of the urban population
of the coastal States.
• The total urban population of the coastal area in the
11 countries may well double, from 18 to 36 mil-
lion between 2000 and 2020, while the rural pop-
ulation is expected to grow by half.
• From 2020 to 2050, the urban population of the coast
could increase from 36 to over 80 million under the
business-as-usual scenario and to 74 million under
the moderate ''controlling disparities'' scenario.
• Almost

The multiplication of spontaneous individual
coastal defence and protection actions turns out to be
completely counter productive and aggravates the
sediment deficits observed globally. This is also a
factor that reinforces inequalities, for the attempts at
localised solutions implemented by owners with suf-
ficient means triggers an acceleration of erosion
downstream of coastal drift currents, affecting the more
modest properties of poorer population groups or even
traditional villages, when these alternate with major
hotel infrastructure, as on the Petite Côte in Senegal.
This ''privatisation of the sediment heritage'' is only
one of the signs of the accelerated privatisation of the
coast in sites that are ''under tourism'', which also leads
to the public being denied access to the beaches in front
of the seaside hotels and residences, or by the closure
(walls and building) of sea views from public tracks
and areas. The future demand for seaside leisure
resorts, in particular in the major metropolises, and the
respect of the landscape identity of all the coastal sites,
should as an imperative be anticipated through a ''back
to basics'' approach regarding the inalienable nature of
the public maritime domain.

all the administrative and/or economic

capitals are situated there.
• The level of urbanisation on the coast is twice as
high as in the hinterland.
• The current average population density is 260 per
km 2 , with maxima of 1,000 per km 2 in Togo and
Benin and zones with less than 10 per km 2 in
Liberia or Guinea Bissau. These densities could
exceed 2,000 people per km 2 in certain countries in
the Gulf of Guinea, such as Benin, for example.
Certain areas remain unoccupied in the desert

regions or large mangroves.
• The coastal fringe today accounts for approxi-
mately 56 % of the GDP of the coastal countries.

Growing Demand for Coastline

The generalisation of a global residential and leisure model
confers particular appeal on the coast, which is expressed
through (i) urban sprawl on coastal areas, followed by (ii)
the densification of building in peri-urban and/or interurban
coastal areas. The most attractive segments of coast (not
isolated, with the right exposure, possessing a heritage of
attractive beaches preferably not too far from the urban
centres) are experiencing rapid growth related to the
expansion of a tourist clientele mainly international ini-
tially, but increasingly regional and national as various
more or less wealthy middle classes emerge. The stability of
the coastal areas ''under tourism'' in this way is threatened:
• By the facilities built on the rim and on the backshore,
depriving it of its sediment reserves and the exchanges
that ensure its equilibrium.
• By disrupting the coastal drift, either through the building
of leisure facilities affecting the beach, or even the
intertidal zone, or even more so by individual or ''spon-
taneous'' anti-erosion structures put in place by owners
anxious to preserve an heritage of beach exposure, when
it is already deteriorating.

Economic and Infrastructure Growth

The prospective study that was carried out in the frame of the
SDLAO (UEMOA-IUCN 2011 ) also forecasts a probable
acceleration of economic growth in West Africa, with rates
exceeding 5 % over the long term. This growth will support
the pace of urbanisation throughout the region, which will
see a reinforcement of the concentration of economic
activity along the coast, with the building of heavy industrial
plant and the development of agro-industrial production.
Pressure on the raw materials market is also already being
expressed through different projects to build ore ports,
mainly oriented towards the estuaries, as in Guinea Bissau
and Guinea. We were able to observe how in Maritime
Guinea, the port of Kamsar caused a village to grow to the
second largest city in the country in under 20 years.
In this favourable growth context in the sub-region, most
African ports have already begun to undertake work to