Coastal and Ecological Changes in the Gulf of Benin Coastal Zone

by Kolawole Sikirou Adam, Univ Natl du Benin, Benin,



Document Type: Proceeding Paper

Part of: Coastlines of Western Africa

Abstract:

Environmental dynamics in Africa are in a state of dangerous degradation in spite of ancestral and ritual rules which mandate ecological balance. Within the West Africa subregion, the most vulnerable areas are the coastal ones, and the Gulf of Benin coastal zone is especially critical in view of its geographical basis and its dynamics. A coastal complex made up of sandy sediments, lagoons and many ridges which geomorphological evolution has mainly conditioned by halocene sea-level and climatic fluctuations, and secondly, by local tectonics. The present configuration of the coast is the product of the oscillation of the sealevel that has taken place over the past 20,000 years and, it is an important ecological area in West Africa (mangroves and benthic fauna).

Subject Headings: Ecosystems | Gulfs | Developing countries | Social factors | Sea level | Lagoons | Erosion | Africa | Benin

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