WARCO
West African Regional Coastal Observatory (WARCO)
"A dynamic regional platform dedicated to the dissemination of data, serving sustainable and effective management of the West African coast."
Monitoring the marine and coastal environment of the West African coast
The West African coast, a strategic area for the region, is home to a dense population, major economic activities such as fishing, maritime trade, and tourism, as well as rich and fragile ecosystems. However, this coastline is particularly vulnerable. It is subject to numerous pressures, including coastal erosion, marine submersion, pollution, soil salinization, and rising sea levels.
To address these numerous challenges and strike a balance between protecting coastal communities, preserving ecosystems, and promoting economic development, it is essential to accurately monitor the marine and coastal environment. This monitoring allows for a better understanding of current dynamics, the anticipation of future developments, and informed decision-making. It is in this context that the West African Coastal Regional Observatory (ORLOA) was established to contribute to strengthening the resilience of the coastal zone, through one of the key pillars of the WACA Program—knowledge generation. The objective of ORLOA is to observe in order to better understand and make better decisions.
The West African Coastal Regional Observatory is a dynamic platform dedicated to the production, analysis, and dissemination of reliable data and knowledge on the coastal zone. Its primary objective is to provide high-quality, relevant, up-to-date, accessible, and harmonized information covering the entire West African coastline. This data is essential to inform decision-making processes related to the management and governance of the West African coastline. The Regional Observatory relies on the regular monitoring of coastal risk indicators to produce data and information on the West African coastline.
Database on potential sources of coastal pollution
The West African coastal zone is increasingly exposed to pollution, largely from land-based sources. The main sources are wastewater discharges and excessive inputs of nutrients, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus. These pollutants lead to eutrophication and the progressive degradation of marine and coastal ecosystems. In response to this situation, one of the key actions initiated under the ORLOA was the establishment of a geospatial database of potential sources of coastal pollution (BDGIPC_ORLOA_v1). It aims to provide a clear and centralized view of environmental threats to coastal communities, marine ecosystems, and coastal areas, in order to facilitate sustainable coastal zone management. The main objective of the database is to identify and locate potential sources of pollution (domestic, industrial, agricultural, oil and gas exploitation, etc.) located within the geographic area of the West African Coastal Regional Observatory (ORLOA).
Shoreline monitoring – Coastline monitoring
The "Coastline" indicator is monitored within the ORLOA geographical area using the Coastlines tool from the Digital Earth Africa (DEA) service. Digital Earth Africa provides an operational, reliable, and regular service using Earth observation to produce ready-to-use data, enabling decision-makers, scientists, the private sector, and civil society to address the many challenges related to social, environmental, and economic change on the continent and to develop a cross-sectoral innovation ecosystem.
DEA provides access to a wide range of data on topics such as access to water and flood risks, agriculture and food security, land degradation and coastal erosion, and urbanization.
The Digital Earth Africa Coastlines tool is one of the DEA platform's resources. It was co-developed and validated with African partners involved in its implementation. Among them, the Ecological Monitoring Center (CSE), based in Dakar, played a central role both in evaluating the tool's performance at the national and regional levels and in disseminating it to the wider user community (universities, the research sector, technical services, decision-makers, and technical and financial partners).