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Digital Earth Africa launches coastal monitoring tool for informed decision making
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Digital Earth Africa launches coastal monitoring tool for informed decision making
by Simon Mansfield
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Dec 26, 2024

Africa's coastlines are undergoing significant transformations due to rising sea levels, climate-induced extreme weather, urbanization, and growing coastal populations. These changes pose major challenges to infrastructure, agriculture, and public health, demanding robust monitoring and adaptive strategies to ensure sustainable development.

Digital Earth Africa has unveiled a Coastlines Monitoring Service dashboard that leverages satellite Earth observation data to track coastal erosion and growth over the past 24 years. This comprehensive tool provides invaluable insights for policymakers, enabling them to evaluate the effects of coastal management strategies and respond to extreme weather and human-induced changes.

"Our goal is to equip government agencies and local authorities with the knowledge necessary to make informed decisions and develop effective strategies for managing coastal erosion and its associated risks," said Dr. Lisa-Maria Rebelo, lead scientist at Digital Earth Africa. "This service aids in understanding past changes to coastlines and identifying future areas of concern. Through this tool, we can safeguard vulnerable coastal areas and communities, and ensure the resilience and sustainability of our coastlines for future generations."

Dr. Rebelo highlighted the tool's unique design, tailored specifically for Africa: "While a small number of individual countries worldwide may generate similar data for their coastlines, no service matches the consistency and continental scope offered by this coastal monitoring tool for African countries. It sets a new standard for understanding and responding to the challenges posed by changing coastlines in Africa."

The dashboard is user-friendly and provides national summaries for each African country with a coastline. These insights are critical for shaping national coastal adaptation strategies.

Key Findings in Nigeria

Using Nigeria as an example, Dr. Rebelo illustrated the tool's impact: "Of Nigeria's entire shoreline, 417 kilometers are retreating inland at an average rate of 0.5 meters per year, a trend observed consistently over the past 24 years. However, a 99-kilometer portion of this retreating shoreline has seen an accelerated rate of change in the last five years. Targeting such high-risk areas for intervention enables authorities to prioritize limited resources."

Approximately 1.3 million people in Nigeria live in areas vulnerable to coastal erosion and flooding. "Understanding these risks is vital for developing effective adaptation strategies, which may include relocating vulnerable communities, bolstering coastal defenses, or implementing broader adaptation strategies," Rebelo added.

The dashboard also allows users to analyze specific events, such as a significant coastal retreat in Nigeria in 2017 likely caused by a storm surge. These capabilities enable assessments of individual storms and their intensifying impacts over time.

Continental Impacts

On a broader scale, the dashboard reveals that 7,582 kilometers of Africa's shoreline are retreating, while 8,500 kilometers are advancing. "Coastal erosion, while cyclical, often redistributes sand, advancing other parts of the shoreline. This process is reflected in advancing and retreating statistics, which balance out when viewed continent-wide," said Rebelo.

By delivering detailed, country-specific data, the service supports governments in identifying vulnerable communities, infrastructure, and settlements, guiding targeted interventions to adapt to dynamic coastal changes.

The monitoring tool is accessible here

Related Links
Digital Earth Africa
Africa News - Resources, Health, Food

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