The Director of the Institute of Environment and Sanitation Studies at the University of Ghana, Prof. Kwasi Appeaning Addo, has attributed the increased occurrence of coastal erosion to high rates of tidal action caused by climate change.
The advent of climate change has become a topic of discussion in all parts of the world due to its dire impacts on the global environment. This phenomenon is all the more worrying, as the impact of erosion along the Ghanaian coast is likely to get worse as sea levels continue to rise.
As it stands, the country’s coastline is eroding at an average rate of about two meters each year, with some smaller sites recording up to seventeen meters of erosion in a single year.
Recently, some residents in the Ketu Municipality have raised concerns over severe wave action, leading to the destruction of properties located along the sea, including houses, resorts, and other tourism sites.
Speaking to Citi News, Prof. Appeaning explained that most areas affected by this phenomenon were naturally prone to such disasters.
“With climate change, we’re experiencing increasing storm surges and energetic wave action. Once the water level rises, we tend to have vulnerable and low-lying areas being flooded. Once the storm pushes the water inland, the loamy soil gets eroded. Also, some of these areas are already erosion-prone areas, with several factors leading to causing that, including human activities.”
Prof. Appeaning called on the government to adopt more sustainable means of curtailing the devastating effects of coastal erosion. He further opined that the relocation of coastal dwellers is a better alternative to combating erosion.
“Sea defense never solves the problem; it just transfers the problem from one location to the other and causes more erosion. So we need to find more natural systems of solving this problem to complement what the defense structures are meant to do.”
“Life is very important. Areas that are very critical should be relocated, and it’s important that we move people away from there so we don’t lose lives and afterward think about long-term solutions because the ad-hoc ones won’t work.”
