in Saint-Louis, Senegal, the ocean threatens the “African Venice”

6:00 a.m., November 2, 2022, modified at 10:19 a.m., November 2, 2022

The fisherman Senegalese
El Hadji Dousse Fall remembers precisely the moment of the tragedy: 5 a.m., December 28, 2018, “after prayer”. “When the wave came crashing against the wall, my father found himself trapped with my nephew. They both died. » He tells that “all the houses were damaged” and everyone had “Water up to your knees”. Standing facing what remains of his home – three sections of wall gaping on rubble and planks – Badara Dieng describes the tragic mechanics of this storm: “The sea started to get rough around 3 p.m. The waves were hitting harder and harder so we all got out with our bags. At 2 a.m. the building collapsed. »

In ten years, nearly 800 meters of coastline have disappeared

The man nevertheless remembers the time when “I needed a cart” to unload fish between the ocean and Guet Ndar, the fishing district of Saint-Louis. Today, this part of town is regularly lapped by the waves. Under the effect of climate change, the Atlantic is moving forward and the 230,000 inhabitants of the “Venice of Africa” live on borrowed time. On the shore, the remains of collapsed houses and schools rub shoulders with fishing nets.

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Slender cats, goats and sheep dawdle between the thousands of multicolored canoes lined up on the sand. Guet Ndar, one of the most densely populated areas in the world, is nestled on the Langue de Barbarie. This thin strip of land wedged between the Senegal River and the ocean, connected to the mainland by two bridges, acts as a rampart for the rest of Saint-Louis, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site for its colonial architecture.

“Saint-Louis is one of the Senegalese coasts most affected by climate change, comments Cheikh Omar Tidjani Cissé, geographer at Gaston Berger University in Saint-Louis, but also one of the most vulnerable due to the concentration of the population. Erosion carries away 2 meters per year here. » Added to this are the phenomena of submersion, with a higher and more violent swell. In ten years, nearly 800 meters of coastline have disappeared.

Winter swells will be a first test

A dyke was built at Guet Ndar to temporarily protect the neighborhood against the advancing ocean.

(Sylvain Cherkaoui for the JDD)

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A dyke was built at Guet Ndar to temporarily protect the neighborhood against the advancing ocean.

(Sylvain Cherkaoui for the JDD)

Sand extraction and urbanization on sandy soil have aggravated the problem, as has the digging, with poorly controlled effects, of a relief channel in the Langue de Barbarie in 2003. Intended to protect Saint-Louis against floods, this breach led to the engulfment of surrounding villages. “Eventually, we can fear that the Langue de Barbarie will disappear”, says the researcher.

It is to delay the deadline that a 2 km long dyke was built, financed to the tune of 16 million euros by the French Development Agency (AFD). Barely raised above the sand, it does not impose, and that’s normal. “This shield was designed to be submersible, to trap the sand when the waves recede and consolidate the dune,” explains Papa Aldiouma Cissé, coordinator of the coastal protection project in Saint-Louis.

Since the completion of the work a few months ago, the water has not overflowed. On the contrary, “the beach widens”, notes Cheikh Omar Tidjani Cissé: “But scientifically, we cannot yet say. » Winter and its strong swells will be a first test. Papa Aldiouma Cissé warns: “The dam is sized to last fifteen years. It is an emergency measure to temporarily protect the coastline. »

Reforest to counter the waves

Lieutenant Oumar Barry, assistant curator of the marine protected area of ​​Saint-Louis, where “tyhavelles” and filaos have been planted to consolidate the dune.

(Sylvain Cherkaoui for the JDD)

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Lieutenant Oumar Barry, assistant curator of the marine protected area of ​​Saint-Louis, where “tyhavelles” and filaos have been planted to consolidate the dune.

(Sylvain Cherkaoui for the JDD)

AFD and the Senegalese authorities are experimenting with sustainable solutions south of the Langue de Barbarie, in the marine protected area of ​​Saint-Louis. Here, fifteen years ago, “it was only sand”, describes Lt. Oumar Barry, assistant curator. Erosion had gradually eaten away at the dune, sea salt had contaminated the soil and the waters of the river, leaving a deserted landscape.

It’s hard to imagine it today, so green is it. To counter the waves, Oumar Barry and his teams installed 1 kilometer of palisades made of typhas – the local reed. Three hundred hectares have been reforested with casuarina trees, giving the shoreline the appearance of a pine forest. If data is still missing, “a retreat of the coastline and a replenishment of the sandy beach have been observed”, notes the lieutenant. The dune cord fills up. Here and there, the feet of mangrove trees that have appeared naturally give hope for the regeneration of the mangrove. Turtles, Hansel Terns and Grey-headed Gulls have made a comeback.

3,000 people live in prefabs

Simple and inexpensive techniques, but impossible to transpose in a district as concrete as Guet Ndar. Also, the authorities have opted for what they modestly call a “strategic retreat”, i.e. the rehousing of the 10,000 people residing less than 20 meters from the beach. The construction of a new neighborhood is underway in the town of Gandon, about fifteen kilometers away, and will be financed by the World Bank. A heartbreak for these fishermen who, like El Hadji Dousse Fall, have a carnal connection with the sea.

The ocean was his home and his income. Now both are threatened. “Our ancestors fished there”, points out the president of the Association of Artisanal Line Fishermen of Saint-Louis, looking out to sea at the huge offshore terminal which will be operated in 2023, erected on a reef full of fish. “It was our livelihood, rich in sea bream and thiofs, it was taken from us, continues El Hadji Dousse Fall. Now we have to sail further south, where there are only small fish. »

The fisherman resigns himself to departure. “In Gandon we will be safe, he abounds. We have to take what we are given. » But here, the subdivision planned to accommodate them did not come out of the ground; only the beginning of a road emerges from the dust. The agency in charge of the execution of the project concedes a delay linked to the pandemic and promises relocation no later than October 2023.

In the meantime, more than 3,000 people live in plastic prefabs, under temperatures regularly exceeding 40 degrees. This is the case of Fatou Seck. After losing her home five years ago, she slept with her loved ones in makeshift shelters, then in these containers in full sun. She guides us into her room: a bed, dishes and the feeling of entering a sauna. So much so that, at night, the family regularly sleeps outside on mats. “We used to breathe the sea breeze, but here there is no air, she laments. This heat ended up killing my mother. »

Every day, her husband and the other fishermen deduct from their receipts in order to be able to take the bus and reach Guet Ndar and their canoes. “Almost everything we earn goes into transport, laments Fatou Seck. We have lost everything. » Far from the paved road and out of sight, the forty-year-old feels “abandoned by the state”. “The mayor has never come here. » She knows that “a lot of St. Louisians don’t know about this place” which looks like an IDP camp. The new anchorage of these climate refugees.

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