Environmental problems in Côte d'Ivoire

From Ivory Coast to eroded coast

From coast to the rainforests and northern savannas, Côte d’Ivoire has undergone a dramatic revolution in land use that has left nature gasping for a break. What happened?

Habitat loss and degradation

Côte d’Ivoire has experienced some of the most intense natural degradation on the African continent. Constant expansion of agricultural land, flexible immigration policies, a high population growth rate, centralized government policies, and a lack of well-defined property rights have contributed to a rapid decline in forests.

Whereas large swathes of the country were once carpeted with forests, virgin forest has dropped below 20% of the total forest area. Between 1977 and 1987, Côte d’Ivoire lost 42% of its forest and woodland, mostly to agriculture. The same figures for neighbouring Ghana and Liberia were 8% and 1%, respectively.

Forests of both wet evergreen and semi-deciduous forest types outside protected areas are heavily degraded. In the savanna and the transitional forest-savanna area, higher-intensity fires have also converted natural areas to ashes, especially in the north at the end of the dry season.

Along the coast, mangroves are being exploited for construction materials. Part of this exploitation is due to traditional uses of providing poles for the building industry, for fuel wood and for the local market.

With mangroves gone, the coast is exposed to erosion. In the eroding areas, there has been persistent loss of land, leading to loss of properties and crops. As a result, villages, roads, hotels and other infrastructures are under threat or have disappeared.

Overfishing

Data from the Fisheries Department of the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources of Côte d’Ivoire shows that fish catches have been declining over the years. The price of fisheries overexploitation is not just a reduction in fish stocks, but also severe unemployment along the coastal zone for people previously involved in the sector.

The loss of fisheries activities has pushed rural people toward larger cities such as Abidjan where unemployment, juvenile delinquency and prostitution are already major issues. Former fishers have also turned to agriculture, leading to more destruction of terrestrial forests and mangroves.

Greatly reduced fish stocks has also increased competition between Ivorian and foreign fishermen from the neighbouring countries of Ghana, Benin, and Togo.

Pollution

Côte d’Ivoire is faced with growing amounts of waste from industrial, urban and agricultural sources. For example, Abidjan’s Ebrié Lagoon is the recipient of all the city’s domestic sewage - untreated. As a result, the Ebrié lagoon has seen a growing quantity of chemical nutrients, especially in the bays.

In addition to human health hazards, there is also a negative impact from pollution on fisheries. This has translated into loss of earnings from fishing activities and from the tourism trade.