This document summarizes The Gambia's experience with coastal adaptation projects and solutions. It notes that national strategies identified The Gambia as highly vulnerable to climate change and sea level rise, threatening coastal infrastructure. Adaptation actions included banning sand mining, beach nourishment projects, coastal defense systems, improving agriculture, and mangrove restoration. However, some beaches saw maladaptation as nourished sand eroded more quickly than native sand. Integrated coastal zone management and capacity building projects aimed to develop further adaptation strategies through plans and community education.

1. “The Gambia’s adaptation experience:
Coastal protection and building resilience
of coastal communities.”
NAP Expo 11 – 15 July 2016
Bonn, Germany
Approaches / adaptation solutions
Alpha A.K. Jallow (UNFCCC FP)

2. INTRODUCTION
 National strategic Docs (NCs, NAPA) concluded
the Gambia is highly vulnerable to climate
change and variability as it depend on rain-fed
agriculture;
 Sea level rise was another event of CC with
the resulting coastal erosion threatening the
Capital and coastal infrastructure (roads, hotels,
bridges)
 Immediate and urgent actions were request to
address the situation

3. Geology of the Coastal
Zone of The Gambia

4. VULNERABILITY OF THE COASTAL ZONE TO
CLIMATE CHANGE
• About 92 square Km of land will be inundated as a
result of 1-metre sea level rise.
• About 50% (47 km2) will be on the sheltered coast.
• With a 1-metre sea level rise, the whole of the
capital city of Banjul will be lost;
• The mangrove systems on the river mount will be
lost.
• About 217 million US Dollars worth of land will be
lost.
• Inundation will be followed by shoreline retreat
which would vary along the coast from 102 m in the
harder cliffted zone to 839 m in the gently sloping
sandy areas.

5. VULNERABILITY OF CAPITAL SLR

6. IMPACTS OF COASTAL EROSION

8. URGENT ADAPTATION ACTIONS
1. Banned sand mining on the coastline;
2. Beach nourishment project in 2002(Government)
3. Coastal protection and building resilience of
coastal communities-NAPA project: coastal
defense systems, improving vegetable gardens,
rehabilitating salt mining facilities, providing fishing
gears, building anti-salt dykes across rice fields,
mangroves restoration
4. Integrated coastal zone management and the
mainstreaming of climate change mainstreaming-
GCCA project: ICZM plan, NCCP, sensitization and
capacity building, coastal protection mechanisms

9. Result: Senegambia-Kairaba Hotel Beach face is
150 metres wide at high tide. (2004).
150 metres

10. Maladaptation: degradation and contraction of
Senegambia beach from 150 meters down to 16
meters in some places

11. Kololi Beach before the Nourishment
Kololi Beach after the Nourishment
in 2003
Kololi Beach in 2010 – worst than 2002 before the Nourishment

12. Effects of maladaptation

13. Why maladaptation
• Grain sizes of Original (fine) and Nourishment
(coarser) Sand are different and so more
amenable to erosion;
• Merely dumping sand on the dynamic Gambia
Beach is inappropriate;
• Need to construct and maintain sand and
shoreline stabilization structures to slow down
sand movement;

14. OTHER ACTIONS: sheltered coast
(GCCA-Project)
Ant-salt dyke to enhance rice pdt
Restoration & protecting River bank against
erosion

15. OTHER ACTIONS: sheltered coast
Fishing enhanced
CB on CC risk management on
the coastal zone

16. THANK YOU