Innovative Climate Strategies in African Coastal Regions: Exploring Success Stories from Three Case Studies

1. Case Study: Mozambique's 360km coastline: The coastal region of Mozambique is highly vulnerable to sea-level rise, storms, and flooding. In a successful adaptation project, the government launched the National Strategy of Adaptation and Mitigation of Climate Impacts (ENAMMC) in 2012. Jointly funded by the Mozambique government and international partners including the World Bank, the project focused on resilient agriculture, water management, infrastructure development, and early warning systems, among others. As a part of the project, approximately 150000 farmers were trained to use drought-resistant seeds and conservation farming techniques (Source: WRI, Rozendaal, Gumbo, & Adams, 2019). 2. Case Study: Senegal's Dakar Adaptation Plan: Facing recurrent flooding and rising sea levels, Dakar, the capital of Senegal, initiated a successful adaptation strategy named "The Dakar Taking Action Project" supported by a grant from the African Development Bank. The plan prioritized actions like strengthening flood risk forecasting, improving climate data management, and implementing disaster risk reduction methods. In addition, it also included physical measures like constructing flood retention basins and upgrading drainage infrastructure (Source: African Development Bank, 2015). 3. Case Study: Shenge, Sierra Leone: Shenge, a coastal town in Sierra Leone, adopted an innovative climate strategy supporting local communities to build concrete sea defenses and engage in reforestation of mangroves. This dual approach stabilized the shoreline, preventing erosion from surges and flooding. The exposure and sensitivity of the community to floods and sea-level rise has been fundamentally reduced (Source: UNDP-GEF, 2016). Each of these projects has a common strategy for climate adaptation, mostly focusing on either reducing the impacts of climate change or building resilience among communities to adapt to these changes. Adaptation measures typically include infrastructure improvement, strengthening early warning systems, capacity building, and community involvement.