Climate urgency takes back seat in Senegal election
KAFOUNTINE, SENEGAL (AFP) — Surrounded by lush mangrove forests, Julien Arfang Diatta shows the flooded road leading to his village on Senegal’s tiny island of Kailo.
Encroaching water levels caused by climate change drive fears that Kailo and surrounding islands in southern Senegal could disappear in a matter of years.
Yet the 18 candidates running for president last Sunday have largely ignored the country’s pressing environmental situation.
During the rainy season from July to November, “the sea gets bigger and bigger, and you can’t get through,” Diatta said.
“And we can no longer farm the rice fields because of the salt water.”
Diatta’s family has lived on the surrounding Kafountine islands for centuries, but they now fear being forced from their homes.
“The water is advancing and threatening the village. The trees are dying. If this continues, we’ll have no choice but to leave, but where will we go?” said Louise Diatta, in her 40s, who wants her children to grow up on her native island.
Like many countries along the
West African coast, Senegal is on the front lines of climate change.
Coastal erosion linked to rising sea levels, drought, desertification and flooding have affected large swathes of the population, with some communities in the north already displaced.
Most presidential candidates made some mention of the environment in their manifestos, a marked change from previous years.
But concrete measures to tackle global warming and reduce greenhouse gas emissions were relegated far behind issues such as justice, employment and the renegotiation of hydrocarbon contracts.
Recently discovered reserves of oil and gas have raised hopes of future industrialization, with production due to begin this year.
Senegal’s coastline is receding by an average of between one and 1.3 meters a year, according to official figures from 2020.
At this rate, around 6,000 square kilometers of low-lying areas would be flooded by 2100, with a sea level rise of one meter.
But the mayor of the southern town of Kafountine, David Diatta, said the phenomenon in his locality was happening much faster than these projections.