Cameroon is particularly exposed to climate change: its territories in the north extend into the Sahel and are increasingly affected by desertification, while coastal areas in the southwest are threatened by rising sea levels. According to him National Climate Change Observatory (ONACC by its French acronym), the geographical location of the country means that it is “very exposed” to climate-related dangers such as droughts, floods in its tropical cities, the effects of the El Niño phenomenon throughout the country, and the monsoons and the rise of water on the coast. “All of this has caused an alteration in the pattern and distribution of rainfall throughout Cameroon, recurring extreme phenomena such as heat waves, rising temperatures, succession of hot and cold nights, flash floods, and the consequences that all this entails” , explains Patrick Forghab Mbomba, deputy director general of the ONACC.
Several recent episodes demonstrate this vulnerability. For the first time in more than a century, the dam bed atop the hill on which Mbankolo sits, in Yaoundé (in the southwest of the country, but far from the coast), is filled with wet mud instead of water. The birds chirp as they work on their nests, in the twisted branches of the trees of this desolate landscape. The prolonged and intense rains that fell in the Cameroonian capital on October 8 caused the dam of the catchment basin, about 700 square meters, to break, releasing its waters downstream, mixed with mud and rocks. They destroyed everything in their path, including fifty homes precariously built with wood, adobe bricks and metal sheets. The official number of fatalities rise to 30, but residents insist there are many more. Several dozen people suffered injuries of various degrees and nearly 60 families have been affected. “It came like an atomic bomb,” recalls Jean Ambassa, 24, who witnessed the catastrophe from his house. ”I saw how the violent current of water carried away houses and lives. “It looked like a movie.”
The dam, built by the Germans during the colonial era (1884-1915), gave way to the torrential rains that hit the Cameroonian capital, combined with a lack of maintenance. Several climate change experts insist that the landslide could have been avoided. In its bulletin of October 1, the ONACC raised the alarm about the imminent arrival of extreme rainfall in Yaoundé between October 8 and 10, and warned of a “very high risk” of flooding.
Fabian Mebara, 49, was the only one in his family who was in the area when the disaster occurred. “The current of water dragged me more than 150 meters. I grabbed onto the trunk of a tree,” he recalls. “My house has been destroyed. “I have lost everything: television, pots, gas cylinder, bed, telephone, money… The clothes I am wearing are the only things I have left.”
”I saw how the violent current of water carried away houses and lives. It seemed like a movie”
Jean Ambassa, resident of Yaoundé
Yaoundé, nicknamed “the city of seven hills”, is dominated by a generally undulating relief, marked by a good number of valleys that can reach up to 700 meters high. According to the climate experts consulted, these characteristics of the city where 4.5 million inhabitants live expose it to a large extent to earth movements of all kinds. “Cameroonian researchers and geographers recently recommended that something be done to stop continued human settlement on the slopes,” says Forghab Mbomba. Due to climate change, more and more variability in rainfall is observed in the southwestern region where Yaoundé is located and the city is not prepared to channel excess water, causing floods and landslides. During the rainy season, these episodes occur almost weekly, in the capital and other parts of the country.
Many times, the consequences are fatal. At least 14 people died last November after an embankment collapsed in the Damas de Youndé neighborhood. In 2019, a landslide swept away a dozen flimsy homes built into a hillside in the western region of Cameroon, causing at least 43 deaths.
“It is evident that the recurrent appearance of these dangers is a consequence of global climate change that manifests itself locally,” explains the expert. “Although the severity and degree of damage caused depends largely on the nature and type of human activities carried out in the affected area, the design and planning of cities, the general use of the land, the level of awareness about climate change and the degree of preparation.”
The sea rises, the land degrades
According to a UN Environment Program status report (UNEP), climate change affects more than 70% of Cameroon’s population (27.2 million inhabitants) whose livelihood depends directly on agriculture, an activity that represents 17% of the country’s GDP. The socioeconomic impact is felt primarily by women, who represent 75% of workers in the informal agricultural sector and are primarily responsible for households, the authors indicate.
For a country that relies heavily on natural resources and agriculture, climate change is “an imminent threat to development,” notes the World Bank. Tropical forests, which cover almost 40% of the country, provide some eight million rural residents with basic foodstuffs, medicines, fuel and construction materials. But changes in temperature, rainfall and droughts will likely affect these ecosystems, putting rural people at greater risk of suffering more poverty, the agency says. Under current climate conditions, around two million of Cameroon’s 27 million people live in drought-affected areas, and around 8% of the country’s GDP is vulnerable, summarizes UNEP.
On Cameroon’s 470 kilometers of Atlantic coast in the southeast, the impact has to do with rising sea levels, coastal erosion, mudflats and huge waves that uproot mangroves and coconut trees. The affected coastal communities, including Douala (a city considered the economic center of the country), use sandbags, fences and logs as breakwaters that have not been of much use.
“Today in Cameroon there are numerous regrettable examples of sea incursion on the coast, which results in the destruction of piers, beaches and homes, explains Isaac Njilah Konfor, groundwater expert and associate professor of Geology at the University of Yaoundé. The worst, he warns, is yet to come to the Cameroonian coast if “immediate measures” are not taken. “The floods in Douala – very destructive and frequent –, although attributed to poor urbanization, are also closely linked to rising sea levels,” he explains. “The beach that 30 years ago was more than 100 meters from the Kribi highway [al sur] the tar on the road now threatens. According to my calculations, the road that connects Kribi with the rest of the world will be cut off in the next two years.”
In addition to threatening or destroying restaurants and homes, the large size of the waves has caused drownings and affected fishing activities. Two fishermen died in the water on a beach in Kribi on October 9. And half a dozen more fishermen lost their lives as a result of violent ocean currents in August. “The waves were so strong in August that they overwhelmed the beach and crossed the nearby road,” says Ida Kwedi, 62, who lives in Kribi. This mother of four, who has been selling fish for 30 years, explains that fish “become scarce” when sea levels rise. “The water currents scare them away. Now that the sea has receded, we have fish,” she says. Ambassa Pierre, a local fisherman, says such strong waves have never been seen in Kribi in the last 10 years. “We spent up to a month without fish due to the rise in sea level,” he recalls.
The fishing sector employs more than 240,000 artisanal fishermen and vendors in Cameroon, and contributes 3% of GDP.
Cameroon must anticipate global warming, adopting measures to mitigate the production of greenhouse gases
Evina Lydie, professor at the University of Yaoundé
Evina Lydie, an expert in environmental dynamics and risks and professor at the University of Yaoundé, agrees that the sea waves on the Cameroonian Atlantic coast have become “increasingly violent” and attack the land to the point that the inhabitants of The area is “losing some agricultural land.” “Residents estimate this decrease at about one meter per year, so the risk in the coming years could be extremely catastrophic and cause some plots to disappear completely,” she explains.
For Lydie, protecting the coast from an imminent disaster would involve “evicting residents from this risk environment, prohibiting construction in these fragile places and enforcing the law and coastal management provisions without permissiveness and without favoritism.” ”. And she adds: “Cameroon must anticipate global warming, adopting measures to mitigate the production of greenhouse gases.”
For his part, Njilah recommends three short-term measures to prevent marine erosion on Cameroon’s Atlantic coast. Firstly, it suggests that long structures of stone, steel, concrete or wood be built parallel to the beach. “The Kribi town council has tried, but it is not moving forward because the cost is enormous if you take into account how many kilometers of coastline are affected,” he explains. The second measure, according to the groundwater expert, will require the construction of dams. . And it prescribes the planting of vegetation along coastal areas. “The roots of the plants will anchor the sand, preventing it from being carried away.”
Regarding measures to prevent long-term coastal erosion, he states that detailed historical and recent studies must be carried out along the entire coast to identify and map the most affected areas and prone to sea incursions. He also believes that “raising awareness, forming local disaster management committees and providing simple tools to deal with floods and landslides before the intervention of national or international bodies” could be a game-changer. .
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