Guinea: the Kaback peninsula facing dangerous rising waters

Located 60 km from the Forécariah prefecture, the Kaback peninsula covers an area of 270 km2. To the West and South-West, Kaback lends itself to the Atlantic Ocean, favoring rising water levels and its corollaries. This recurring phenomenon negatively impacts local populations in most sectors of activity.

With repeated assaults from the sea, the consequences are immediate. Several villages have disappeared, giving way to water, or at worst mud. These island populations are already suffering the consequences of global warming. As a result, residents fear the disappearance of the peninsula, since the sea level is rising dangerously. Faced with this threat, residents are responsible for excessively cutting down the mangroves and failing to protect the environment.

Ibrahima Sory Sylla, farmer, remembers life in the past:“In 1970 when I came here, there were enough buildings, we grew rice, bananas, tomatoes too. But, water invaded here several times, the inhabitants left to take refuge on dry land. As for me, I stayed. Sometimes, when the waves come, we climb the trees, and if they recede, we take shovels to repair the dike, but we are powerless in the face of the rising waters. We are really afraid of what could happen tomorrow even if some are responsible for the advance of the waters by excessively cutting down the mangroves along the West Coast.he worries.

Risks loom on the Kaback peninsula

The melting of the ice in the two poles of the earth, the destruction of the mangroves all along the Atlantic coasts, or even the surge of the sea in Conakry, whatever the causes, the sub-prefecture of Kaback has been experiencing repeated assaults from the Atlantic Ocean for several years. This phenomenon gradually leads to the premature disappearance of the mainland of the Kaback peninsula. To date, the dyke supposed to hold back the advance of the Ocean has given way in places.“If nothing is done within 5 years, the sub-prefecture of Kaback risks being absorbed by the Atlantic Ocean,”indicates the master corporal, Lansana Mansaré, nature conservationist in Kaback.

 The dikes have given way to the pressure of the Ocean

In 1954, the DUMEZ company carried out development work on 1,500 hectares accompanied by the construction of a ring dike. Immediately degraded, it took the intervention of China in 1975 to rehabilitate the cultivable areas and strengthen the dike which had given way at the time. Despite these efforts,  the solution will be short-lived. In 1978, China carried out the total reconstruction of the dike and the rehabilitation of 850 hectares.“It was with palm tree trunks and sandbags that this dike was built, which is why it did not last long enough,”says the master corporal.

To respond to the call of local populations, the company RAZEL undertook rehabilitation work on several hectares by completely constructing the surrounding dike over a length of more than 9,500 meters.

 Cultivable space has shrunk in Kaback

Once described as the breadbasket of the Forécariah prefecture because of the immensity of its agricultural potential, the Kaback sub-prefecture has almost lost its notoriety due to rising water levels. With a population of approximately 28,105 inhabitants, agriculture and fishing are the main activities on the peninsula.« On an 8 km belt dike, more than 3,000 hectares were developed in Kaback, but unfortunately, salt water destroyed more than 2,500 hectares»,estimates Elhadj Kollet Youla, president of the “MANQUE” agricultural group in Kaback.

 « Here, we do diversified agriculture. Before my group made up of 360 members could work up to 50 hectares, but because of the subjugation of our estates, it is impossible to have 10 hectares »,adds the president of the agricultural group.

 Kaback fishermen at an impasse

Alongside agriculture, fishing is also a victim of rising water levels. You have to go very far into the sea and risk the depths of the water to bring back very few fish.« The quantity of fish that could be offered free to a visitor is effectively the same quantity of fish that a great fisherman can bring back to this day.», underlines Yarie Seydou Camara, president of the Kaback fishermen.

To address the concerns of the populations of Kaback, the Guinean government has taken steps to maintain the damaged parts of the dyke.

Mamadou Kindy BAH