The Eastern African coastal zone is very heavily populated today because of its growing industrial infrastructure.
It is estimated that 13% of the 62 million people in East Africa reside along the coast due to rapid development of coastal activities such as fishing, sea ports for imports and exports, coastal tourism and industries.
The East African coastal zone is presently experiencing some coastal degradation due to erosion along some sandy and low-lying beaches.
In Dar es Salaam, accelerated marine erosion and flooding in the last decade have uprooted settlements and resulted in the abandonment of luxury beach hotels.
Coral reefs, especially near Malindi in Kenya, are being damaged due to excessive siltation caused by coastal erosion.
In Seychelles, several parts of the country have already experienced coastal flooding, coastal erosion and loss of infrastructure as a result of increased intensity of wave action and probably sea-level-change.
Predicted Future Impacts: The East African Perspective
The coastal countries and islands of East Africa are highly vulnerable to sea-level rise, having many low-lying structural developments including major ports and cities, extensive farmlands, settlements and tourist facilities located along low-lying parts of the coast.
Sea level rise would cause inundation of the extensive mangroves of Mozambique and Tanzania and these would retreat, thus increasing rates of erosion of the shoreline.
In Mauritius, applying the Brunn rule for calculation of future coastal retreat within 2.2 km of the west coast, the whole area from the actual shoreline to the tarred road will disappear following a sea level rise of 1 m (Beebeejaun, 2000).
In Tanzania, Mwaipopo (1997) employed a sea-level rise scenario of 1 mm/yr to determine that about 2,117 km2 of land would be inundated, and another 9 km2 of land would be eroded.
In Kenya, the most vulnerable sites are the Watamu and Sabaki River estuary. It is also projected that with a 0.3m increase in sea level, about 17% of Mombasa district will be submerged (Oyieke, 2000).
Seychelles will be severely affected by sea level rise by virtue of the concentration of economic activities on the coast, uniqueness of the coastal environment, as well as current direct impacts on coastal processes and resources.
