Ivory Coast town sinking underwater as coastal erosion advances

FILE PHOTO: A resident stands above the stones of the civil prison that was the last remnant of the colonial building that collapsed few months ago, at Lahou Kpanda village, in Grand-Lahou, southern Ivory Coast August 9, 2019. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

LAHOU-KPANDA, Ivory Coast (Reuters) - The village of Lahou-Kpanda is sinking. In the past 30 years, residents of the once-thriving historic town 140 km southwest of the Ivorian capital Abidjan have seen their prison, hospital and school be subsumed by the waters.

Some of the villagers have started to exhume the bodies of relatives, for fear of their graves being lost to the sea. Not all have managed to do so on time.

FILE PHOTO: Graves that have been ravaged by the encroaching sea are pictured at Lahou Kpanda village in Grand-Lahou, southern Ivory Coast August 1, 2019. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

"Today we live in anguish. What will happen tomorrow if no one comes to the help of the village? We will disappear," said Daniel Loha, one of the village elders, walking by the graves.

"In Africa, our parents, our ancestors are very important to us and to see them scattered in the sea is heartbreaking and every day that God brings to us we are haunted."

In West Africa, where a third of the population lives along the coast, rising sea levels linked to the melting of the polar ice caps are conspiring with coastal erosion to slowly submerge communities.

FILE PHOTO: Elders stand next to a graveyard that has been ravaged by the encroaching sea at Lahou Kpanda village in Grand-Lahou, southern Ivory Coast August 9, 2019. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

Yet experts say poorly planned construction too close to the coast or using coastal sand as a building material worsens erosion and renders buildings vulnerable.

Every year in the main town of Grand-Lahou, in which Lahou-Kpanda is located, the water advances further. It had to be relocated nearly 20 km inland in the 1970s.

Residents tried to include Grand-Lahou on the list of UNESCO protected sites in an effort to shore up funding to save the peninsula, but local experts say it is too late as historical buildings have already been lost.

Graves that have been ravaged by the encroaching sea are pictured at Lahou Kpanda village in Grand-Lahou, southern Ivory Coast August 1, 2019. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

The degradation of its coast cost Ivory Coast nearly $2 billion in 2017 or nearly 5% of its GDP, according to the World Bank, making it one of the worst-hit countries in West Africa.

For the whole of West Africa that figure rises to over $3.8 billion a year.

FILE PHOTO: Stones of the civil prison that was the last remnant of the colonial building that collapsed few months ago, are pictured at Lahou Kpanda village, in Grand-Lahou, southern Ivory Coast August 9, 2019. Picture taken August 9, 2019. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

(Reporting by Loucoumane Coulibaly, editing by Anna Pujol-Mazzini and Alexandra Hudson)

FILE PHOTO: Albert Miezan, a resident, shows the stones of the civil prison that was the last remnant of the colonial building that collapsed few months ago, at Lahou Kpanda village, in Grand-Lahou, southern Ivory Coast August 9, 2019. Picture taken August 9, 2019. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

FILE PHOTO: The remains of Hotel Amitie, gradually destroyed by the storms lashing the coast, is pictured in Assouinde, an area of Abidjan, Ivory Coast July 3, 2019. Picture taken July 3, 2019. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

FILE PHOTO: A resident gestures as she stands in the doorway of her house, gradually destroyed by the storms lashing the coast in Port Bouet, an area of Abidjan, Ivory Coast July 17, 2019. Picture taken July 17, 2019. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

FILE PHOTO: A fisherman throws his net into the sea at Lahou Kpanda village in Grand-Lahou, southern Ivory Coast August 1, 2019. Picture taken August 1, 2019. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

FILE PHOTO: A man passes the ruins of a house where the first president of Ivory Coast Felix Houphouet-Boigny stayed when he came to visit in 1954, at Lahou Kpanda village, Grand-Lahou, southern Ivory Coast August 10, 2019. Picture taken August 10, 2019. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

FILE PHOTO: Samuel Amoussou, a fisherman who moved out of his home last June, walks through the remains of an abandoned house at Lahou Kpanda village in Grand-Lahou, southern Ivory Coast August 12, 2019. Picture taken August 12, 2019. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

FILE PHOTO: Children play in the remains of a room, gradually destroyed by the storms lashing the coast, in Port Bouet, an area of Abidjan, Ivory Coast August 27, 2019. Picture taken August 27, 2019. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

FILE PHOTO: A relative stands in the remains of the living room of Pastor Bassey's building, gradually destroyed by the storms lashing the coast in Port Bouet, an area of Abidjan, Ivory Coast July 17, 2019. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

FILE PHOTO: Pastor Peter Bassey, a resident of 20 years, talks about how the storms lashing the coast are gradually destroyed his building in Port Bouet, an area of Abidjan, Ivory Coast July 17, 2019. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

FILE PHOTO: Sandbags lie below the houses that are gradually destroyed by the storms lashing the coast in Port Bouet, an area of Abidjan, Ivory Coast July 17, 2019. Picture taken July 17, 2019. REUTERS/Luc Gnago

FILE PHOTO: A man watches the encroaching sea at Lahou Kpanda village in Grand-Lahou, southern Ivory Coast August 1, 2019. Picture taken August 1, 2019. REUTERS/Luc Gnago