10 African countries threatened by sea storm surges

On this, Dr Stephen Salter tells me in an email that there is evidence that wave power technology, by extracting energy from the sea, tend to resist coastal erosion and even cause beaches to build up. Although the wave power machines are designed to let storms pass over them, it is still the case that by building up beaches, wave power technology will reduce the damage caused by storm surges.

Restoration of the mangroves will also help to protect the seashore. In th eglobal greens' Conference lat year I met a Senegalese guy who had planted thousands of mangroves successfully, aided by his children aged 7 and 8.

!IRIN, the humanitarian news and analysis service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report that World Bank researchers have crunched population, economic, and elevation maps to analyse which countries are most at risk from storm surges, assuming a one metre rise in sea level (due to climate change).

"A Comparative Analysis of Impacts in Developing Countries, reveals "very heavy potential losses. [which] further strengthen the case for rapid action to protect endangered coastal populations".

The 10 countries with the largest increases in at-risk land area are:

Mozambique - http://www.irinnews.org/Africa-Country.aspx?Country=MZ

Madagascar - http://www.irinnews.org/Africa-Country.aspx?Country=MG

Nigeria - http://www.irinnews.org/Africa-Country.aspx?Country=NG

Mauritania - http://www.irinnews.org/Africa-Country.aspx?Country=MR

Senegal -

Guinea-Bissau -

Cote d'Ivoire -

Gabon -

South Africa -

Somalia -
"