Abstract
Climate change is affecting terrestrial and maritime ecosystems of Mono transboundary biosphere reserve and the whole Togolese coast. This research focuses both on the dynamics of the barrier beach and on spatial and temporal changes that affected the ocean coastline and its adjacent Lake Togo and Lake Boko during the period 1988-2018. The methodological approach adopted is based on a combination of optical and radar remote sensing. As results, the Lake Togo widened on average by 1.55 m/year while the coastline of the Lake Boko shrank by 1.25 m/year. For the coastline of the Ocean, the regression ranged from 1.66 to 5.25 m/year. The barrier beach experienced an average immersion of 9.25 ha/year. Predictions on the basis of the average rate of immersion of the barrier beach of 9.25 ha/year showed that the latter is exposed to a continuous immersion hazard that would affect more than 7% of its current area (6557.33 ha) by the year 2070.
Highlights
Climate change is one of the major environmental challenges of 21st century
Predictions based on the average sinking rate of the barrier beach of 9.25 ha/year showed that it is exposed to a continual risk of immersion which may affect more than 7% of its surface area in the 2070s
This study has contributed to spatial-temporal monitoring of 1) the barrier beach and its resources, 2) Lake Togo and Lake Boko and 3) the coastline of the littoral
Summary
Climate change is one of the major environmental challenges of 21st century. West Africa is one of the areas severely affected by climate change [2]. The Togolese barrier beach is affected by the phenomenon of coastal erosion. Due to its geographic location between the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Togo in the south of the Mono transboundary biosphere reserve, it offers several touristic, economic, cultural, social and scientific services to only name few [4] [5]. For this reason, the barrier beach is privileged and coveted
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