Climate Change Threatens Cultural Landmarks and Heritage Sites in Africa

Extreme weather changes, sea-level rise, and climate change threaten the destruction of cultural landmarks and heritage sites in Africa.

Scientific Report

According to scientists in a report published in Azania, intervention should save such heritage sites.

Archaeologists from Sudan attempted to stop the Nile River's floodwater from destroying the al-Bajrawiya UN World Heritage Site. Although it is normal for the river to flood each year, the people in the area noticed that the water had spread much farther this time.

The authors of the Azania report have identified several sites that they consider under threat.

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Old Town, Lamu, Kenya

According to UNESCO, Lamu's Old Town is Swahili's most preserved and oldest East African settlement. Many East African coastal villages and towns have already been abandoned, but in Lamu, human habitation has continued for seven centuries.

According to the UN, the area is now also an important center for Swahili and Islamic cultural studies.

Unfortunately, Lamu is severely affected by the retreat of the shoreline. According to Clarke, this is partly due to sea-level rise and the development of the large Lamu port, which destroys mangrove forests preventing the area from being flooded.

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Suakin, Northeast Sudan

Suakin used to have a vital Red Seaport, which the Egyptian pharaohs three millennia ago used for exploration and trade. Afterward, Suakin was used by Muslims to go to Mecca.

The port was also an essential part of the Red Sea slave trade, and the Ottoman Empire also took control of it. 

It finally lost prominence when Port Sudan in the north was constructed in the early 1900s. It is now mostly in ruins, although it still has fine mosques and houses.

University of East Anglia professor Joanne Clarke is researching the speed of loss due to sea-level rise and coastal erosion. She says that if intervention is not done, what remains now will eventually be lost.

Comoros Island

The volcanic archipelago of Comoros off East Africa has several sites that are well preserved through the centuries, including a palace and a medina. According to Clarke, it is severely threatened by the rise in sea levels.

The study says that medium to high carbon emissions worldwide will inundate African coasts by the year 2100. This threat looms over Guinea, Nigeria, Gambia, Togo, Congo, Benin, Tunisia, Comoros, and Tanzania.

Ghana's Castles and Forts

Ghana's coast has many fortified trade posts constructed from 1482 to 1786, stretching 310 miles or 500 kilometers. They were built and occupied by various traders at various times, including Portugal, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Germany, the UK, and Holland. It was also crucial in the trade of gold and the slave trade.

These forts are now highly threatened by storm surges and sea-level rise. According to Clarke, architecture like Keta's Fort Prinzenstein is eroding.

Djenné Mud Houses, Mali

The approximately 2,000 iconic mud houses of Mali are in Djenné, inhabited since the year 250 BC as a market town and a link to the gold trade in the Sahara. It was also a center of West African Islamic propagation in the 1400s and 1500s. Climate change has caused a decrease in sound quality mud, and crop failures forced the people to use cheaper soil, drastically affecting the town's appearance.

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Namibia's Twyfelfontein Rock Art

Due to climate change, Twyfelfontein rock art made by hunter-gatherers two millennia ago may be lost due to increased humidity and bacterial and fungal proliferation on the rocks.

Disappearing Cultural Heritage

Clarke wants to shed light on cultural treasures that are barely known to the world, fearing they will disappear without being recognized. She says that our natural heritage protects our cultural heritage, and destroying the former will also expose the latter.

And while some countries can protect their cultural heritage from climate change, such as Egypt, others like Somaliland need help to defend theirs, like their ancient cave drawings.

These archaeological treasures, cultural landmarks, and heritage sites in Africa can disappear from extreme weather changes, sea-level rise, and climate change. 

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