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CONTENTSList of Tables........................................................................................................................................... iiList of Maps............................................................................................................................................. iiList Of Acronyms.................................................................................................................................... iiiWorking Group Members ....................................................................................................................... iv

Introduction....................................................................................................................................... 1The Rationale For Integrated Coastal Area Management In The Gambia ..............................................1Institutional Framework For Environmental Management.......................................................................2Planning Process And Methodology .......................................................................................................3Study Area: Southern Coastal Region ....................................................................................................4

I COASTAL PROFILE.........................................................................................................71 Coastal Resources: Status, Utilisation, Management ....................................................... 7

1.1 Coastal Geomorphology ..............................................................................................................71.2 Coastal Dynamics ........................................................................................................................71.3 Climate.........................................................................................................................................81.4 Fisheries ....................................................................................................................................101.5 Mineral Resources .....................................................................................................................151.6 Water Resources .......................................................................................................................171.7 Forestry......................................................................................................................................191.8 Wildlife .......................................................................................................................................21

2 Socio-Economic Features, Infrastructure And Social Services ..................................... 272.1 Population ..................................................................................................................................272.2 Economy ....................................................................................................................................292.3 Infrastructure..............................................................................................................................302.4 Social Services ..........................................................................................................................332.5 System Of Settlements/Villages.................................................................................................33

3 Tourism ................................................................................................................................. 353.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................353.2 Tourism Earnings.......................................................................................................................353.3 Tourism Employment .................................................................................................................363.4 Socio-Economic Implications Of The Tourism Development .....................................................37

4 Land-Use Planning And Development Control ................................................................. 394.1 Land-Use Planning ....................................................................................................................394.2 Development Control .................................................................................................................41

5 Coastal Erosion .................................................................................................................... 435.1 Coastal Erosion Rates And Critical Sites...................................................................................435.2 Specific Areas Of Erosion Along The Gambian Coast...............................................................435.3 Effects Of Coastal Erosion.........................................................................................................445.4 Causes Of Coastal Erosion........................................................................................................455.5 Past Erosion Control Measures And Assessment Of Their Performance..................................475.6 Causes Of Failure Of Coastal Erosion Combating Measures....................................................48

6 Legal And Institutional Arrangements ............................................................................... 496.1 Institutions And Their Mandates.................................................................................................496.2 Land Tenure In The Gambia ......................................................................................................526.3 Land Administration ...................................................................................................................53

II INTEGRATED COASTAL AREA MANAGEMENT STRATEGY ......................................547 Strategy Framework............................................................................................................. 54

7.1 Institutional Aspects ...................................................................................................................557.2 Boundaries.................................................................................................................................567.3 Participation And Public Awareness ..........................................................................................56

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8 Sectoral Strategies ............................................................................................................... 578.1 Population.................................................................................................................................. 578.2 Land-Use Planning .................................................................................................................... 588.3 Tourism...................................................................................................................................... 618.4 Coastal Erosion ......................................................................................................................... 638.5 Wildlife....................................................................................................................................... 658.6 Fisheries .................................................................................................................................... 678.7 Mineral Resources..................................................................................................................... 698.8 Forestry ..................................................................................................................................... 708.9 Water Resources....................................................................................................................... 71

REFERENCES ................................................................................................................................. 73

LIST OF TABLESTable 1. Sediment transport by local streams........................................................................................... 8Table 2. Maximum and minimum monthly temperatures for Banjul between 1980 and 1990.................. 9Table 3. Mean values of some weather/climate parameters .................................................................... 9Table 4. In-situ Reserves of Heavy Minerals in the Coastal Area, in '000 of Metric Tonnes .................. 16Table 5. Rural water supply facilities as of December 31, 1994 ............................................................. 18Table 6. The status of the Gambia’s large mammals and reptiles.......................................................... 22Table 7. Mammals of the Study Area...................................................................................................... 23Table 8. Sites of Ecological Importance within the Study Area............................................................... 25Table 9. Population growth rates in The Gambia 1973-1993.................................................................. 27Table 10. Population and growth rates in LGAs........................................................................................ 27Table 11. Freight traffic, exports and imports, in tonnes........................................................................... 30Table 12. Arrival of air charter tourists by nationality for the period 1990/91 to 1993/94 .......................... 35Table 13. The breakdown of the “out of pocket” expenditure, quarter April to June 1993........................ 36Table 14. Occupancy rate of the hotels in The Gambia, quarter January to March 1994 ........................ 36Table 15. Land-Use Planning Management Strategy Outline................................................................... 60Table 16. Tourism Management Strategy Outline .................................................................................... 63Table 17. Coastal Erosion Management Strategy Outline ........................................................................ 65

Table 18. Wildlife Management Strategy Outline...................................................................................... 67

Table 19. Fisheries Management Strategy Outline................................................................................... 69

Table 20. Mineral Resources Management Strategy Outline ................................................................... 70

LIST OF MAPSAfter page

Map 1. Project Study Area ..................................................................................................................... 4Map 2. Fisheries..................................................................................................................................... 4Map 3. Mineral resources..................................................................................................................... 20Map 4. Ecologically Sensitive Areas .................................................................................................... 20Map 5. Population Density (1991) ........................................................................................................ 34Map 6. Tourist Bed Accommodation ................................................................................................... 34Map 7. Bathymetry Map ....................................................................................................................... 48Map 8. Coastal Erosion........................................................................................................................ 48

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List of Acronyms

CMEWG Coastal and Marine Environment Working Group

DF Dept. of Forestry

DFi Dept. of Fisheries

DTS Dept. of Technical Services

DPPH Dept. of Physical Planning and Housing

DPWM Dept. of Parks and Wildlife Management

GPTC Gambia Public Transport Corporation

GU Geological Unit

MANR Ministry of Agriculture and Natural Resources

MH Ministry of Health

MLGL Ministry of Local Government and Lands

MTC Ministry of Tourism and Culture

MTIE Ministry of Trade, Industry and Employment

MWC Ministry of Works and Communication

NEA National Environment Agency

PA Ports Authority

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Working Group Members

National Team:

Ministry of Works and CommunicationDept. of Technical Services Mr. Baboucarr Diba

Mr. Abdoulie Diba

Gambia Public Transport Corporation Mr. Pa Lamin Beyai

Ministry of Agriculture and Natural ResourcesDept. of Fisheries Mr. Amadou SaineDept. of Water Resources Ms. Isatou SissohoDept. of Parks and Wildlife Management Mr. Paul MurphyDept. of Forestry Mr. Lamin Bojang

Ministry of Trade, Industry and EmploymentGeological Unit Mr. Fafa Sanyang

Ministry of Local Government and LandsDept. of Lands and Survey Mr. Alieu Jobe

Mr. Ebrima ChamDept. of Physical Planning Mr. Ismaila KahDept. of Tourism Mr. Charles Jallow

Office of the PresidentNational Environment Agency Mr. Momodou Cham

Ms. Sallimatta Lamin-WadaMr. Momodou SarrMr. Nyada Yoba BaldehMr. Malang Barrow

International Team:

UNEP/MAP Priority Actions ProgrammeRegional Activity Centre Mr. Gojko BerlengiNigerian Institute for Oceanographyand Marine Research Mr. Larry AwosikaFAO Project Coordinator Mr. Tolu Orekoya

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IntroductionThe Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has been implementing the Project “IntegratedCoastal Areas: Training and Development of National Capabilities for Planning andManagement of the West and Central African Region” (WACAF/11) in co-operation with theOcean and Coastal Areas Programme (OCA/PAC) of UNEP, and through the Priority ActionsProgramme/Regional Activity Centre (PAP/RAC) of the UNEP's Mediterranean Action Plan(MAP). A part of WACAF/11 referred to The Gambia and envisaged the preparation of aCoastal Profile, as well as the development of an Integrated Coastal Area Management (ICAM)Strategy for the selected study area.The main objectives of the ICAM Project in The Gambia include:

• to promote cross-sectoral learning about coastal resources and uses as well as useconflicts and issues, and information exchange among institutions and stakeholdergroups at the local, regional and national levels;

• to formulate effective, participatory approaches and strategies for addressing coastalmanagement problems;

• to encourage communication and collaboration among coastal resource stakeholders;

• to provide on-the-job training for the National Team members;

• to start building the local, national, and global support required for the implementation ofthe coastal management strategy; and

• to make contribution in the setting up of a regional database on coastal resources, issuesand management practices in WACAF/11 countries.

In accomplishing the task, PAP/RAC consultants have closely co-operated with the NationalEnvironment Agency, the national Steering Committee of the Coastal and Marine EnvironmentWorking Group and other relevant national institutions and stakeholder groups.

The Rationale for Integrated Coastal Area Management in The GambiaCoastal Zone in The Gambia Environmental Action Plan (GEAP)The GEAP prepared by the NEA in consultation with relevant institutions and the public, wasadopted in July 1992. The Action Plan, which is to be revised in 2001 unless new developmentsand emergent needs warrant an earlier revision, relates to all matters affecting the environment,and identifies key environmental issues and strategies to control, prevent and mitigate allharmful effects on the environment. As the key document for environmental planning at thenational level, the plan is to help conserve and promote the sustainable use of naturalresources.A certain number of issues actually triggered the launching of the process of coastal areamanagement in The Gambia. The most important ones are broadly stated in followingparagraphs.In the chapter 2.6.2.4 of the GEAP, the coastal zone is identified as an “... important naturaland economic resource which if utilised in an appropriate manner will yield important economicbenefits. Uncontrolled sand removals from the beach, and unplanned tourist development alongthe coastline are serious problems which need to be stopped. There is a lack of basic technicalinformation on coastal dynamics necessary for effective management of the coastal zone.”

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The largest population density is along the coast where the employment possibilities are greaterby far than in the rest of the country, mainly because of the tourism sites and governmentinstitutions. The infrastructure development in this area has accelerated in recent years, and itis believed that the unplanned tourism development has been exacerbating the coastal erosion.The Gambia has been identified by UNEP as one of the ten countries most vulnerable to sealevel rise due to global warming. Amidst the conflicting debate among international scientists onthe effects and speed of global warming, The Gambia has now awarded the issue appropriateattention by the formation of the National Climate Committee.The pollution of the beaches, caused mainly by fish processing on the beach within theartisanal sector, litter, especially cans and plastic containers from the tourist industry, andsewage outfalls is of major concern.The other area of concern is the depletion of groundwater resources in the coastal area. In theGreater Banjul Area, the supply-demand equilibrium has apparently been reached. Furtherextraction of groundwater beyond the present level could cause saltwater intrusion into thewells in the coastal zone, especially as the rate of groundwater recharge decreases with thedeclining annual rainfall in recent years. The improper disposal of both solid waste and sewagecan lead to the contamination of wells. There is already a high incidence of water-relateddiseases such as diarrhoea and dysentery especially among infants, reported in health centresand elsewhere.One of the key issues in the coastal area is the absence of an effective land-use planning anddevelopment control system. Both are needed to rationalise the development of land, to co-ordinate it with infrastructure provision and to ensure protection of the environmental resources,all in the interest of sustainable development of the Gambian coast.Finally, The Gambia is a signatory to a number of treaties and conventions which provide thebasis for the establishment of coastal area management.

Institutional Framework for Environmental ManagementThe National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) further elaborates control andmanagement of the environment. Under Section 10 of NEMA, it is stipulated that the NationalEnvironment Agency (NEA) shall perform the following functions:

• implement the policies of the council on the environment;

• liaise with the various ministries, departments and agencies of the Government on allissues relating to the environment, and ensure that environmental concerns areintegrated into all spheres of national planning and project implementation;

• liaise with the private sector, inter governmental organisations, governmental agencies ofother states on all issues relating to the environment;

• prepare proposals of environmental strategies for the council;

• initiate legislative proposals, standards, guidelines, and regulations in accordance with theprovisions of this Act;

• undertake studies and submit reports and recommendations to the council on the matterslikely to have an impact on the environment; and

• promote public awareness of environmental issues through gathering, analysing anddisseminating information about the environment, and publishing periodic reports on thestate of the environment.

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Coastal and Marine Environment Working GroupThe Executive Director of NEA was empowered by NEMA to establish a Coastal and MarineEnvironment working group with the following terms of reference:

• to formulate, review and revise policies relating to all coastal, marine and fluvial activities;

• to advise the National Environment Agency and the Government on matters arising on thesustainability, protection, development and monitoring of the coastal, marine and fluvialenvironment; and

• to form and guide the work of task forces on issues that may arise relating to coastal andriverbank erosion, marine and fluvial environment, sand mining, and oil spill contingencyplans.

The working group consequently formed, comprises the following institutions:

• The Gambia Ports Authority;• Kanifing Municipal Council;• Brikama Area Council;• Banjul City Council;• Department of Fisheries;• Department of Forestry;• Department of Water Resources;• Geological Unit;• Department of Physical Planning;• The Gambia Public Transport Corporation;• Department of Technical Services; and• National Environment Agency.

The current coastal erosion rate of 1-2 metres annually is a major environmental problem,which has required the creation of a multi-sectoral working group due to its complexity. Themembership of the working group has been selected to include all the major stakeholders in thecoastal area. The exclusion of the National Tourist Office from the working group could be seenas a setback, considering the major role of tourist activities and their impact on the coastalzone.A significant achievement of the working group is the collective effort to get the sand miningtransferred from Bijilo Beach to the relict sand dunes on the outskirts of Kartong Village. Afterthe initial delay, the sand mining did actually start at Kartong in January 1996.

Planning Process and MethodologyLeading national institution and the PAP/RAC main counterpart in the implementation of theICAM Project in The Gambia, has been the National Environment Agency (NEA). In addition, anational team was created, including mostly the members of the Steering Committee of theCoastal and Marine Environment working group. Although the members of the working grouphave been selected to cover all the major sectors and stakeholders in the coastal area, thegroup agenda so far has been dominated by the coastal erosion and related problems, such asbeach sand mining (now hopefully satisfactorily solved). Although coastal erosion is a largeproblem in The Gambia, during the joint work the ICAM team has tried to move from strictlyreactive policies as a response to emergency situations to comprehensive understanding of thecoastal environment and the processes taking place there.Traditionally, the resources of The Gambian coast, as in most places, have been developed ina sectoral (e.g., fisheries, tourism, forestry) manner with insufficient regard to the inherentlyintegrated nature of coastal and marine resources that support these sectors. Coastal areas

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are also usually managed mostly around political/administrative boundaries rather thanenvironmental units, which often results in overlapping jurisdictions and responsibilities. Finally,sectoral approaches often target short-term rewards without taking into account the long-termcosts of resource depletion. This very first generation of the coastal area management efforts inThe Gambia obviously requires some improvements. To this end the ICAM Project and the jointworking team offered an approach based on the following elements:

• Full understanding of interrelationships among the coastal resources and their use, andthe impacts of development on the environment is essential. This is the prerequisite forthe move from reactive, ad hoc measures to preventive actions which are always cheaperand safer than rectifying environmental harms later.

• ICAM is a permanent, long-term, iterative process in which coastal profile andmanagement strategy preparation is just one step. Both documents will serve as the basisfor the preparation of the coastal management Master Plan which will provide finalframework for the first-generation coastal management initiatives in The Gambia.

• Although the Coastal Profile and ICAM Strategy were expected and needed outputs,equal attention during the joint work has been paid to the planning process itself. To thisend, international consultants often applied an approach where contents emerged fromthe guided process. This methodology requires all the team members to shareresponsibility for what they do, while consultants take the role of process facilitators. Inaddition, this encourages team members to take ownership of the activity outcomes.

• Another aspect of active participation of the team members and other stakeholders in theICAM process is of particular importance. Given the fact that the team members arespecialists in different fields, this allowed for cross-sectoral analysis of issues, balancingof arguments and judgements, as well as co-ordination of policies and actions. Inaddition, the presence of the international consultants provided for another importantcomponent of the project: transfer of international knowledge and experience in ICAM,local capacity building for ICAM, and transfer of national specialist knowledge andexperience to the international team, for creating synergies and substantial improvementsin the process and product alike.

• Spatial component and positional exactness is often important in depicting coastalphenomena. Accordingly, a significant aspect in the coastal profiling phase was the use ofgeographic information systems (GIS) as a principal tool in environmental informationmanagement. Traditionally, majority of disciplines communicate much easier in textualform, so the requirement to have “problems” drawn or marked down on the maps wasgood exercise for all the team members. As a matter of fact, NEA has undertakenimportant steps in establishing a strong environmental information section, and selectedGIS as a principal technology for environmental information management. Building uponthis, the ICAM Project organised a five-day training course on ARCVIEW 2.1 for some ofthe National Team members and the NEA GIS lab staff.

An important fact in the case of The Gambia has been a large number of projectssimultaneously under way, putting heavy demand on some National Team members. Althoughmost of those projects deal with sectoral or subject policies, such as forestry, fisheries,environmental legislation or coastal erosion (as opposed to ICAM approach which is area-focused, addressing the problems of the Gambian coast), the prepared reports and documentsproved to be an invaluable source of information for the Coastal Profile compilation.

Study Area: Southern Coastal RegionOne of the objectives of the ICAM Project in the West African Region is to start or supportinitiatives towards a national integrated coastal management policy. To this end, in each

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country a study area has been proposed where initial coastal management activities will takeplace.Firstly, a proposed study area with its problems and concerns had to be as representative aspossible of the whole coast. Secondly, in defining landward and seaward boundaries a flexibleapproach was adopted, following the boundaries given by the problem or issue beingaddressed. Therefore, to define the Study Area several sets of criteria were used, dependingon the nature of the problem or issue(s).At the national level, the Gambian coast has naturally been divided by the Gambia river in twoparts or regions, Northern and Southern. Given the number and seriousness of coastalproblems, the working team focused on the Southern Coastal Region. Having in mind therequirement of representativeness (i.e. to cover estuary ecosystem, eroded shoreline, TDA andits environmentally sensitive areas) the team opted for the whole Southern Coastal Region.The administrative division of the Southern Coastal Region (which belongs to the WesternDivision) includes districts and villages. This division is appropriate for the analysis of thepopulation and economy (Census data), urban and regional development, and institutionalstructure. Accordingly, an area encompassing four Kombo Districts was adopted as the widerStudy Area.The “ecosystem approach” was used to define the landward boundary wherever anenvironmentally sensitive area was found (areas of coastal natural resources, biodiversity issueor an environmental problem). Following this approach the adopted Study Area encompassedmangrove swamps in the Gambia river estuary southern bank, and valuable (some of themalready protected) coastal forests and wildlife reserves.Visual and scenic values of the coastal landscape are important to be preserved as a basis forfuture development (i.e. as tourist attractions, usually designated as non-buildable or multipleuse areas). Accordingly, the adopted Study Area boundary includes the pre-existing TourismDevelopment Area.With regard to the seaward boundary, there are no significant cross sectoral issues or useconflict areas in the open sea, so 12 nautical miles from the coastline (where full sovereignty isgiven to coastal states by international law) was accepted as the seaward limit of the StudyArea.

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I Coastal Profile

1 Coastal Resources:Status, Utilisation, Management

1.1 Coastal GeomorphologyThe coastline of The Gambia is about 80 km long, from the mouth of the Allahein River in thesouth (130º4' N) to the Buniadu point in the north (130º31'56” N). From the Allahein River to theCape Saint Mary facing the Atlantic ocean, the coastline is about 56 km long; from the CapeSaint Mary to the Banjul point 13 km, and from the Barra point to the Buniadu point 11 km.Seawards the coast is separated from the continental slope or deep sea by the continental shelfwide 80 km which is marked by the 200 bathimetric line.Landwards the coast consists of the catchments of the Gambia, Saloum and Allahein rivers atthe northern and southern borders with Senegal respectively, and several small local riverssuch as the Kotu Stream, Tanji River, Tujering River and River Kakima.The embayed sandy parts have been prograding since the end of the Nouakchottiantransgression i.e. about 5500 years BP (Whyte, Stewart, Pijl 1981). The amount of progradationvaries at different locations but is generally of the order of 200-400 m in the Batu Kunku area,and 500-800 m in the Sanyang and Kartong areas. These predominantly sand deposits, in boththe surf zone (present beach) and the raised or ancient beach (usually covered with vegetation)have been grouped together as the Holocene Coastal Beach Complex.The raised beaches consist of yellowish medium to fine sands with distinctive black colouringas a result of heavy mineral presence. These sands have been originally reworked by wavesand exceptionally high waters into series of broad, low ridges, parallel to the present shoreline,and later modified by aeolian processes (Whyte, Stewart, Pijl, 1981).Landwards, behind the Beach Complex, the geology of the coastal area is made predominantlyof the continental terminal series which forms the protruding rocky headlands. The continentalterminal rises from 10-15 m at the coast to 100 m at 400 km inland.Pleistocene and Holocene formations exist in the wetland (the River Gambia and its estuaryplus other coastal rivers). These include the Pleistocene alluvium of undivided sand, silt andclay, and the Holocene marine fluvial (typically of the River Gambia estuary) of undivided sandsilt, clay salt and organic deposits.

1.2 Coastal DynamicsTides in The Gambia are of the semi-diurnal type with two daily high and two daily low waters ineach lunar day. Tidal ranges are low: at Banjul, for example, the tides of highest magnitude orspring tides are of 1.6 m, whilst the neap or lowest tide is 0.7 m. Consequently, the tidal

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currents along the coast are generally week (less than 0.1 m/s) with the exception of theGambia River estuary where the tidal currents exceed 1 m/s.The coastal area experiences the following winds: marine trade winds which account for 43% ofthe average readings at Banjul, the NE or Hamattan 17%, and the rain-bearing NW 18%, therest being calms (Delft Hydraulics, 1992).With regard to wave action from the Atlantic Ocean, the prevailing wave direction is the NWswell (98%) which is the most important factor in explaining the littoral regime. Because of thegeneral north-south orientation of the coast this swell induces a major south-going sedimentmovement, particularly south of the Bald Cape to the Allahein River.Between the Bald Cape and the Cape Saint Mary (oriented SW-NE) however, the littoral driftgoes in the opposite direction, northwards. Between the Cape Point and Banjul the coast isoriented W-E and east-going littoral drift is being experienced. In the north between the BarraPoint and the Buniadu Point, the drift is southerly along the North-South oriented coast. Thelittoral drift along the coast south of the Bald Cape has been estimated at 100,000 to250,000 m³/yr. based on the Sangamar spit development at the mouth of the River Saloum(Delft Hydraulics, 1992). East of the Cape Saint Mary, the littoral drift is between 30,000 and100,000 m³/yr. The Delft Hydraulics report of 1992 concluded that the coastal watersheds,including the River Gambia and its estuary, contributed insignificantly to the sediment budget ofthe coast.In the River Gambia estuary an inward sediment transport is experienced due to the gravitycirculation induced by the density gradient which in turn is caused by salt water intrusion. Thisestuary serves as a sediment sink rather than a source of sediment for the coast. Material istransported westwards towards the river mouth from upstream, while the coastal current movesthe material eastwards into the estuary.Local streams and rivers debauching at the coast have too limited catchments to contribute anysignificant amount of sediment to the coast (see Table 1 below),

Table 1. Sediment transport by local streamsSource: Delft Hydraulics, 1992

Stream Catchment Transport m³/yearNear Barra 27 km² 1,800 – 5,500Oyster Creek 20 km² –Cape Creek 3 km² –Kotu Stream 65 km² 4,500 – 9,000Tanji River 145 km² 10,000 – 30,000Tujering River 26 km² 1,800 – 5,000Kakima River 100 km² 7,000 – 20,000

The Allahein River, on the other hand, has a larger catchment area of 500 km² and flows moredirectly into the sea without a wide estuary. A sediment discharge at the mouth of the river isestimated at 30,000-100,000 m³/yr. Sediments delivered here are transported southwards ontothe Cassamance coast.

1.3 ClimateThe climate of The Gambia is of a “Sudano-Sahelian” type, with two distinct seasons, a short,hot, rainy season from June to October, and a long dry season (partly cool) from November toMay. Cool, dry, dusty winds blow in from the Sahara Desert from November to April. A

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decreasing trend in rainfall has been observed since the sixties, a cooler period in the eighties,and lower atmospheric humidity during seventies and eighties.TemperatureTemperature measurements for the past 10 years are shown in Table 2. Mean values recordedare in the range of 28 to 26°C. The coolest months coincide with the dry season in January andFebruary. Cool, dry, dusty winds blow from the Sahara (North Easterly Direction) during thisperiod lowering the temperatures. The hottest period of the year is around September/Octoberat the end of the rainy season. Table 2 shows the minimum and maximum monthlytemperatures at Banjul recorded between 1980 and 1990.

Table 2. Maximum and minimum monthly temperatures for Banjul between 1980 and 1990Source: Meteorological Division, Department of Water Resources

Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov DecMaximum 30.1 31.7 31.5 30.4 29.6 30.5 31.1 30.7 31.6 32.5 30.7 31.2Minimum 19.2 19.6 21.0 21.3 22.1 24.1 24.8 24.7 24.6 25.3 23.6 20.9

RainfallRainfall figures for The Gambia recorded in the past 10 years range from 870 to 744 mm. Thehighest is recorded in the south-western part of the country, whereas the lowest rainfall figureswere recorded in the North and East of the country. There is very little variation in the climateapart from rainfall, and this is mainly attributed to the relief which is generally flat.Like many other countries in the Sahel zone, The Gambia has experienced a reduction ofrainfall over the years. Rainfall computed for 30 years up to 1990, has shown a yearly averageof 1,180 mm which decreased to 924 mm in 1990. At Janjaburey (Georgetown in CRD) in thenorth-eastern region a similar trend was noted, decreasing from 1,000 mm to 789 mm in 1990(Source: Meteorology Division – Department of Water Resources).HumidityThe highest humidity values are recorded around July, August and September, at the height ofthe rainy season. During this period humidity levels may exceed 80%. With the onset of thecool, dry season humidity levels can be as low as 11% at Sapu. The mean humidity values forthe past ten years were in the range of 56 to 64 % (see Table 3).

Table 3. Mean values of some weather/climate parametersSource: Meteorological Division, Department of Water Resources

Stations Rainfall (mm) Temp (°C) RH (%) PET (mm)Banjul 805 26.7 63.7 -Yundum 870 26.4 64.7 42.1Kerewan 760 27.8 57.2 44.2Jenoi 744 27.5 56.7 44.1Sapu 750 27.7 56.2 46.8Basse 813 28.2 57.2 43.4

RH – relative humidity, annual mean,PET – potential evapotranspiration, annual mean,RAINFALL and TEMP decade mean.

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EvapotranspirationScientific models have predicted in addition to increasing temperatures, an increase inevapotranspiration, resulting in low soil moisture availability for crops, thus increasingenvironmental stress.Measurements show a higher PET during the period from January to July. During the rainyseason there is a decrease, mainly due to higher temperature. The highest figure was recordedat Kerewan in the North Bank Division for the month of March 1981 at 78.1, whereas a figure aslow as 31 was recorded at Yundum in the Western Division in 1985 during the month ofFebruary.

1.4 Fisheries

Fish Resource PotentialThe Gambia's continental shelf covers an area of 3,855 km² and is believed to be one of therichest fishing grounds in the West African sub-region. In addition to its marine resources theRiver Gambia and its tributaries contain significant fresh water fish resources. Knowledge of thepotential resource is constrained by inadequate financial and technical resources to conductcomprehensive and in-depth resource assessment studies.DemersalsThe demersal fauna is extremely varied. Near the river estuary the most numerous species arethe croakers (Sciaenidae), grunts (Pomadasyidae), thread fins (Polynemidae) and mullets(Mugilidae).PelagicsThe most common fish in the region are the small pelagics, Sardinella aurita, Sardinella ebaand Sardinella maderiensis, offshore, and closer inshore, the bonga Ethmalosa fimbriata. Thelatter are found in great abundance in shallow waters, particularly within the river estuary, andconstitute the largest portion of the catch of artisanal fishermen. The Sardinella are highlymigratory and are found near areas of cooler upwelling or at depths of 70m to 90m whensurface waters are warm. Much less numerous among the pelagic species but of greaterindividual commercial value are the mackerels (Scomber japonicus), jacks (Carrangids spp)and barracudas. The maximum sustainable yield of pelagics is estimated at 60,000 tons peryear.

Estimated Sustainable Yield (Maximum Sustainable Yield)Whereas demersal resources are believed to be fully or even over-exploited, there appears tobe still potential for additional harvests of small pelagic species. High value shrimp and lobsterresources are also believed to be fully or over-exploited. The current estimate for potentialsustainable yield is 1,000 tonnes. The high value demersal fish stocks are subject to intensiveexploitation from industrial fisheries, but there is little data available, and no analyses havebeen done in this field. The improvement of the database on catches by industrial vessels wastaken up through a Food and Agricultural Organisation, Technical Co-operation Programmeproject in 1994 and the final results are awaited.At present, there is no hard evidence of a decline in the stocks of bonga and other smallpelagics available to the artisanal canoe fishery. However, there is a noticeable trend of newentrants into this and other fisheries, and average catches per canoe are likely to decreasegradually. Many of the new entrants are from neighbouring Senegal.

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There is a small fishery for lobsters and this high value resource is believed to be heavilyexploited. Local fisheries officials are empowered to prevent the capture of small immaturelobsters, as well as of adult egg-bearing females.Clearly, the pelagic stock is under exploited considering its potential yield and its estimatedyearly production. This, to a large extent is due to the fact that it is not the target species of theindustrial sector. The potential annual yield of the demersal species is, on the average, 16,000metric tonnes. According to the estimated production (1990) there is the likelihood ofoverfishing, and this becomes even more likely since it is the preferred target of the industrialsector. This precarious state of the demersal stocks underscores the need for appropriateregulatory measures to ease pressure on these species, particularly the shrimp resources. Theabsence of sufficient biological data on the shrimp stocks (oceanic and estuarine) makes thisneed even more urgent. High percentages of juveniles are now being landed by the artisanalsector.

Types of FisheriesThe sector is divided into industrial and artisanal fisheries. Industrial vessels tend to be largeoffshore vessels, often of foreign ownership, whereas the artisanal craft vessels are locally builtwooden canoes.The industrial sub-sectorThe industrial sub-sector is characterised by large-scale private investment in export orientedproduction, based mainly in Banjul. This sub-sector is dominated by large-scale processing andexport-marketing companies of Gambian and/or foreign ownership. There are now more than12 registered local companies but only 5 of these can be categorised as viable enterprises withrelatively adequate on-shore facilities. The rest lack either their own fishing vessels, orappropriate on-shore facilities, or both. Licensing agreements are also entered into with distantwater foreign vessels. Normally, these acquire their fishing licences through local companiesacting as commissioned agents.The sector contributes less than 10% of domestic fish consumption, the main bulk of itsproduction destined for overseas markets.The artisanal sub-sectorThe artisanal sub-sector is characterised by low levels of investment and operations from manydispersed and often isolated landing sites. The artisanal sub-sector provides about 90% of thelocally consumed fish supply, and provides employment for over 1,500 people in the harvestingpart, and a further 13,000-18,000 people in related boat building, fish handling, processing,transportation and marketing activities. However, many of the fishermen are not Gambiannationals, and there is a considerable degree of seasonality in employment. Some of thoseemployed in the processing of fish are women who may also be involved in some of the fishmarketing activities.Artisanal marine fishing has been attracting increasing activity, with some 400 canoes (57%with motor, Fisheries Department 1994 Frame Survey Report) landing some 15,000 t annually(mostly bonga) at fishing villages along the Atlantic coast. The canoes use purse seines whichrequire a minimum crew of 12 (twelve). Many of these fishermen are Senegalese who are nowbased in The Gambia. Some of them work seasonally.In artisanal coastal fisheries, the following major fishing methods are used according to thespecies of fish: (1) surround gill net for mass type of pelagic fish such as bonga, (2) bottom gillnet for sea catfish, (3) drift gill net for migratory large fish such as barracuda, (4) bottom longline fishing for grouper and snapper, and (5) hand line fishing for grouper and snapper.There is no fish landing facility for industrial fisheries except the dilapidated wharf or jetty nearthe National Partnership Enterprise (NPE) factory in Banjul which requires replacement or

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serious repair work. This jetty is used by trawl fishing vessels of fishing companies and woodenfishing canoes. Because of the serious damage to the upper structures of the jetty, the GambiaPorts Authority has issued an order suspending its use.For the artisanal fisheries a wooden pile type jetty was constructed on the Atlantic coast at theTanji fish landing site under the EEC Artisanal Fisheries Development Project. But this jetty islittle used by the artisanal fishing canoes since the fishermen do not seem to find it convenientfor their operations. A more advanced jetty has been constructed at the Bakau fish landing site,also on the Atlantic coast, for the use by the artisanal fishermen. Neither this jetty has so farbeen used by the target beneficiaries, and the managers of the Fishing Centre are exploringother means of putting the jetty to profitable use.Shell fishWithin the artisanal sub-sector there is also the oyster fishery, based on extensive naturalpopulations of the West African mangrove oyster, Crassostrea tulipa. The oysters are foundattached to mangrove roots and branches that line the Gambia River estuary. In most of theestuarine villages oyster harvesting is an important source of income, and in some areasoysters are an essential protein supplement for the family. Harvesters use machetes, axes,knives, cutlasses, to hack the oysters from the roots and branches, and in some cases thewhole root or branch is chopped off in the process.At certain sites continuos harvesting and extensive destruction of overhanging roots andbranches pose a threat not only to oyster stocks around these sites but also to the livelihood ofthe harvesters themselves. Chopping the roots and branches reduces the total available settingspace for the oysters which can lead to decrease in population, and eventually jeopardise theavailability of oysters in general. While there are no empirical data on the quantities harvested,the average size of the harvests has become smaller indicating intense exploitation.Oysters are a highly priced commodity, and given the high demand the current method ofharvesting is putting a strain on the stocks at some sites. Oyster harvesting is dominated bywomen whose primary aim is to collect the meat. A survey conducted in 1990 counted 114harvesters, 110 of whom (96.5%) were women. This total includes both Gambians andforeigners – 76.3% Gambians, 14% Senegalese, and 9.6% from the neighbouring GuineaBissau. Of the 76.3% Gambian harvesters, 44.8% harvest at their local oyster grounds whilstthe remainder are migratory.Oyster production levels vary from site to site, sometimes by as much as 3 times. Within thecreeks and estuaries around Banjul, the daily production per harvester is 15-25 kg of shelledoysters, whilst at most inland sites the production is 40-60 kg per harvester.At average, local (non migratory) oyster harvesters earn approximately D 340.00 per month(US$ 35) during the harvest season. This is variable depending upon the size of the group(whether two or more women are in the group) and the location of the harvesting site. The datasuggest that migrant harvesters generate more income than the non-migrant ones, earning anaverage of D 464.00 per month (US$ 48.8).Another important component of the oyster industry is the production of lime used for blockmaking, wall plastering, painting and vegetable gardening. This aspect involves only the menusing basically low-input techniques that require only oyster shells and fuelwood for burning theshells. Since both these resources are available at harvesting sites the only required element islabour. A lime maker would buy a heap of oyster shells, about 700-1000 kg from a harvester,for about D 40.00 (US$ 4.00) to produce 20 bags (50 kg each) of powdered lime. A bag of limecosts D 15.00 (US$ 1.6) amounting to at least D 300.00 or US$ 31.6. Besides oysters the onlyother shellfish harvested for sale to local consumers are clams. The harvesting of theseshellfish is also an activity dominated by women. Like oysters they are found in the intertidalareas of the estuary of the river. However, unlike oyster, clams are found buried in the mud andthe women harvesters use their hands to collect them. Clams are of lower value than oysters

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and therefore attract lower prices than oysters. Exploitation of clams is not as intensive as thatof oysters, and it also seems to have no harmful environmental effects.

AquacultureAquaculture production has made little or no contribution to the local market or consumptionbalance sheet, either in terms of improved nutrition or supplementary income for the localpopulation. It is generally assumed that there is potential for development of aquaculture in TheGambia. But so far efforts made to introduce and develop it have not yielded the expectedresults. The Fisheries Department is presently conducting a pilot aquaculture project in theCentral River Division. It is a research initiative in fish culture using river fish in two ½ hectareponds.

Overview of Fisheries Policy and Programmes in The GambiaIn 1989 the Government prepared a Fisheries Management and Implementation Plan whichreviewed the fisheries sector and formulated a development strategy. This plan identified anumber of factors constraining the potential of the fisheries sector to increase its contribution toeconomic and social development of The Gambia and defined the following objectives for thesector:

• To achieve a rational long term utilisation of marine and inland fisheries resources;

• To use local fish as a means of improving nutritional standards of the population;

• Consistent with the above, to increase employment and net foreign exchange earnings inthe sector; and

• To expand the participation of private Gambian entrepreneurs in the fishing industry.A number of the proposed activities in the Fisheries Management and Implementation Planhave already been implemented. These include revision of the fisheries legislation,improvements to the enforcement of the zoning of artisanal and industrial fisheries, and thebanning of beach seining.A new Fisheries Act was enacted by the Parliament in 1991 to replace the 1977 Fisheries Act.This Act and the Fisheries Regulations form the legal basis for the management, utilisation anddevelopment of the fisheries sector. Infringements of the Act and Regulations are dealt with bythe Attorney General and the Civil Code. Most such cases are, however, settled out of court.The Fisheries Department's Monitoring, Control and Surveillance (MC) Unit handles issuance offishing licenses and monitors compliance with the Fisheries Act and Regulations. FisheriesInspectors (Gambians) are placed on board licensed vessels fishing in the Gambian waters, inorder to monitor fishing practices and catches, and to record essential biological data. Thissystem seems to have only limited effect. Proper enforcement measures needs to be taken.In addition, the Marine Unit of the National Army is provided with a list of licensed vessels toenable them to identify legal and illegal fishing during their patrols of The Gambia's fisherieswaters. The successful operations of the Marine Unit is often hindered by shortage of fuel,insufficient engine power and incomplete listing of vessels. Since 1991 aerial surveys of TheGambia's Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) have been conducted with an aircraft provided bythe Government of The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg. This has complemented and reinforcedthe activities of the Marine Unit in preventing illegal fishing by foreign vessels.

Contribution of the Fisheries Industry to the National EconomyThe contribution of fisheries, one of the primary industries, to the national GDP is estimated atapproximately 2.8%. Fisheries contribute to the national economy along the following lines:

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Employment and Revenue GenerationAn estimated 1,500 people were employed by the industrial sector in 1987 (FisheriesDepartment, unpublished), and this, added to the number engaged by the artisanal sector in thesame year, should give a total of 3,100 people engaged in the fishing industry. Indeed, from alist of more than 15 industries in 1983, the fisheries sector ranked 8th, engaging 1% of theactive population (Central Statistics Department, The Gambia, 1991). Within the foodproduction sector (including agriculture, forestry, and hunting) fisheries contributed 1.3%, afteragriculture's 98.5%, with forestry and hunting contributing 0.2%As mentioned earlier more than 90% of the industrial production is for export, and so the netbenefit of the sector to the economy accrues mainly from the payment of licence fees and theannual employment of about 1,500 people.In terms of contribution to the locally generated revenue to the Government, the sector hasbeen performing significantly, the highest contribution (13%) recorded in 1985/86. TheGovernment revenue from licences and registration fees from 1989-1991 was about US$ 4million and contributed more than 7% of the locally generated Government revenue. The totalfisheries sector contribution to the total Government revenue for the same period was 2.8% and3.2% respectively (Central Statistics Department, The Gambia 1991).Foreign exchangeTable 6 indicates the value of exports from The Gambia, including fish and fish products duringthe period 1985 to 1990. Although the values of fish exports represent substantial foreignexchange earnings to the economy, their corresponding direct benefits in terms of revenue tothe Government are much less, particularly with regards to the industrial sector. In spite of allthe incentives put in place by the Government to encourage private entrepreneurs (duty-freefuel, export and import duty waiver for those who operate through letters of credit – LC) mostprivate exporters do not export through LCs. Consequently, the foreign exchange componentthat should accrue to the Government from the fish export trade is below expectation.As an index of industry potential, the export trade scenario in value terms shows an absoluteincrease of 51% from 1986 to 1990, the foreign currency value of the fisheries exportincreasing by more than 248% in the same period. From the point of view of total nationalexport, fish export values have generally increased in contribution, ranging from 4.2% in 1987to 14.5% in 1989, and decreased to 11.5% in 1990. This represents an annual averageincrease of 9.7% over the period.Contribution to GDPTable 7 indicates the sectoral contributions to GDP and it attempts to compare the performanceof the fisheries sector with the others. Within the food production sector fisheries ranks third,after agriculture and livestock, with an average annual contribution of 2.4% (a range of 1.7% in1982/83 to 3.5% in 1990/91, an increase of over 105%). From the period 1982/83 the yearlyrate of increase in fisheries contribution has been impressive, the lowest increase rate (4.4%)recorded in 1988/89. The highest rate of increase, 87.7% was recorded in 1986/87, then itdropped by 1.1% in 1987/88, to pick up again in 1989/90 by 4.4%. The second highest rate ofincrease was in 1990/91 (68%), and overall, an annual sectoral increase rate of 40.2%. Thefisheries sector contributes significantly to the food production industry of the Gambianeconomy.StakeholdersThe coastal population involved in fisheries can be divided into seven professional sub-groups:

a) Boat owners;b) Boat builders;c) Fishermen;

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d) Fish dryers;e) Fish smokers;f) Fish suppliers (banabanas); andg) Others, such as women fish carriers.

Artisanal fisheries development has had a significant impact on the number of people taking upfishing as a profession. Along the Atlantic coast artisanal fishermen make about 45% of thetotal fisheries population (Cassel & Jallow, 1991). This number is dominated by Senegalesenationals.Fish processors, comprising fish dryers and fish smokers, form 19% and 8% respectively. Fishsmoking is carried out in smoke houses established at the coastal fishing centres. The malefish smokers operate on a higher scale than the female fish smokers. The men smoke ataverage 46,000 kilos of fish per year, while the women smoke much less than this, only about6,000 kilos. Fish smoking is the predominant fish preservation method in the artisanal fisheriessector, and has adverse environmental effects, like deforestation in coastal areas.In most cases fish mongering is a full time job involving both men and women. Fish is boughtand transported from the landing sites to the main urban markets in Banjul and Serekunda bymale and female fish mongers. However, fish mongering in small villages and other settlementsis the exclusive job of male fish mongers who use bicycles for the purpose.The communities adjacent to the landing sites comprise the residents of the coastal villagesalong the Atlantic coast, namely Brufut, Tanji, Batu Kunku, Tujereng, Sanyang, Gunjur andKartong. The majority of these people were either farmers or traders, but many of them have inthe course of time become engaged in fishing and fishing related activities as means of earningincome.There are several fishing companies with land based factories in The Gambia. Presently onlytwo or three are operating to some degree of success in Banjul, i.e. LyeFish Company, NationalPartnership Enterprises Ltd.(NPE), and Mahoney & Sons. Outside Banjul there are several fishfactories, such as GB International, and BB & Sons Investments Ltd.These factories record various levels of success due to fluctuations in the supply of fish andother catches from their artisanal and industrial operations. There is also the problem ofinappropriate siting of the facilities resulting in persistent complaints from residents and thetourist industry concerning pollution from fish processing activities, such as fish smoking anddrying.

1.5 Mineral Resources

IntroductionThe surface geology of The Gambia is simply made up of sedimentary rocks of Tertiary topresent (Holocene) origins. Mineral deposits identified are limited to sand and placer heavyminerals – ilmenite, rutile, zircon, quartz sand, kaolinitic and plastic clays.In the coastal area, placer deposits of heavy minerals – zircon, rutile, and ilmenite occur in theraised beaches from Brufut to Kartong. The minerals occur as unconsolidated grains or withinthe sediments which have been derived from parent rocks of the continental terminal series asa result of weathering, transportation and deposition processes.

Heavy MineralsHeavy minerals (ilmenite, rutile, and zircon) were mined for a short period in the 1950s by theGambia Minerals Limited (GML), a subsidiary of a British Titanium Company. Since then

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several surveys have been conducted by The Geology Department to determine the volumeand quality of the deposits, but mining of these minerals is yet to take place.The deposits occur in economic quantities in the raised or ancient beaches in the coastal areaat Brufut, Batu Kunku, Sanyang and Kartong. The following table gives the in-situ reserveestimates of these minerals.

Table 4. In-situ Reserves of Heavy Minerals in the Coastal Area, in '000 of Metric Tonnes(Source: Whyte, Stewart, and Pijl 1981)

1% Cutoff 3% Cutoff

LocationFeed Average

GradeHeavy

MineralsFeed Average

GradeHeavy

MineralsBato Kunku 7,103 4.0 285 3,053 7.1 216Sanyang 12,588 5.4 679 5,955 9.4 559Kartong 651 4.3 28 225 9.8 22Brufut Dump 47 24.0a 11 47 24.0a 11

TOTAL 20,342 4.9b 1.003 9,233 8.6b 808a. Contains zircon only, b. Excludes Brufut Dump.

The individual mineral distribution in the deposits are as follows:

• ilmenite 71.3%;• rutile 3.3%; and• zircon 14.6%.

Quartz Sand DepositsThere are two quartz (silica) sand deposits in the Kombo Saint Mary District, Brufut and Abuko.The reserves of quartz sand in the Brufut deposit amount to 28,500,000 tonnes, and reservesat Abuko total 5,250,000 tonnes. In addition there are two quartz sand deposits at Mbakamaand Jimbana in the North Bank Division. The Mbakama deposit contains approximately 100,000tonnes of quartz sand, whereas the estimated reserves of quartz sand in the Jimbana depositcould be in the order of 700,000 tonnes. Quartz sand from both deposits have been tested andfound suitable as a raw material for glass manufacturing.

Construction MaterialsConstruction sand and gravel are of low value, but are high volume commodities whichcontribute significantly to the socio-economic development of the country.In the coastal area, sand and gravel mining is rampant, but until recently the only designatedsite for sand extraction was at Bijilo, used since 1985. Prior to restrictions imposed on sandmining at Bijilo in 1993, the estimated volume of sand extracted per year was approximately100,000 to 150,000 m³ which had serious environmental impacts on the coastal area. The Bijilobeach sand mining was stopped in December 1995, and hence beach sand mining at Bijilo isnow illegal.In January 1996 the Government opened the Kartong sand mining area. Sand mining involvedthe excavation of the sand dunes behind the first series of sand dunes fronting the beach. Thesite area is of approximately 27.6 ha, with the volume of sand estimated at 0.8 million cubicmetres. The site is operated under the Management Plan with the monitoring and supervision

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by the Geological Unit of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Employment. About 41,428 cubicmetres of sand was mined between January and March 1996.

1.6 Water Resources

Types of Water ResourcesWater is one of the two major natural resources in The Gambia, in addition to land. The draughtof the early sixties and seventies necessitated the development of the water resourcesmanagement in The Gambia.The sources of water in The Gambia are as follows:

1. Seasonal rains, surface runoff from rainfall;2. Surface water, the river Gambia catchment, 20% of land area; and3. Groundwater, shallow and deep aquifers.

Seasonal RainsThe rainy season starts in June and ends around October. This gives a period of 4 wet months(80% of rains fall within this period) and 8 dry months. The rainfall in the country varies bothtemporally and spatially, with patterns erratic and unpredictable over the years. In 1994, a meanvalue of 1,020 mm was recorded. The south western part of the country experiences a highrainfall total of 1,700 mm whereas the north eastern part has a lower figure of 800 mm.Seasonal rains are mainly used for rain-fed agriculture. Infiltration of the water into the soilprovides moisture required for crop growth.Surface WaterThe Gambia river is the major source of surface water in the country. Its catchment area covers2,000 km², or 20% of the total land area of the country. The entire stretch of the river fromBanjul to Goulumbo is affected by tides. The salt-freshwater interface goes up to about 250 kmin the dry season, and to 100 km in the wet season. Longitudinal profiles measured show thatthe saline front moves at a rate of up to 20 km by the end of the hydrological year. This limitsthe use of surface waters for domestic purposes.The potential use of surface water for irrigation is thus dependent on the position of thisinterface. Apart from the major tributaries of the Gambia river, all the other tributaries are short-lived and flow only during the wet season. Surface water supplies are therefore restricted to theeastern half of the country, where the flow from the river remains fresh. The only significant usein the semi urban areas and villages is for laundry and for animals.Ground WaterMost drinking water is from groundwater which is found at shallow depths, and is of goodquality. More than 80% of water supply for the country comes from the ground water. Thegroundwater occurs in two main aquifers, the upper shallow continental terminal, and the loweror deep sandstone aquifer. The upper shallow acquifer extends throughout the country and is atdepths between 10 and 50 m. The upper one comprises 2 units, the phreatic and the semi-confined aquifers that are found at depths from 10 m to 120 m.The deep sandstone aquifer is confined at 200-300 m sequences of Clay and Marls. At Banjul,the aquifer is artesian, and piezometric levels are a few meters below the ground surface. Theupper unit is tapped by shallow wells, whilst the semi-confined one is exploited by boreholes ofthe municipal supplies and irrigation systems. Abstraction is mainly through large diameterwells, and increasingly, through boreholes by several agencies involved in water supply

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provision. Most households in the rural areas, and some in the Greater Banjul area, obtainwater from shallow wells.The groundwater recharge is mainly derived from infiltration of rain water. The overall rechargeof the shallow aquifer has been estimated at 630 million m³/year at average (GITEC Fs, 1991).The deep sandstone aquifer is recharged at a rate of 1.75 million m³/year on its outcrop inSenegal, but some of the through flow reaches The Gambia.Table 5 shows number of wells, boreholes, population and persons per water point in fivedivisions.

Table 5. Rural water supply facilities as of December 31, 1994 (coastal division shaded)

Division Population Wells Boreholes Persons per waterpoint

Western 504,415 344 77 1198Lower River 64,687 242 39 230North Bank 151,342 524 19 279Central River 154,910 388 37 364Upper River 147,513 233 39 542

In general the rate of abstraction is much lower than infiltration, except for the areas of theKombo North District where municipal abstraction has been marginally higher at the Kotucatchment (1981-85), an area of 45 km², recharge was 4.5 Mm³/year and abstraction 5Mm³/year. Yields from the shallow aquifer are much lower, probably 0.5 litres/sec in mostcases. The average rate of exploitation is lowest in the Central River Division, less than 0.5litres/sec/km, and highest in the Western Division, with about 6 litres/sec/km. The total annualwater production countrywide equals 22.83 Mm³/year which is about 3.6% of the estimatedground water recharge of 630 Mm³/year (GITEC Fs 1991).About 14.55 million cubic meters of ground water are extracted annually, half of which is beingutilised for domestic purposes. It is envisaged that the water demand, due to the increase ofpopulation, would reach 41.1 million cubic meters by the year 2000.

Water QualitySurface WaterChemical and to a larger extent biological indices have been used to determine surface waterquality. Increasing salt water intrusion will render the adjacent fertile lands unsuitable forcultivation. Salinity increases the creation of barren flats (bare lands of acid and potentially acidsulphate soils). This occurs mainly in the Western part of the country. The use of fertilisers andherbicides in agriculture causes pollution of the river through run-off. Industrial waste dischargein the estuary may also cause gradual contamination as the river water moves up and downstream.Most industries in the greater Banjul area dump their waste into the estuary. The BanjulBreweries, tannery and other emerging small-scale industries dump their waste in the estuary.Until recently, nearly all the liquid waste including sewage was dumped at the Bond road side ofthe estuary. However, though the sewerage and drainage systems are now operational, it willtake some time for the areas to recover. A 950 m sea outfall-pipe is pumping raw untreatedsewage into the Atlantic side of the estuary. The level of contamination of the surface water andits periphery has been monitored for faecal pollution, studies carried out reveal that faecalcoliform values lie within those set for primary contact in recreational waters. Dissolved oxygen

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levels, for most samples taken, are higher than 4. BOD and COD values are also low, exceptaround the Atlantic Hotel beachside. The level of ammonia is high, in most cases above the0.02 mg/l guideline set. Pesticides, especially organochlorine, have been detected in thesurface waters.GroundwaterAs mentioned earlier, the water of the shallow aquifers is naturally pure, except where localcontamination causes a deterioration of the quality, though this is of very little healthsignificance.Generally, from several studies carried out, it results that the groundwater tends to be acidic,with pH values within the range of 5-6.5. Few points have higher values, and those are mainlyareas where saline intrusion occurs. Electric Conductivity (EC) and TDS tend to be higher in theWestern part. The quality of boreholes is good, both bacteriologically and chemically. Mostopen wells, as expected, and some wells fitted with hand pumps, are of relatively poor quality.Nitrate and iron tend to be a more serious problem in these water supply systems. Almost allthe other determinants, like calcium, sodium, magnesium, potassium and anions sulphate,chloride and bicarbonate, are generally low and within the WHO set guidelines.Maintaining the bacteriological quality is a problem in groundwater supplies except in urbancentres with pipe-borne treated supplies. The faecal coliform values can be as high as 90% atall open wells, whereas about 50% or less of untreated supplies fitted with pumps arecontaminated.In the urban centres, shallow wells tend to be more prone to varying levels of pollution bychemical, microbiological and biological agents. Pollution arises from domestic waste (sewage),agriculture (nitrates), and industrial activities (chromium). Problems of contamination may ariseespecially during the rainy season when the water table rises and microbes and othercontaminants penetrate the underlying water source.Within the Tourism Development Area oxidation ponds are being used to collect sewage fromthe hotels. The contamination of ground water in this area cannot be negligible.The Kotu power plant discharges large quantities of waste oil which is being discharged withoutstrict control. Although no study has been carried out in this area to determine the level ofcontamination, the aquifer below could be affected.Wastes from the agriculture and industrial sectors contribute to groundwater pollution as well.Wastes from agriculture are mainly from the use of fertilisers, such as nitrogen, phosphorusand potassium, and pesticides which are used locally. Industrial contaminants, though limited,are mainly discharged indiscriminately thus being a possible source of pollution.

1.7 ForestryThe Gambia has a Sudano-Savana vegetation type with a characteristic dry forest cover. In thepast three decades alone the forests have undergone considerable degradation from about60% closed forest type in 1968 to less than 10% closed forests in 1993. There is an obviousdegradation trend in forest quality in The Gambia. The forest vegetation decreases in quality inthe South-North direction, and in the East-West direction. The decrease in the northern part ofThe Gambia is a result of extensive clearing for agriculture, while the decrease in the east towest direction is a combination of agricultural clearing and soil formation. Soils in the westernpart of the country are deeper while those in the eastern part are characteristically shallow,usually less than 0.5 m, with underlying curass. Except in localised areas with deep soils,forests in the eastern part of the country are generally of lower quality then those in the centraland western zones.

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The Gambia's forests have been classified into three broad categories in 1981. These are“Closed Woodlands”, “Open Woodlands” and “Tree and Shrub Savana”. These have beendefined to have canopy closure of more than 50%, between 10% and 50% and less than 10%,respectively. The Tree and Shrub Savana forest type has the most extensive occurrence in theCountry. The Atlantic coast and the river banks have some of the best forest types.

Forest CoverageThe 1983 forest inventory report indicates an aerial coverage of 453,000 ha (43% of the totalland area for all three types of forest). The closed woodlands, constitute only 28,000 ha(including Gallery forest types) while open woodlands account for 62,700 ha and mangroves(as special types of forest) account for 55,000 ha. The bulk of the forest in 1983 and in 1993, ismade of tree and shrub savana which accounted for 347,000 ha in 1983. It has been observedthat there has not been any significant change in the total forest coverage of the Country since1968. However, a very significant degradation in quality has occurred as indicated by the dropin closed forest type from 60% in 1968 to less than 10% in 1983.In the Western Division, including Kombo St. Mary, to which all of the Atlantic coast belongs,one finds more than 55% of all closed forest vegetation of the country. The Kombo North andKombo South, which immediately border the Atlantic, also have a significant closed forestcover.

Forest UsesForests have various economic, social and cultural values and uses in The Gambia. More than85% of all energy consumed in The Gambia is generated from fuelwood. Fish processing(drying and smoking) to a large extent depends on firewood supply for its sustenance. In thisway an estimated 600,000 cubic meters of wood are used annually, or 274,100 metric tonnes ofoil equivalent. Thus fuelwood saves The Gambia Government significant amount of foreigncurrency for oil import.Another direct use of forest in the country is in the provision of materials for the constructionindustry. Forest produce like rhunpalm splits and timber are extensively used in the buildingsector in The Gambia. Almost 90% of all wooden materials for the construction of roof trussesare obtained from the national forests. Similarly, most people rely on locally produced timber forthe furniture, and door and window frames for their houses. In the coastal areas, where rapiddevelopment takes place, the local forest resource has been subjected to extensive exploitationpressure.Traditionally, forests have been used, and continue to be used today, as a local medicinesource. Trade in herbal medicine from the forest, although unquantified in monetary terms, runsperhaps in hundreds of thousands of dalasis annually. Savings made by families through theuse of herbal medicine from the forest contributes significantly to poverty alleviation in TheGambia. Forests have served as important sources of food for the local population, particularlyduring the dry season when wild species of yam are harvested from the forest to provide foodfor the family.Forests and trees have an important role in the prevention of erosion. Along the Atlanticcoastline, coastal erosion is visibly less severe in areas with significant tree vegetation cover.Similarly, the mangroves provide protection for The Gambia River banks, in addition toproviding spawning grounds for various fish and crustacea.The local fishing industry is highly dependent on the comparatively cheap wooden canoes thatare built out of trees found in the existing forests. As has been observed earlier, fishing is animportant source of income for a considerable number of coastal residents.

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Mangrove EcosystemMangroves are riverine vegetation that can thrive in varying degrees of salinity depending onthe species. In The Gambia the four main species that occur are Avicennia africana,Laguncularia Racemosa, Rhizophora Racemosa and Rhiizophora Mangle. A fifth speciesbelieved to be a hybrid of the two latter species is Rhizophora harrisonii. Of the five speciesmentioned, the Avicennia spp is the most salt tolerant. Consequently this species could befound in and around the Banjul and Kombo St. Mary area, as well as in the lagoon areas closeto the sea. The Rhizophora species which occur further up river, require brackish wateralthough at certain times of the year they are exposed to highly salty water, and sometimesfresh water. Unless physically disturbed, the mangrove ecosystem is extremely versatile,especially with regard to its adaptability to changes in the water regime.The mangrove ecosystem of The Gambia has remained relatively stable over the decades.Except for localised areas of death, the total mangrove area remained unchanged since 1968.Low mangroves, such as Avicennia and Laguncularia have an aerial coverage of about 51,900ha. The tall mangroves, the Rhizophora spp, which occur on the fringes of the river, cover only15,000 ha. These areas have been the same since 1968. Recently, perhaps as a result of thedisturbance of the ecosystem caused by the reconstruction of the Brumen bridge, a large areaof mangroves along the Bintang Bolong perished. Prior to this occurrence however, there was ahigh death rate in the mangrove population as a result of a combination of edarphic and climaticfactors. The construction work around the bridge area aggravated the situation. Although it maytake time before the Brumen bridge area recovers, indications are that a gradual process ofregeneration seems to be occurring in the area.Although the mangrove system could be said to be in a state of equilibrium, threats todisturbing this equilibrium still exist. Construction works close to the mangrove areas,particularly in the Greater Banjul Area, pose a threat to the stability of the local ecosystems. Inthe rural areas, especially in the Lower River Division, clearing of swamps for rice cultivationinvariably results in clearing of mangrove areas. Disturbances resulting from these clearingsmay have repercussions for the stability of the adjacent mangrove ecosystems.

Contribution of the Forestry Sector to GDPThe forestry sector’s contribution to the gross domestic product has not been officiallyquantified. In 1987 the forestry sector’s share of domestic production was estimated at 1%.This estimate considered mainly the formal trade. The informal trade, which contributes more tothe domestic production, was not determined. This informal sector, which trades in fuelwood,fence posts, wood carvings, honey, palm oil and palm kernel, as well as wild fruits providesemployment for a large portion of the rural population. The foreign exchange savings from thelocal production and consumption of fuelwood, the equivalent of 274,100 metric tonnes of oil,was not considered either.There is an urgent need to make an assessment of the forestry sector’s contribution to the GDPat the national level in order to put the sector’s performance in the right perspective with a viewto influencing policy decisions for better resource allocation and management.

1.8 Wildlife

IntroductionThe large mammal fauna of The Gambia has been severely depleted over the last century,leaving only an impoverished and threatened remnant. The elephant and giraffe wereexterminated before 1920, and Darby’s eland, lion, korrigum and others followed suit over thesuccessive decades. Table 6 shows the status of some of the large mammals and reptiles ofThe Gambia.

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Legal framework for the protection of the Gambian wildlife has been provided as early as 1901under section 111 of “The Wild Animal, Bird and Fish Preservation Order”. The WildlifeConservation Act (1977) repealed the 1916 Act while maintaining some of the subsidiarylegislation of the earlier Act. The 1977 Act provides for the establishment of national parks,reserves and sanctuaries under the Department of Parks and Wildlife Management, as well asproviding for control of the hunting and sale of wild animals. The National EnvironmentManagement Act of 1994 also provides for the conservation of biodiversity and theestablishment of biodiversity areas.The Gambia is a signatory to various international conventions pertaining to the managementand protection of wildlife and wildlife habitat. Part of the coastal area between Banjul and CapePoint is currently under consideration by cabinet for designation as a Ramsar Site under theConvention on Wetlands of International Importance (see Table 8, sites 1 and 2).

Wildlife in the Southern Coastal ZoneThe coastal strip of The Gambia has been subject to considerable pressure from human activityfor many decades. Tourism development has altered much of the natural habitat from CapePoint south to Bijilo. Further south fishing activities (notably the collection of wood for fish-smoking), clearance of land for agriculture development and timber harvesting have hadconsiderable impacts. The remaining sites with a high ecological value along the coastal stripare listed in Table 8.

Table 6. The status of the Gambia’s large mammals and reptiles

Scientific name Common name Status

Phacochoerus africanus Warthog commonPotamochoerus porcus Red-river hog rare/extinctHippopotamus amphibius Hippopotamus localisedGirrafa camelopardalis Giraffe extinctOurebia ourebi Oribi extinctTragelaphus scriptus bushbuck commonTragelaphus spekii Sitatunga rareHippotragus equinus Roan rare vagrantKobus ellipsiprymnus Waterbuck extinctKobus kob Kob extinctDamiliscus lunatus Western korrigum extinctTragelaphus oryx derbianus Derby eland extinctSyncerus caffer Buffalo extinctLoxodonta africana Elephant extinctTrichechus senegalensis Manatee rareLycaon pictus Wild dog extinctAonyx capensis Cape clawless otter rareCrocuta crocuta Spotted hyaena locally commonHyaena hyaena Striped hyena extinctPanthera leo Lion extinctPanthera pardus Leopard rareLeptailurus serval Serval rareCaracal caracal Caracal rareProfelis aurata Golden cat rareSousa teuszii Hump-backed dolphin locally common

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Crocodylus niloticus Nile crocodile rareOsteolaemus tetraspis Dwarf crocodile rareChelonia mydas Green turtle locally common

The original primary habitat of the coastal strip was closed woodland dominated by Rhun palm(Borassus aethiopum). Existing stands of such forest exist at Bijilo, Kachuma and Dau Dula.Much of the coastal forest has been degraded to coastal scrub or bushed-grassland. Suchareas nonetheless retain a considerable ecological value for birds, small mammals and reptiles.River estuaries on the coast are generally characterised by lagoons with associated mangrovefringes, and salt-pans (barren flats). Such areas are dynamic and may undergo considerablealteration in morphology over very short time scales. The lagoons are generally backed by astabilised dune system with characteristic vegetation zones grading into closed canopy forest.An intact example of this vegetation succession exists at the Tanji Bird Reserve.The diversity of the fauna in the coastal area is being reduced through degradation of thenatural vegetation cover. Areas of high diversity are becoming limited and most are coveredwithin Table 8. Among some of the large mammals there is considerable mobility with lie upsites provided by areas of closed vegetation, and nightly foraging extending into more openareas or agricultural land. Such movements are undertaken by hyena, aardvark and porcupine.

Table 7. Mammals of the Study Area

Common name Scientific name

Spotted hyena Crocuta crocutaCivat Viverra civettaGenet Ganetta thierrylBushbuck Tragelaphus scriptusGrey duiker Cephalophus grimmiaAardvark Orycteropus aferPorcupine Hystix cristataColobus monkey Colobus badius badiusVervet monkey Cercopithecus aethiposPatas monkey Erythrocebus patasBaboon Papio cynocephalusGalago Galago senegalensisWater mongoose Herpestes paludinosusWhite-tailed mongoose Inchneumia albicaudaGambian mongoose Mungos gambianusCape clawless otter Aonyx capensisRatel Melivora capensisSun squirrel Helioscurius gambianusStriped ground squirrel Xerus erythropus

Reserves and Protected Areas within the Study AreaWithin the southern coastal strip of The Gambia, there are two gazetted reserves; the BijiloForest under the Department of Forestry, and the Tanji Bird Reserve under the Department ofParks and Wildlife Management. Bijilo is a fenced reserve of 51.3 ha gazetted in 1952. ThePark is composed primarily of a closed canopy coastal forest dominated by rhun palms, andwith a small strip of herbaceous dune vegetation. The reserve has resident troops of colobus

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and vervet monkeys, and though unrecorded, invariably holds a range of small mammals suchas mongoose, gennet and various rodents. Both the avifauna and reptiles are diverse thoughalso little studied.The Tanji Bird Reserve, gazetted in 1993, covers an area of 616 ha, including the offshore BijolIslands. The mainland area includes a wide diversity of habitat types: coastal lagoons,saltmarsh, mangrove, saltpan, dunes, grassland, scrub and woodland. The Bijol Islands aresparsely vegetated with herbaceous vegetation, and are important roosting grounds for waders,gulls and terns. The islands also form an important breeding ground for green turtles. The rareMediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) has been sighted in the sound between theislands and the Bald Cape.

The State of Wildlife within the Study AreaTraditionally, most species of wildlife were hunted for meat, skins or other purposes. Within theWildlife Act of 1977, all species are afforded full protection with the exception of certain pestspecies (warthdog, giant Gambian rat and cane-cutter rat) and birds listed in Schedule III of theHunting Regulations. Despite this, hunting of a large range of other mammals still occurs withalarming frequency. Green turtles are commonly taken by fishermen in nets and sold openly inmarkets, and egg collecting from their nesting sites also occurs.Tourism is developing a more sustainable approach to wildlife utilisation, whereby tourists cometo see wild animals and birds in their natural habitat. To date, little emphasis has been placedon marketing this potential of The Gambia, with the exception of the ornithological aspect whichhas remained quite a specialist area. Traditional hunters should be incorporated into thetourism field to utilise their skills as guides.Habitat degradation however, is having a major impact on the ecology of the coastal strip.Clearance of land by the coastal communities in search of farmland has affected the primaryvegetation, and many species have become locally extinct or rare through as a result. Forspecies that have been reduced by habitat alteration and/or over-exploitation, survival might bedifficult to ensure even if adequate conservation measures are introduced, as many of thesespecies may exist only in small, fragmented populations. Such populations may be below theminimum critical size for maintaining adequate genetic diversity, and as such will be unable toadapt to changing environmental conditions, as well as being particularly vulnerable toenvironmental catastrophes, diseases, and human population pressures. Of importance in land-use planning within the coastal strip is the maintenance of adequate pockets of diverse habitatswith interconnecting corridors to allow for the movement of wildlife. The major threat to themaintenance of wildlife populations along the coastal strip however, remains habitatdestruction. With the increasing degradation of natural vegetation cover, conditions arebecoming marginal for many species and populations are becoming isolated into potentiallynon-viable pockets.

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2 Socio-Economic Features,Infrastructure and Social Services

2.1 PopulationThe Gambia has 1.026 million inhabitants according to the 1993 population census. With itsland area of about 10,689 km², this makes the country one of most densely populated in Africa.The population growth rate was between 3.4% (1973/83) and 4.2% (1983/93) per year duringthe intercensal period. This high growth rate is accounted for by a high natural increase of 2.9%per year and migration rate.

Table 9. Population growth rates in The Gambia 1973-1993Source: Department of Central Statistics

Year Population Growth rate1973 493,499 4.61983 687,817 3.41993 1,025,867 4.1

Table 9 above indicates that the decades 1973-1983 and 1983-93 were characterised by highgrowth rates. The highest annual growth rate (4.6%) was recorded during the decade 1963-73,declining to 3.4% in the period 1973-93. Though it is difficult to point out any specific reason forthe fluctuation in the growth rates, it can mainly be attributed to the large-scale influx of foreignnationals.Table 10 below gives a comparative picture of the rapid population increase during 1973-83and 1983-93 in the LGAs. Population has declined in Banjul by about 4% during 1983-93, asopposed to the increase of 12.79% in the previous decade. As a residential area, Banjul nolonger has the same attraction it used to have. The high growth rates observed at Kanifing andBrikama means there is a considerable amount of migration into these areas from Banjul, otherLocal Government Areas, and even from outside the country.

Table 10. Population and growth rates in LGAs (coastal LGAs shaded)Source: Department of Central Statistics

Population Growth RatesLGA1973 1983 1993 1973/83 1983/93

Banjul 39,179 44,188 42,407 12.79 4.03Kanifing 39,404 101,504 228,945 157.60 125.55Brikama 91,013 137,245 233,063 50.80 69.82Mansakonko 42,447 55,263 64,687 30.19 17.05Kerewan 93,388 112,225 151,342 20.17 37.53Kuntaur 47,669 57,594 68,292 20.82 18.58Georgetown 54,232 68,410 86,618 26.14 26.62Basse 86,167 111,388 147,513 29.27 32.43The Gambia 483,499 687,817 1,025,867 39.38 49.15

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The Greater Banjul Area comprises Banjul and Kanifing LGAs, the Kombo North District, and apart of the Kombo South District. The population of this area has increased from 184,803 in1983 to 363,373 in 1993 (96.6%). It registered the highest percentage of growth, followed byBrikama. This is due to the massive rural-urban migration into the coastal area withemployment opportunities. In Kanifing, Mansakonko and Kuntaur lower growth rates wereobserved in the period 1983-93 than in the period 1973-83.

FertilityFertility level varies across The Gambia. Fertility levels in Banjul and Kanifing are lower than inthe rural areas. Greater access to education may be the underlying reason because the censusresults revealed a lower rate of 5.76 for women with primary and post-primary education, and6.42 for women without education.Adolescent fertility has been a big problem with far-reaching social and economicconsequences. The upsurge in teenage pregnancies led to increasing incidence of illegalabortion and dropouts from school.

MortalityThe trend of mortality has decreased from 217 to 120-140 per 1,000. Improvement andextension of health services are the underlying reasons. In the last 15 years the CDR hasdeclined from 29-30 per 1,000 to 18 per 1,000. Accordingly, life expectancy at birth hasincreased from 33 years to 52.4 years. Child Mortality Rates (CMR), though decreasing,remains high. About 24% are expected to die before reaching the age of five. The maternalmortality rate is 10.5 per 1,000 live births.Infant Mortality Rates (IMR) are higher in rural than in urban areas, and the same goes for childmortality rates. The maternal mortality rate is also reported to vary from 8 per 1,000 live birthsin urban to 16 per 1,000 in the rural areas not covered by the primary health care services. TheIMR is high among children born to mothers with primary and post primary education (120) asagainst 169 for those born to uneducated mothers.

MigrationsIn 1993, the non-Gambian population amounted to 129,817, consisting of 73,692 males and56,125 females. This figure includes tourists of Lebanese and other nationalities present in TheGambia during the census night. The country’s relatively open economy and hospitality haveresulted in a large influx of foreign nationals to account for about 12.7% of the Gambianpopulation. In 1983 and 1993 the highest percentage of foreigners was observed in Banjul. In1993, about one persons in four in Banjul was a foreign national.

Population PolicyAs a major step towards solving some of the above socio-economic problems, The GambiaGovernment has adopted a population policy with the following main goals:

1. to achieve a reduction in the rate of population growth;2. to ensure a balanced spatial demand of the population;3. to monitor and manage international migration;4. to promote health and welfare of the population, and to enhance the status of

specific target groups such as women, children, youth and the aged;5. to strengthen population statistics. The programme contains a 3 year plan to guide

the implementation of population activities for the period 1994-96;

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6. to increase awareness about the effect of population on major economic and socialissues; and

7. to increase the awareness and the use of family planning methods.Recent studies indicate that the Gambians are well informed about family planning, but its useconflicts with traditional beliefs, especially for those who see large families as an asset. Effortsare being made to influence individual and family behaviour through information, education andcommunication.

2.2 EconomyThe first 10 years of independence saw broadly stable macro-economic conditions with modestrates of economic growth. However, from 1970 until 1985-1986, The Gambia faced severeeconomic and financial problems with a low real GDP growth, high unemployment, rapidincrease of prices, uneven distribution of income, and rise of external debts. The Governmentintroduced an Economic Recovery Program (ERP) in the year 1985 to overcome thedepression. This program stressed on increasing public investment in all industrial areas andpromoting participation of large-scale privately owned capital by encouraging adequateinvestment into the economy. Through the ERP the Government liberalised trade, price policy,and the exchange rate, reduced public expenditure through removal of subsidies, andprivatisation of public enterprises. In the late eighties The Gambia’s economic and financialperformance improved dramatically. The Gambia’s ERP programme is counted as one of thesuccess stories in the Sub-Saharan Africa.Building on the success of the ERP, in 1992 the Government launched the Program forSustained Development (PSD). The PSD was designed to strengthen the economic structureinitiated in the ERP, expand long-term productivity with emphasis on environmental protection,and reinforce activities of the private sector.

Economic ActivitiesThe Gambian economy is open market oriented, with very limited natural resources. It isclassified as one of the least developed countries in the world. With a per capita income ofabout US$ 360, the backbone of the Gambian economy is agriculture dominated by groundnut.However, through the diversification policy of the Government in recent years, much attention isnow given to sectors such as tourism and manufacturing.About 2/3 of the population derive their income from agricultural farming. However, food deficitshave persisted and food imports increased significantly between 1985/86 and 1989/90. Therapid increase in population and its movement from rural to urban areas aggravated thesituation.The growing population has exerted pressure on agricultural land which is about 4,300 km²,leading to more intensive cultivation resulting in a depletion of soil and hence lower cover cropyields. Rural-urban migration has created scarcity of farm labour because the majority of themigrants are young persons who are normally active in the agricultural sector. It also increasesthe size of the non-food producing urban population, which at the same time requires more landfor settlements and infrastructure.In 1994/95, crop production increased to its highest level in the last five years with a valueadded in of 11.4%. This is mainly attributed to the increased production in agricultural crops(groundnuts, and others). During 1994/95 the value added in agricultural crop production atconstant 1976/77 prices increased by 14.4%.

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There has been a decline in revenue generated by the tourism industry in 1994/95 comparedwith previous years, especially with 1993/94. During the period 1994/95 the value added inhotels and restaurants decreased by 60% (for more details see chapter on tourism).Trade contributes about 20% to the GDP. This implies a reduction in trade contribution due tolower activity in the trading of commodities excluding groundnuts (the value added in decreasedby 2.9%).Reduction of the Government investment in local projects led to a reduction of the contributionof construction to the GDP. There has been a minor reduction in manufacturing industriesmainly due to the reduced production by small-scale manufacturers.The Gambia is already facing a severe problem of unemployment. Nearly 8% of theeconomically active population are unemployed, and this has been aggravated by the rural-urban drift and international migration.

2.3 Infrastructure

RoadsThe road network of The Gambia has a West-East linear configuration linking all of thecountry's major communities and agricultural areas located in the north and south banks of theRiver Gambia (RG). Traffic volumes on the road network vary by location from 100-600 vehiclesper day on primary roads in the rural areas, to over 7,000 on the Banjul/Serrekunda highway.Traffic congestion remains prevalent throughout the Greater Banjul area where much of thecountry's commercial and industrial activities are concentrated.The road network of The Gambia is about 2,570 km long in total, and is classified according tofunction, consisting of primary, secondary and feeder roads, all of which are either paved(500 km), gravelled (1,070 km), or earth roads (1,000 km). The proposed Kombo coastal roadsproject will increase the paved portion of the road network by approximately 103 km.

PortsThe Gambia has two ports, the main one in Banjul, and a small one, Kaur port, as describedbelow. The ports of The Gambia are managed and run by the Gambia Ports Authority (GPA)which is an autonomous public agency. The ports are very important to the Gambia economyas revenue generating institutions, and the points of entry/arrival of most of the essential goods(such as rice and sugar) consumed in the country. This is because The Gambia imports over50% of its food and 100% of its fuel. The ports are also used for exporting Gambian products(groundnuts).

Table 11. Freight traffic, exports and imports, in tonnes(Source: GPA)

Year 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992ImportsDry cargo 319,848 269,024 282,423 432,109 443,004Petroleum products 49,984 54,438 59,916 60,033 68,037ExportsDry cargo 44,053 27,324 40,811 26,416 29,086Groundnut oil 6,372 6,040 4,418 3,581 2,382Total 420,257 356,826 387,568 522,139 542,509

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The Banjul port is located in the eastern side of the Banjul city, on the river Gambia, and is theprimary shipping centre of the country. The shipping pattern in this port is characterised byships in liner service (carrying containers in addition to a portion of general cargo, baggedcargo, vehicles, and steel products), and tramp vessels (carrying commodities in bags), inaddition to a number of cruise and fishing vessels.Today, the Banjul Port has a total open storage area of 22,095 m², and two transit sheds withtotal surface of 4,260 m². However, the proposed third port project envisages the constructionof a new and larger container freight station, the extension of the new public jetty head by 177m in length and 24 m in width, and dredging of the inner berth of the wharf.The above proposal was put forward because of the expected increase in freight traffic at theport. An environmental impact assessment (EIA) carried out on the project showed that theabove projects would not have any significant impact on the existing environment around theport area.

AirportThe Gambia has only one airport, located 24 km south-east of the capital, Banjul. It thereforeserves as a gateway to and from the country and the sub-region, as flights from London,Brussels and Geneva connect the country with Europe, whilst regional carrier flights link Banjulwith Dakar in the north, and Freetown, Conakry, Abidjan, Accra, Lagos and Bamako in thesouth. The airport is managed and run by the Gambia Civil Aviation Authority (GCAA), anautonomous public agency responsible for air traffic control and licensing.The airport has a runway of 3,600 m with airfield lighting aids. The scheduled passenger trafficat the airport increased from 38,000 in 1981 to 91,000 in 1991. During the same period, thenon-scheduled tourist traffic increased from 33,000 to 110,000, thus the total terminalpassenger traffic handled at the airport increased from 71,000 to 201,000. During this sameperiod the total number of scheduled and non-scheduled airport movements increased from1,754 to 4,616. The freight traffic also increased from 777 tonnes to 2,430 in the same period.Due to the continuous and expected increase in the scheduled, non-scheduled and freighttraffic at the airport, the Government has embarked on a project to build a new and largerairport building. It is expected that new airport facilities will be able to handle any futureincrease in traffic, especially the non-scheduled tourist traffic.

ElectricityThe Utilities Holdings Company (UHC), an autonomous public agency, is the sole supplier ofelectricity in The Gambia. It supplies electricity mainly to the Greater Banjul area (Banjul andenvirons) because the electricity supply has not reached the provinces or rural areas yet.However, a project has been proposed for rural electrification for which a feasibility study hasalready been carried out.The single source of electric power for the Greater Banjul Area is the Kotu power plant. Theinstalled capacity of the power station is 21.7 MW, and the recorded peak demand was 16.5MW (1993). Two generators at the plant are currently out of order and require replacement thusreducing the capacity to 12.6 MW which is well below the peak demand. This causes a lot ofinconvenience as it leads to rationing of electricity supply. This rationing results in blackout andload shedding in the Greater Banjul Area. To mitigate the effects or inconvenience of the loadshedding or the complete lack of electricity, hotels and some residencies in the Greater Banjuland rural areas buy stand-by generators to enhance their electricity supply.

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Water SupplyUHC is also responsible for the water supply in The Gambia. In the Greater Banjul Area, 97%of the population reportedly has access to safe drinking water. In rural areas the percentage is50.Water supply is obtained from about 31 boreholes with a total nominal capacity of 6.6 mgd (343litres/second). Raw water is treated at the Sukuta Treatment Works (capacity 4.8 mgd), and theSerekunda Treatment Works (capacity 1.2 mgd). The treated water is pumped into a ringtransmission main feeding elevated storage tanks at Sukuta, Bakoteh, Sere Kanifing,Latrikunda, Fajikunda, Banjul and Mile 2, as well as a spur at Yundum and Lamin. Brikama issupplied from two boreholes with a nominal capacity of 0.6 mgd.

TelecommunicationsThe Gambia Telecommunications Company Limited (GAMTEL) is an autonomous public bodyresponsible for telecommunications in the country. The telecommunications network hasundergone considerable upgrading in the past decade, and as a result is considered one of thebest in Africa because of its efficiency.The Gambia has an earth station, with about 3,500 telephone lines (1993). Mosttelecommunications equipment is in Banjul and the North Kombo District, the location of mosturban residence and tourist facilities.Gamtel also offers fax services, telex and mobile phones to the public, which all help makecommunications easy and efficient, both locally and internationally. Gamtel manages a nationalradio station which is a very important communication tool in the country. Gamtel is also in theprocess of establishing a television station.

Liquid Waste DisposalMost of the liquid waste generated in The Gambia is in the form of domestic and industrialwaste discharges. In the city of Banjul, about 2,000 households have been connected to thesewerage system which was commissioned in 1989. About 5,400 m³/day of untreated sewageand domestic liquid waste is pumped out to the sea via the sea outfall-pipe. Apart from sewage,all other forms of domestic waste enter the system. The waste is dumped into the estuary, nearthe Bund road.Preliminary studies carried out guarantee a good primary dilution and diffusion of sewage. It isbelieved that the autopurification of the sea at the point where the 950 m outfall pipedischarges, is sufficient to cope with the sewage load from Banjul. A study on the short-termeffects of the system on faecal coliform concentration around the periphery of the outfall hasconfirmed this assumption (Sissoho, 1993). It has been noted that the original dump site at theBund road had lower faecal concentration after the relocation of the dump site. The originalconcentration of 474/100 mls has decreased to 124/100 mls after 1990.At the Tourism Development Area, where a number of hotels are located, about 1805 m³/day ofliquid waste is generated at average. The quantity and composition vary depending on the timeof the year. The waste is collected in an oxidation pond at Kotu where it is discharged into otherponds prior to it being discharged into the Kotu stream.Other forms of liquid waste are generated by local industries and power stations all over thecountry. Most of the industries discharge their effluent into the river or estuary. Banjul Breweriesdischarge about 1.5 million litres/month, and the only form of treatment is regulation of PH tobetween 6-8.

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Solid Waste DisposalSolid waste is collected from residential, commercial, market and recreational areas, officesand institutions such as schools, hospitals, fish and poultry processing industries, hotels, etc.Constituents include food leftovers, paper, construction wastes, grass and other cuttings.About 14.8 tons/day of refuse are collected in Banjul, and 57.4 from the Kombo St. Mary area,7.0 tons of which by composers and 12.4 by tippers. Waste generation rate is 0.35 kg/cap/dayfor Banjul, and 0.25 at the Kanifing municipality (KMC).Disposal site for Banjul is at Mile 2, whereas KMC, which is responsible for disposal in theKombo area, uses the Bakoteh quarry about 12 km from Banjul. In the rural areas, disposal ofsolid waste is usually by burning, while waste from plants and animals are sometimes used asfertilisers or composted.The landfill site at Bakoteh. At present, all domestic refuse from Kombo Saint Mary is disposedin a large abandoned quarry at Bakoteh. The site is located 500 to 1,000 m east of the Kotustream course, in an area which is becoming increasingly populated. The quarry has beenexcavated to about 2-3 m below the natural ground surface. The site is unlined, and wasteappears to be deposited without compacting or spreading of waste in layers, or the subsequentcovering of each layer with soil.The nearest public boreholes are some 200 m from the site, and dug wells, which local peopleuse for domestic and drinking purposes, are much closer (about 100 to 300 m). The healthhazard resulting from the exposed waste is high.

2.4 Social Services

EducationDespite the net enrolment rising to 43.6% for primary schools and 16% for secondary schools,the number of children remaining out of school has increased. The increasing need for boys tohelp on the farm, and girls to look after babies and assist their mothers during pregnanciesleads to their being kept out of school.Major school construction (primary, secondary and high), and the rehabilitation programmesgoing on through the country are meant to take care of the problems faced by the educationsector. Despite this the female enrolment ratio remains much lower compared to that of males.

Health CareIncrease in the population strained the health services and increased the risk group i.e. childrenunder 5, and women in child bearing age groups. Population per doctor is 15,269, whilepopulation per hospital bed is 916 (1990). In the rural areas the running of medical facilities isadversely affected by the difficulties encountered in retaining medical personnel who may beunder pressure to move to urban areas.

2.5 System of Settlements/VillagesThe system of settlements in the coastal zone, apart from those demarcated and allocated bythe state, is similar to the pattern of settlements in other parts of the country. This pattern isprimarily based on customary land tenure practices.In the coastal zone, villages are founded by a family or a number of families. Within thesefamilies, the head of the family is nominated to take care of allocations and matters ofimmediate concern to the community. This head is called the Alkalo. Upon the founding of avillage by these families, land is first allocated for housing, paying due regard to open areas for

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roads, prayer and burial grounds, and in almost all cases, a Bantaba where elders meet duringthe day for discussions, as well as social and sport gatherings. No family can claim ownershipto these public places.After the founding and settlement of the village by the founding families or Alkalo, and theallocation of the land as described above, other settlers in search of land can be catered for.These settlers must choose one of the families as their host. The host family will allocateportion of land for settlement purposes, or seek consent from existing founding families or theAlkalo to allocate land for homes and for agricultural purpose, if the new settlers have theintention to remain in the village. Such a gift is regarded as conferring permanent ownership tothe new settlers who will exercise the same rights over such land. After the whole available landhas been thus allocated both for settlement and farming, the village is then said to be fullysettled.Apart from the above processes, the system of settlement in the coastal zone may, to someextent, be influenced by occupational considerations and requirements. For example, theGhana town near the Brufut village is developed as an exclusively fishing settlement. Similarly,the development of other settlements may have been necessitated by the need for closeproximity to particular coastal zone resources; for example in the case of Bijilo which may havebeen influenced by sand mining activities.

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3 Tourism

3.1 IntroductionThe origins of tourism in The Gambia go back to 1964 when Scandinavian tour-operatorslaunched a five year charter flight program. They offered modest package tours for low andmiddle income tourists attracted by winter “sun, sea and sand” combined with exotic culturalenvironment. At its beginning tourism was confined to the capital of Banjul with a total of 200-bed capacity in two unclassified hotels.In the 1970s tourism in The Gambia boomed. The Government promoted tourism developmentplan extending tourism area into the peri-urban coastal strip south of Cape St. Mary, in the Koturegion. This project, known as Tourism Development Area (TDA) was supported by UNDP,while infrastructural expansion was partly financed by IDA. Several large beach hotels wereconstructed with foreign capital during this phase. There was a corresponding sharp increase intourist accommodation capacity from 200 to 2,600 units in the year 1970/71. At present, thereare around 6,000 beds.According to the National Tourism Policy there is a clear need for expansion of the current hotelbed capacity. An increase is planned of the hotel accommodation space from the 6,000 figureof 1993/94 to 10,000 by the year 2000. This is to be achieved by constructing at least two more4/5 star hotels in the beach strip (Policy).

3.2 Tourism EarningsThe Gambia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was nearly 3 billion Dalasi (D) in 1991/92(US$ 324 million), giving its 920,000 population a per capita GDP, at market prices, ofapproximately US$ 352. Agriculture, trade and tourism are the driving forces of the Gambianeconomy. In 1992/93 tourism was undergoing a significant uplift, but the trade sector was hit bypolitical difficulties with Senegal, and by the devaluation of the CFA Franc. Also agriculture,including groundnuts and fisheries is in a hesitant state.

Table 12. Arrival of air charter tourists by nationality for the period 1990/91 to 1993/94(Source: Central Statistics Department, Banjul)

British 163,000French 12,300Swedish 28,100Danish 11,700Finnish 4,700Norwegian 4,800German 27,900Belgian 4,900American 2,100Swiss 4,300Others 14,000Total 277,800

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Two years later the British Government reacted to the military take-over by stopping aid to TheGambia and issuing a negative travel advice. Since the British market share in the period1990/91 to 1993/94 reached almost 60%, the tourism industry after July 1994 virtuallycollapsed.Air-charter tourists (of which there were around 66,000, 64,000 and 90,000 in years 1991/92,1992/93 and 1993/94 respectively) are estimated to spend around US$ 26 million in TheGambia. This expenditure is actually “out of pocket” expenditure by tourists and excludes thecost of the package (which is paid to tour operators in Europe). Average daily expenditure iscalculated at US$ 33 while the average length of stay for the air-chartered tourists is 12 days.

Table 13. The breakdown of the “out of pocket” expenditure, quarter April to June 1993Source: Central Statistics Department, Banjul

Food and Drinks 59%Taxis 3%Organised Tours 18%Souvenirs 16%Others 4%

In addition, there are other visitors (mostly businessmen) who appear to spend nearly as muchas air-chartered tourists. So the total tourist spending for the peak years was around US$ 50million (Brown).According to the Ministry of Tourism and Culture, the tourism industry has grown at the rate of5%, while direct and indirect benefits are estimated at around 12% of the GDP. At the sametime, the GDP annual growth rate went down from 3.5% to 2.1%.

Table 14. Occupancy rate of the hotels in The Gambia, quarter January to March 1994(Source: Central Statistics Department, Banjul)

No. of beds available 3,989Total guest nights possible 359,041Total guest nights spent 237,342Occupancy rate 66.1 %

3.3 Tourism EmploymentEmployment in tourism and tourism-related activities is frequently quoted at 7,000. Estimatesvary widely from a total of 6,000 to figures such as 3,000 direct employment and 15,000 indirectemployment. In addition, job generation for unskilled, artisanal and medium-level employment,involving around 10% of the labour force, facilitated the amelioration of the earning capacities ofa number of households in the peri-urban centres adjacent to the Tourism Development Area(Brown, Policy).

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The Gambian Tourism Weaknesses and Strengths(Source: D J Jeffries Associates)

Product Strengths1. Acceptable inward air services which are increasingly bringing the main gateways to the

region and to The Gambia

2. A mix of international hotels at a range of prices and standards from “5 star” to “2 star”

3. A large number and variety of restaurants and bars

4. A fair range of river and inland excursions of short duration

5. Relative absence of restrictions and formalities, e.g. currency exchange

6. Efficient telecommunications

Product Weaknesses1. Inadequate airport terminal (the new one is being built)

2. Minimal waterborne and riverside facilities

3. Poor and declining standards of services in a number of hotels and restaurants

4. Erratic services due to unreliable utilities supplying electricity and water

Environment – Strengths1. Guaranteed winter sun

2. African landscape which is relatively lush and green, offering varied flora, outstanding bird lifeand some animal life of interest to tourists

3. Gentle and tolerant attitudes of the general population

4. Interesting and colourful scenes of rural and village life

Environment – Weaknesses1. Health risks and need for preventative medication

2. Desolation and squalor of Banjul shop areas

3. Harassment of tourists by a minority of opportunists and delinquents

Transport Infrastructure – Strengths1. Well surfaced main roads between the existing focal points of tourism in The Gambia

Transport Infrastructure – Weaknesses1. Little or no infrastructure for riverborne or riverside tourism

3.4 Socio-economic Implications of the Tourism DevelopmentMain issues and impacts related to the tourism development, identified by the National TourismPolicy and relevant for the integrated coastal area management in The Gambia, have been thefollowing:1. Faster quantitative growth than qualitative development. As tourist number rose, provision

of more accommodation space in the form of hotels was the main development objective.The sun, sea and sand image was deemed as natural phenomena that required no special

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qualitative improvements. This also refers to the inadequacy of the infrastructure (power,water, sewerage, street lighting) which is to be improved in the near future to enable theplanned expansion of the tourism industry.

2. Relatively small proportions of a sizeable economic return are derived by the Gambians orreinvested in the industry. The package tour mode of tourism continues to impose economicdisbalance in the share ratio of benefits that are enjoyed by foreign investors and hoteloperators on one hand, and local services and suppliers, entrepreneurs and theGovernment on the other. In addition, expatriates are hired in hotels, which reducespossibilities for employment of local managerial staff (this problem is closely related to thescarcity of trained Gambian human resources at management and intermediate levels).

3. Gambian tourism product can be further diversified by expanding the role of the RiverGambia and inland attractions (river cruising). Besides, the tourist season can be extendedso that The Gambia can be seen as an all year round destination.

4. Some negative cultural effects have resulted from the exposure of the Gambian society tothe behaviour of the European tourists. Young female and male prostitution rose as a resultof contacts with foreign tourists. In addition, hard drugs began entering The Gambia forlocal consumption.

5. Gambian tourism is overdependant on some markets (in particular British) with theassociated high sensitivity of the industry to exogenous media/publicity shocks and internalinstability.

6. Land-use planning and development control issues, as well as visual quality of the majorityof the existing developed area of the TDA detract from the image of The Gambia as atourist destination. As pointed out by Brown and Root, the weaknesses of land-use planningin the TDA are only small part of a much broader problem affecting the Greater Banjul Area(the topic of the management and utilisation of the TDA is covered more in detail in thechapter on Land-use Planning and Development Control).

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4 Land-Use Planning and DevelopmentControl

4.1 Land-Use PlanningAlthough some parts of the Gambian coast are severely affected by human activities, most of itis still ecologically intact. However, due to the fact that the southern coastal region is attractingpopulation, and competition is increasing over the allocation and use of coastal land, anefficient land-use planning and development control system has become an urgent need.Land-use planning in the coastal area has to accomplish, among others, two importantobjectives:

• to further elaborate standards of use and management for environmentally sensitiveareas established in future coastal management plan; and

• to provide guidelines for physical development on buildable land.The first step in this direction was the Tourism Development Area (TDA) which was legallydesignated in 1970 under the Ministry of Local Government and Kombo North\South AuthorityAct as a half-mile zone along the Atlantic coast spreading from the Kotu river in the North downto the Tanji River initially, and subsequently extending down to River Allahein on theSenegalese Border. The TDA thus excludes the significant areas developed for tourism aroundFajara, Bakau, Cape Point and Banjul. The land within the TDA was leased by the Governmentfrom the customary owners and the lease is held by the Ministry of Local Government andLands.Physical Planning in the TDA is formulated on the basis of the original Bafuloto Plan of 1973(SWECO/MLGL). The plan aimed to promote the development of the Atlantic coast of TheGambia for the dual purposes of tourism and urban development. The TDA was to be reservedfor tourist resort and related development, whilst the area inland from the coast and separatedfrom it by the highway (the Badala Parkway) was to be for urban development. The Planproposed three clusters of hotels to accommodate 3,750 beds in the Kotu Area and anotherthree near Brufut with 3,500 beds. The hotel clusters were to be surrounded by substantialgreen areas which were to remain free from development and thus preserve the green andopen character of the coastline.The Physical Development Plan for the Greater Banjul Area which was formally adopted by theGovernment (1988), re-states the Bafuloto Plan principles:

“The coastal strip should be kept from all physical developments other than hotelsand compatible uses and related leisure facilities (including nature reserves likeBijilo forest park). Any new facilities should be grouped together with park-like areasin between; this arrangement is a touristic asset which gives The Gambia acomparative advantage over similar international beach resorts which are often toodensely built-up and intruded by private settlements reducing accessibility and freemovement”.

Initial land allocation in the TDA was made on the basis of the original Bafuloto study, and thethree “Clusters” at Kotu Strand, Kotu Point and Kotu Beach duly developed. However, theTourism Liaison Board (TLB) and its successor, the Tourism Area Development Board (TADB)increasingly ignored the planning framework for the TDA and allocated land for hotels and

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related developments in the open areas between the clusters with the result that the gapsbetween the clusters were all but closed. By early 1989, hotels providing 1921 beds wereoperating or under construction in the Kotu Area of the TDA, with land allocated to developersfor a further 5,258 beds. If implemented in full this would result in a density of development inthe Kotu Area of about twice that which was envisaged in the original Bafuloto study.In reality, the construction of hotels in the TDA did not keep pace with the allocation of land,indicating that the TLB and TADB were responding to speculative pressures rather than tomarket demand in their land allocation decisions. The response to this situation arrived in 1989with the preparation of the Physical Development Plan for the Tourism Development Areaunder the urban Development Planning Project which sought:

• to revise the existing plans for the Kotu Area and the Brufut Area taking into considerationthe latest development of tourism, the present proposed projects as well as the recentforecasts for future development; and

• to elaborate a general concept of the physical development of the tourism area along thewhole Southern Coast from the Kotu River down to the boundary of Senegal, includinggeneral guidelines for urban design in the TDA.

This GTZ Plan, prepared jointly by the Ministry for Local Government and Lands and DeutscheGesellschaft fur Technische Zusammenarbeit, sought essentially to re-emphasise the principlesof the Bafuloto Study whilst also taking into account the downward revision of the maximumnumber of hotel beds required in the TDA. There was a forecast that the maximum number ofhotel beds needed in the TDA would be only 3,720, thereby suggesting that only 1,800 bedswere required in addition to those existing when the 1989 plan was issued. It distinguishedbetween a northern zone where the main tourism development would take place within clearlydefined areas (such as the Kotu area, and subsequently Bijilo and Brufut), and a southern zonewhere there would be only small “tourist spots” for excursions and short-term visits .The concentration of development in the northern zone (Kotu-Bijilo-Brufut) was also judged toimply a far lower infrastructural investment than developing the whole coast. The “tourist spots”planned within the southern nature park would all be self-sufficient sites accessed by earthroads requiring low construction and maintenance costs.It was stressed that private investment should remain concentrated at Kotu, before the area atBijilo is opened for development.It was anticipated that all the planned development could be accommodated at Kotu and Bijilo,and that development at Brufut would only be permitted if:

• both Kotu and Bijilo were fully developed to target levels;

• growth of tourism had passed the projected levels; and

• sufficient water supply sources had been identified.The recently allocated areas did not correspond to the original Bafuloto plan, and when fullydeveloped, the Kotu Zone will become congested and overcrowded and will lose its originalattractiveness characterised by the contrast between the nucleus of modern hotels and openspaces in between.One consequence of the poorly planned and uncoordinated release of land in response to landspeculation, and the lack of adequate financial guarantees, is the construction of unsightlyconcrete walls and chain-link fences around allocated land in the areas originally proposed asbuffer zones and the presence of unfinished and abandoned hotel development. This,combined with the poor condition of the spur road, litter and other amenity problems, creates avery rundown and shabby outlook on the seafront at the Kotu Point cluster.

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In an effort to forestall the deterioration in quality which would be the inevitable result if all theallocated land were to be developed, the GTZ plan included a provision for the re-entry ofundeveloped plots in accordance with the conditions of the leases granted to developers andspeculators.The plan also required detailed layout plans for the different areas of the TDA to be marked outprior to further development being undertaken.There is no evidence that any of the GTZ Plan recommendations have been implemented, andsome activities of the TADB have been in direct conflict with the Plan:

• the continued presence of abandoned half-finished hotels in the Kotu Area and the failureto re-enter land in accordance with the lease conditions;

• the continued allocation of land outside the cluster area and encroachment on the “buffer”zones;

• uncoordinated allocation of land for tourism development in the southern areas of theTDA despite the restrictions set out in the GTZ Plan and the requirement to completedevelopment in the Kotu Area before further development proceeds elsewhere; and

• approval of leases for cafes, shops and other uses, often on “buffer” land, which fail tomeet the urban design guidelines set in the Plan.

The Planning response to the activities of the TADB in the TDA has been almost whollyreactive. A recent revision to the TDA Physical Development Plan (a map rather than policies),merely records the known land allocations by the TADB in the TDA and presents this as a“plan”.This reaction, which apparently includes no intention to enforce the provisions of the originalplan, is a reflection of the virtual absence of planning and land use control in the TDA and,indeed, in the whole Greater Banjul Area.

4.2 Development ControlUnder present arrangements, the administration of state lands and the planning and control ofdevelopment are closely linked in The Gambia. Under the State Lands Act of 1990, all land inBanjul and Kombo St Mary (excluding very limited areas under freehold tenure) is owned by thestate. Land use and the physical development of land are thus controlled, at least in theory,primarily through the granting of leases by the state, and by imposing conditions on suchleases. Outside state lands, no formal mechanism is currently in force to control the physicaldevelopment of land.Within the Tourism Development Area, applications for leases are submitted to the Ministry ofTourism. Applications are forwarded to the Tourism Area Development Board (TADB) whichadvises the minister. Instructions on the issue of leases are passed to the Director of Lands andSurveys.The Board comprises the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Tourism (Chairman), thePermanent Secretary (MLGL), and representatives of the Ministry of Trade, Industry andEmployment, the National Investment Promotion Authority, the National Tourism Office, and theChamber of Commerce.Originally, the TADB was supported by a technical sub-committee which included the Directorof Planning, and the Director of Lands and Surveys. This sub-committee no longer meets, theconsequence of this being that the TADB has no institutionalised means of receiving technical,land administration, physical planning or environmental advice on the applications which itreceives.

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Advice may be sought if the members consider it appropriate, but this does not occur. Leaseshave been granted for hotel developments in the TDA with neither the Physical Planning andHousing Department nor the Lands and Surveys Department being aware that the applicationhad been submitted.Given this situation, it is hardly surprising that decisions on land allocation in the TDA in the last5-6 years have had little or no regard for the approved development plan for the Greater BanjulArea and non-statutory planning documents such as the 1989 Physical Development Plan forthe TDA.The new Physical Planning and Development Control Act was gazetted in 1991, but detailedregulations required to operate the legislation have been approved only recently. The Act wouldintroduce a new Physical Planning Board, Planning Authorities for each division (parallel to theLands Administration Boards) and a Development Control Committee for each planningauthority. A development permit is required for operational development of land and forchanges of use, subject to the regulations.Efficient operation of this system, backed by appropriate enforcement measures, wouldintroduce planning control which, for the first time, would be independent of the land allocationsystem, and which would apply equally to land held in all types of tenure (freehold, leaseholdand customary).

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5 Coastal ErosionThe Gambia coastline is characterised by a series of embayment, with long sandy beaches androcky headlands that protrude seawards. The headlands are low and composed of nodular orpisolitic laterite and sandstone rocks, large blocks of which are commonly found broken off andscattered over the foreshore area.

5.1 Coastal Erosion Rates and Critical SitesCoastline erosion has been documented as he most serious environmental hazard of theGambian coast. The rate of erosion of the Gambian coast has been estimated at 1 to 2 metresper year at average, amounting to a land loss averaging 2.5 to 3 ha of land per year, or 200-300,000 m³/year (Delft Hydraulics, 1992). Though erosion is a major environmental problem,erosion rates of the relatively harder rocks at the headlands are lower, averaging about 0.5m/yr. This was confirmed by comparison of earlier aerial photographs showing the position ofthe coastline from 1964 to 1982. In some places where there are cliffs, recession wasmeasured at 1 metre per year. The cliff recession is caused by the effect of run-off on the cliffslope and the impact of wave action at the bottom of the cliff.The sandy beaches common to the Gambian coastline consist of unconsolidated material andare therefore susceptible to effects of wave and tidal forces. The situation had been worsenedby the uncontrolled sand mining at Kololi, and later at Bijilo, where we estimated an annualremoval of 150,000 to 200,000 m³ of sand for the construction industry.

5.2 Specific Areas of Erosion Along the Gambian CoastCape Point to Banjul DockyardBetween the Banjul Point and the Dockyard Point the prevailing drift direction is southward.However, the drift direction has been interrupted by a series of harbour structures. Whileaccretion is noticeable on the updrift side, erosion has been pronounced on the downdrift sideespecially at the ferry terminal and south of it (Barrow, 1991). Between Banjul and the Toll Pointthe predominant drift direction is eastward. This has led to the development of a sand spit at theToll point. Delft Hydraulics (1983) estimated that between 50,000 and 75,000 m³/year havebeen accumulating here since 1983. Most of this sand derived from sediments eroded from thearea between the Palm Grove Hotel and the Muslim cemetery where beach erosion rates of 15-20 m were reported between 1964 and 1982 (Barrow, 1991). About 30 m of beach at theMuslim cemetery have been lost to erosion since 1964. Around the Atlantic hotel, the retreatwas about 10 m between 1964 and 1982. Presently only a very narrow strip of land remains tothe Banjul-Serekunda dual highway.Cape Point to Bald CapeThe coastline between the Cape Point and the Bald Cape is composed of many beachembayments bounded by headlands and cliff formations. The cliff base is composed offerrugeneous sandstone underlying laterite soils and perched sand dunes. Considerable clifferosion is occurring at the Cape Saint Mary resulting in cliff failures. Similar cliff failures arenoticeable at Fajara cliffs threatening the expensive villas and governmental residentialbuildings. Erosion rates of between 20 and 40 m were recorded between 1964 and 1982 alongthe beach between the Koto and Kololi points. Between the Kololi Point and the Bald Capeshoreline recession has been noted to vary from 40 to 50 m over the past 26 years. Between

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the Kololi Point and the Bijilo beach erosion and beach mining since 1985 have resulted inbeach retreating, threatening many coastal and tourist facilities. Only the beach between theBijilo beach and Kartong has been relatively stable. However the area is highly susceptible toerosion.

5.3 Effects of Coastal ErosionPhysical StructuresCoastal erosion is probably the most devastating environmental hazard along the Gambiancoast, destroying tourist facilities, cultural and historic sites and buildings. The most affectedpart along the Gambian coast is the Banjul Muslim cemetery. Here, coastal erosion hasresulted in the loss of some 30 m of land since 1964 with many tombs under the sea and manyskeletons washed away on the beach. The government houses at Fajara, situated on the cliffsare now being threatened by erosion. Within the Palm Grove Hotel, north of the St. Mary,erosion has washed away large areas resulting in the loss of the beach behind the hotel withwaves threatening the foundations of the hotel. South of the Palm Grove Hotel erosion hasdestroyed many commercial and private facilities, and presently the building of the Radio Syd isunder the attack of the wavesThe area south of the Fajara cliffs to and beyond the Kololi Point represents a major tourisminfrastructure consisting of hotels, beach and recreational facilities. Comparison of 1964 and1982 aerial photographs of this beach reveals a coastal retreat of 1-2 m/yr. for the past twentyyears. Between the Kololi Point and the Bald Cape, the erosion rate varies from 40 to 50 m forthe past 26 years.Land lossThe Gambian coastline is only 80km long with many very narrow beaches, and coastal erosionhas resulted in significant loss of those areas. The annual loss of land along the coast isestimated at 2.5 to 3.0 ha.FloodingCoastal erosion has resulted in the washing away of the buffer zones which once acted asbarriers to the low lying coastal plain behind the beaches. These coastal plains are depressionslying, in some cases, at the sea level. During high tides many of these areas are flooded,especially during high tides. In 1957, presumably as a result of the coastal erosion taking placenorth of the St. Mary's Island (Banjul and vicinity), exceedingly severe flooding during springtides caused serious damage to the then new Muslim Cemetery, the Radio Syd, and westwardsfor a distance of about 1 km. The boulder stone pitching which was used to protect thecemetery from erosion was washed away, and in some areas the cliffs were eroded landwardsby up to 10 m. The new Banjul-Serekunda highway, which was opened to traffic in 1990, is nowless than 50 m from the water mark and prone to severe flooding.Sea water intrusionGroundwater is the main source of water supply in The Gambia. Many of the bore holes arevery close to the shoreline. Land loss resulting from coastal erosion results in saline waterencroaching on land. This could cause salt water to pollute the ground water.Socio-economic activitiesCoastal erosion has very adverse impacts on the socio-economic life of The Gambia in theareas of tourism, fisheries, housing, industry, agriculture and mining. However, the mostimportant are fisheries and tourism.Six fish landing and processing facilities have been constructed in Brufut, Tanji, BatoKunku/Tujereng, Sanyang, Gunjur and Kartong. Total investments at the six landing sites are

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estimated at US$ 0.64 million. The fishing infrastructure at Tanji and Brufut site seems moreseriously affected, and suffers in particular from increased erosion. It has been estimated thatabout one third of these facilities are threatened by coastal erosion.Tourism has become an important source of income to The Gambia. Tourism infrastructurealong the coast is the most valuable real estate found in the coastal area. Fifteen modern hotelshave been built along the coast. Of these, four major hotels are along the coast between Banjuland Cape St. Mary, while the more recent hotels were built on the Atlantic coast down fromCape St. Mary. A number of these hotels face serious beach erosion problems, and in mostcases the beaches in front of the hotels have been reduced by at least half. In some cases, likethe Palm Grove and Tropical Gardens hotels, the beach has already disappeared. In assessingthe damage caused by coastal erosion to the tourism industry it should be noted that tourists toThe Gambia are principally attracted by sunny beaches. Unfortunately the hotels are mostlybuilt in a close proximity to the shoreline that is subject to considerable erosion. While physicaldamage to the hotels has been limited to a falling fence, destruction of beach bars and possiblysea water entering the facilities during spring tide, it may be expected that tourists will turn awayfrom these hotels if they no longer have access to an appropriate beach.

5.4 Causes of Coastal Erosion

Anthropogenic CausesSand MiningThe Gambia is in its development stage. To this end, there is a lot of infrastructural and housingdevelopment taking place. This development is however achieved at a cost to the coastal areaenvironment because all construction works in The Gambia require sand, and the sand used ismainly mined from our beaches (coastal area/Tourism Development Area – TDA). Until 1985,sand for construction works was mined from the quarry site near Kololi. Between 1985 and1995, sand for construction works was mined from the Bijilo quarry site. According to recordsfrom the Ministry of Trade about 100,000 to 150,000 m³/year was mined from the Bijilo sandmining site. This is about half of the annual erosion volume due to natural processes asoutlined above. As such, it considerably contributes to the present degradation of the coastalenvironment and constitutes a further sink in the coastal sediment balance .DredgingThere is no record of dredging causing or aggravating coastal erosion in any significant way inThe Gambia. This is because most of the dredging recorded in The Gambia took place either atthe Gambia Ports Authority (GPA) ship terminal or at the ferry services terminal, and thequantities involved are usually small. E.g., in the upcoming third port expansion project, there isa proposal to expand the new public jetty which will however require some dredging. AnEnvironmental Impact Assessment (EIA) carried out on the project revealed that the volume ofsediments to be dredged is less than 20,000 m³, and that the project would not generatesignificant impact to the natural environment or the surrounding wetlands.DeforestationThere is no record of the extent to which deforestation may have caused coastal erosion.However there are instances in which deforestation was thought to have contributed oraggravated coastal erosion in The Gambia. For example, between 1980 and 1990, when therewas a boom in the construction industry as a result of tourism development, there was awidespread removal of the natural vegetation cover and dune formations to create buildingspace thus rendering the coast more vulnerable to natural erosion.

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Natural CausesIntensive wave and tidal actionThe Gambian coast is affected by northerly to north-westerly swell regimes which are moredominant during the dry season. The NW swell is thus the main factor controlling the regionalcoastal morphology. It induces a major south-going sedimentary transit owing to the generalcoast orientation. However, the west-east oriented coast between the Cape St Mary and Banjul,experiences an east-going littoral drift which is strengthened by the flood dominated tidal flowsrunning close to the shore. These two mechanisms thus promote a littoral drift directed from theBuniada Point in the north and the Cape St. Mary in the west towards the estuary mouth whichacts as a sediment sink. This is due to the fact that the Gambia estuary constitutes a drownedvalley still in the process of being filled up, both from the river and the sea.To the south of the Bald Cape, the north-south coast again experiences a predominantly north-south littoral drift, as evidenced by the distinct zeta shape of the beaches in between thevarious headlands. As a consequence, it may be concluded that the whole of this coastalregion, for a long time now, must have been exposed to erosion owing to its naturaldevelopment, as induced by the littoral regime.Estimates of the littoral drift along the open Atlantic coast have been made on the basis of theextensive spit development at the mouth of the Saloum river (Sangomar spit).This amounts tosome 100,000 to 250,000 m³/year.It is estimated that the combined effects of waves and tides result in the littoral drift estimated at200,000 to 300,000 m³ annually along the Gambian coast. Much of the sediment in the littoraldrift is derived from the beaches between the Banjul Point and the Saniang Point. This resultsin an average erosion rate of 1 to 1.5 km/year, or 2.5 to 3.0 hectares of land annually.The Gambian coast experiences a tidal climate which is of the semi-diurnal type, with two dailymaxima and minima. The tidal range around Banjul ranges between 1.60 m during spring tidesand 0.7 m during neap tides. Though tidal regimes are small, large areas of the low lyingcoastal plain could be submerged during high tides and storms. Tidal currents, especially thosegenerated during ebb tides, are capable of removing the fine sands out to sea.Nature of sedimentThe Gambian coastal zone consists of unconsolidated marine and aeolian sands. The very finenature of the sediment makes them easily thrown in suspension and transported away. Forexample, a result of that is the muddy colour of the water off the shore of the St.Mary's Island(Banjul and vicinity), extending from the municipal area towards the Oyster creek.Nature of shoreline topography and configurationThe 80 km long Gambian coast is composed of embayments and headlands. This coastlineconfiguration results in the development of several cells with respective dynamic patterns. Theembayments are composed of flat eaolian sands underlain in most places by Tertiaryferruginous sandstone of the “continental terminal”, which is occasionally exposed along thecoast as cliffs or rocky platforms and headlands. These unconsolidated sands are verysusceptible to erosion caused by wave action.To the south-west of the Cape St. Mary, there are active cliffs which border the shoreline. Thesoft layers of lateritic soils and perched sand dunes above the consolidated basement aresubject to erosion. There is considerable cliff erosion at this point due to direct wave actionwhich results in slope failures and landslides. Many tourist hotels, like the Tropic Garden Hotel,the African Village Hotel, and the Medical Research Council (MRC) park are now threatened bythis cliff erosion.

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Sea level riseThough there are no records of regional sea level rise along the Gambian coast, it is to beexpected that eustatic sea level rises will aggravate the already bad erosive state along thecoast. This will be more pronounced along the low lying coastal areas. At the present rate ofsea level rise, the apparent loss of sediments along the Gambian coast is preliminary estimatedat some 75,000 m³/year.

5.5 Past Erosion Control Measures and Assessment of Their PerformanceSome low scale local erosion measures have been taken at many places along the coast bothby the Government and the local stakeholders. Some of these include wooden groynes,revetments, and gabion groynes.Wooden GroynesThis type of groyne is the most widely used and can be seen virtually along most areas of thebeach. Areas where they have been used in the past include the Radio Syd area, east of theCape St Mary (Sunwing Hotel), north of the Cape St. Mary.At present, only scattered remains of a timber structure of the wooden groynes can beobserved along the beach fronting at the Radio Syd and the Muslim cemetery. In 1977 alongthe beach fronting the Sunwing hotel, a scheme consisting of timber groynes (48 m long) wasdesigned to combat erosion of the beach. Initially the scheme was found to be remarkablysuccessful and within a very short time, sand rapidly built-up in the area. This was followed in1983 by the construction of three additional groynes 150 m long. However, due to poormaintenance the groynes are now badly damaged and are no longer effective.Other groynes consisting of rock bricks and gabion basket filled with stones have been used tocombat coastal erosion along the Gambian coast.In 1957, when the old Muslim and Christian cemeteries, as well as the Banjul-Serekunda mainroad suffered from flooding during spring tides, a scheme consisting of groynes constructedwith rhun piles with concrete panels were constructed on the beach. However, this was found tobe ineffective, and the scheme was later abandoned. Another beach erosion combatingstructure consists of rhun palm piles connected by timber walling and rhun palm sheet pilesjetted into the sand secured to the walling by nailing. This scheme is the so-called North ShoreDefence Works. From what can be observed today the scheme is no longer effective since thebeach has almost disappeared. During the course of the above works however, the beach inthe vicinity of mile 3 (i.e. about a mile from this point) was gravely threatened as high water atsome places reached only a few metres from the Banjul-Serekunda main road. A scheme wasdesigned to construct 14 groynes here. In this case boulder stone pitching was employed toprotect the cliff, the pitching being retained by toe gabions. This work initially proved successfuland erosion was brought under control. However from what can be observed today, the schemeis no longer effective.Beach nourishmentFrom the records seen, this method of beach protection has been widely used. However, inrecent years, one hotel, the Sunwing, started using this method to replenish its beach. Thehotel collected 6 truck loads of beach sand down south (at a cost of D 200 per load) and putthis on the beach. However, this was mainly a stop gap measure, and due to the small-scalenature of the sand used the measure was not effective.RevetmentsA considerable part of the port area has been stabilised by revetments consisting of rubblemound structures of laterite stones (30-40 kg). These structures seem to perform wellespecially along the southern bank of the Gambia estuary, south of the port.

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In 1991 attempts were made to construct a revetment along the coast in front of the newMuslim cemetery. Approximately 30-40 kg laterite stones were dumped in front of the cliff tomake a foreshore slope of between 1:1.3 and 1.2. This revetment was combined with shortgabion baskets filed with lateritic stones. Unfortunately the laterite stones were scattered overthe beach and the erosion of the cliff has resumed.Sea wallsThere is no record of sea walls being used in the past as a measure to control erosion.However, a civil engineering firm called Irishenco has proposed the building of a sea wall in thevicinity of the new Muslim cemetery. This project is being assessed by the NationalEnvironment Agency (NEA), and the working group on coastal zone management isdeliberating on the efficiency of such a hard structure on the coastal environment, especially onthe downdrift side.Sand bagsSand bagging arranged parallel to the beach has been used, especially by the hotels. Sandbagging had been used around the Sene Gambia hotel to protect the hotel grounds fromerosion and flooding. However, since such methods are only stop gaps they were usuallywashed away by the waves.Offshore breakwatersThere is no record of this method being used as a measure to control erosion in The Gambia.

5.6 Causes of Failure of Coastal Erosion Combating MeasuresIt is apparent that many of the coastal erosion combating measure taken in the past along theGambian coast have failed to solve the problem. This has been due to the following reasons:Lack of understanding of coastal processesUnderstanding of coastal dynamics is a prerequisite to the effectiveness of coastal erosioncombating measures. Many of the erosion combating measure in The Gambia have been takenwithout an understanding of the coastal processes and how such measures will alter the coastaldynamics and the effects on the down drift side. Experience from various parts of the worldwhere coastline stabilisation measures have been applied without adequate understanding ofthe coastal sedimentary processes, frequently show poor performance and/or early failure. Insome cases, even the mitigation measures served to aggravate the very problems they weredesigned to solve. Along the Gambian coast, visible testimonies to the failure of stabilisationschemes (such as groynes detached from the coast) can be found, which have been appliedwithout due regard to the coastal processes and coastal engineering background.Lack of regular maintenanceThe Department of Technical Services – DTS (formally Public Works Department) isresponsible for the design, construction and maintenance of erosion-control measures alongthe Gambian coast. Due to the downturn in the national economy there have been drasticreductions in funds available for erosion combating structures. This has had a negative effecton the maintenance of structures built to combat erosion.Poor construction materialsThe materials used for the construction of groynes, revetments, and gabion baskets usuallyconsist of lateritic rocks which are not durable and usually disintegrate in water. The Gambiadoes not have any granite rocks and hence the only available lateritic stones are used. Theselaterite stones are porous and not very resistant to abrasion and therefore not of good quality.

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6 Legal and Institutional Arrangements

6.1 Institutions and Their MandatesBecause of the multi-sectoral nature of the issues which concern the coastal zone, severalinstitutions are stakeholders in this particular area. Their mandates and areas of interest arewide-ranging, but their activities nonetheless all have an impact.

The Gambia Ports AuthorityThe jurisdiction of the authority is regulated by the Ports Act which provides for theestablishment of the authority and for the transfer to the said authority of certain port andharbour undertakings of the Government. For the coastal zone in question, the jurisdiction ofthe authority covers the Port of Banjul including the shores and beaches adjoining thereto,bordered to the north by an “imaginary line drawn from the Buniada Point to the northernextremity of the Cape St. Mary, and to the south from the western extremity of the Dog IslandPoint to the south bank of the Madina Creek.” Within this area, the authority has the powers,under section 8(1) of the Ports Act, to:

• acquire, construct, manufacture, maintain or repair anything for the purpose of theAuthority;

• clean, deepen, improve or alter any port or its approaches or, if so required by theminister, any other waterway;

• supply water to ships and generate and supply electricity;

• control the erection and use of wharves in the area of its jurisdiction;

• reclaim, excavate, enclose or raise any part of the lands vested in it; and

• to prevent pollution in the Gambian waters.The Gambia Ports Authority is also the implementing agency of several internationalconventions to which The Gambia is a signatory, such as the Protocol of 1978 Relating to theInternational Convention for The Prevention of Pollution from Ships, signed earlier in London in1973. The Convention’s main objectives are to preserve the marine environment by achievingthe complete elimination of international pollution by oil and other harmful substances, and theminimisation of accidental discharge of such substances.Banjul Port Third Development ProjectThe Banjul Port Third Development Project will have major environmental impacts when fullyimplemented. The Gambia Port Authority has conducted land acquisition in a large portion ofHalf Die, which will result in the displacement of several inhabitants in that area. The expecteddredging and land reclamation from the infrastructure development, is expected to cause agreat deal of turbidity affecting significantly the surrounding marine ecosystems. The dredgedmaterial from the infrastructure development, could be contaminated by the previous industriesin the surrounding area and have a high BOD value, which makes it unsuitable as constructionmaterial. The disposal of such large quantities of contaminated material should be addressedadequately.

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National Environment AgencyThe National Environmental Management Act (NEMA) is the legal framework for the control andmanagement of the environment and for matters connected therewith. Under Section 10 ofNEMA it is stipulated that the National Environment Agency shall perform the followingfunctions:

• implement the policies of the Council on the Environment;

• liaise with the various ministries, departments and agencies of the Government on allissues relating to the environment, and ensure that environmental concerns areintegrated into all spheres of national planning and project implementation;

• liaise with the private sector, inter-governmental organisations, and governmentalagencies of other states on all issues relating to the environment;

• prepare proposals of environmental strategies for the Council;

• initiate legislative proposals, standards, guidelines, and regulations in accordance with theprovisions of this Act;

• undertake studies, and submit reports and recommendations to the Council on suchmatters as are likely to have an impact on the environment; and

• promote public awareness of environmental issues through gathering, analysing anddisseminating information about the environment, and by publishing periodic reports onthe state of the environment.

Coastal and Marine Environment Working GroupThe Executive Director of the Agency is empowered by NEMA, under section 16, to establish atechnical working group where a matter requires specialised technical consideration. Theworking group would advise the Agency and carry out its duties according to the terms ofreference laid down at its formation. The current coastal erosion rate of 1-2 metres annually is amajor environmental problem, which has therefore warranted the creation of a multi-sectoralworking group due to the complexity of the problem.The working group consequently formed, comprises the following institutions:

• Gambia Ports Authority;• Kanifing Municipal Council;• Brikama Area Council;• Banjul City Council;• Department of Fisheries;• Department of Forestry;• Geological Unit;• Department of Physical Planning;• Gambia Public Transport Corporation;• Department of Technical Services; and• National Environment Agency.

The membership of the working group has been selected to include all the major stakeholdersin the coastal area. The exclusion of the National Tourist Office from the working group couldbe seen as a minor setback, considering the role of tourist activities and their impact on thecoastal zone. The terms of reference for the working group are:

• to formulate, review and revise policies relating to all coastal, marine and fluvial activities;

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• to advise the National Environment Agency and the Government on matters arising on thesustainability, protection, development and monitoring of the coastal, marine and fluvialenvironment; and

• to define and guide the work of task forces on issues that may arise relating to coastaland riverbank erosion, marine and riverine environment, sand mining, and oil spillcontingency plans.

A significant achievement of the working group is the collective effort to get the sand miningtransferred from the Bijilo Beach to the relict sand dunes on the outskirts of the Kartong village.The sand mining did actually start at Kartong on the 2nd January 1996, after the initial delaycaused by the construction of the access road to the demarcated mining site, and thecompensation to the settlers and garden owners in the area.

Geological UnitThe Unit is a Government Institution mandated to regulate the right to search for, mine andprocess minerals, and for other purposes relating thereto in accordance with the Minerals Act.In 1994 the Minerals Act was amended in Section 2 giving a new definition to the word“minerals” to include:“Metalliferous ores, industrial minerals, and rocks such as sand, sandstone, laterite, clay,gravel, cockleshell, limestone, salt, workable deposits of ilmenite, rutile and zircon, and othersubstances of similar nature in their natural state which are obtainable only by mining andquarrying in the course of prospecting operations.”All mining of sand, laterite, gravel and salt, therefore, falls under the jurisdiction of the MineralsAct which is administered by the Geological Unit, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Employment.Also under the provisions of the said Act, the entire property in and control of minerals in, underor upon any lands in The Gambia and of all rivers, streams and water courses throughout TheGambia is declared to reside in The State, except in those cases where such control has beenlimited by any express grant made by the Government before the commencement of this Act.The main issue relating to this Unit within the study area is monitoring of the beaches along theAtlantic coast to prevent illegal mining. This is performed by the team of inspectors, supervisedby the Unit. Their work is hampered by their grossly inadequate logistic support. With themining transferred to Kartong, the incidents of illegal mining will certainly increase considerably,without the Monitoring Unit being able to prevent it in any significant way, unless the presentpoor logistic support is improved significantly.

Department of FisheriesThe Department administers the Fisheries Act which is to provide for the management offisheries and the development of the fishing industry in The Gambia. The provision ofinfrastructure facilities for the fishing industry is a requirement under Section 8 (d) of the Act.Improper siting of such facilities can however, enhance the coastal erosion in certain areas.Under Section 3, Establishment Design and Facilities of the Fisheries Regulations Act, 1995,fisheries establishments should be located in areas which are “free from objectionable odours,smoke, bushes, swamps, dust or other contaminants, and are not subject to flooding.” Theartisanal fisheries play a major role in beach pollution as most of the fish processing is donedirectly on the beach.

Wildlife Conservation and Management DepartmentThe conservation and management of wildlife in The Gambia is administered under the WildlifeConservation Act by the Department of Wildlife Conservation and Management. Under section58 of this Act, the Minister may enforce regulations for the efficient control and management of

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any natural park, national reserve or local sanctuary, preparing regulations for all or any of thefollowing:

• prohibition or control of cutting, clearing, burning or otherwise damaging or removing anytree, bush, plant, or other vegetation, or any part thereof from any national park, nationalreserve, or local sanctuary; and

• prohibition of human settlement and certain human activities disruptive of wildlife and thenatural environment in any national park, national reserve or local sanctuary.

In the coastal zone, the Tanji Bird Reserve has been declared, incorporating the Bijol Islands asa bird reserve because of a great variety of bird species found in the area. The Bijol Islands area major roosting area for a large number of seabirds, ospreys and migrant birds.

Area CouncilsThe Local Government Act is an Act to amend, consolidate and make provisions for localgovernment in The Gambia other than in Banjul. In addition to any functions imposed upon thecouncil by this act or any other law presently in force, a council may perform the followingfunctions in respect of the area for which it is established under section 27 (1):

• prevention of soil erosion;

• prohibition, restriction and control of the cutting and selling of trees and forest products,the management of selected forest parks and areas, and the planting and tending of treesin general;

• the regulation of the disposal of refuse, the prevention and abatement of nuisances, andgenerally monitoring of health and sanitation; and

• the establishment and management of recreation grounds, open spaces and parks.The Banjul City Council, which has the functions similar to the other area councils, isempowered under section 32 to prevent or regulate a number of environmental issues,especially the establishment and management of parks, and other public areas or recreationresorts, and by section 52(2)(d) of the Local Government (City of Banjul) Act to make bylaws fora number of purposes including the prevention of damage to the land.

6.2 Land Tenure in The GambiaTwo types of land tenure exist in The Gambia: Formal, that is leasehold and freehold; and Non-Formal, that is the customary tenure.Within the Formal System, the freehold tenure is the same as total ownership. Both private andpublic freeholds exist in The Gambia, and the earliest grants were thought to have been madein the second decade of the nineteenth century. With the consent of the Parliament, it is stillpossible to make freehold grants, but since independence none has been made due to the factthat it was widely believed to be a mistake, since it can create numerous problems to theGovernment, such as preventing the Government from being able to influence the futureownership or occupation of land. Due to these disadvantages, it was therefore believed thatcreating new freehold titles was no longer in the interest of the State. The other system(Leasehold), on the other hand, does not grant total ownership. It is the result of a contract,granting exclusive right to possession of land for a fixed period shorter than the grantorsinterest. The grantor can be either private or public agency. The private grantor is less frequentwith the bulk being Public Leasehold from the state. Although there is no maximum lease termprescribed by law, it is generally a policy that leases are for a term of 99 years. Renewals arealways possible provided there’s no breach of any of the lease covenants.

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With regards to Non-Formal (Customary) tenure in the coastal area, the ownership andoccupation of land was still based on the customary practices of the local people, until 1991,when the Government of The Gambia enforced four new land acts. These are the State LandsAct (1990), the Physical Planning and Development Control Act (1990), the Surveys Act (1990),and the Land and Compensation Act (1990). Within this area, before the new land act wassigned, most of the land was owned by the village. The village headman, or Alkalo, wasresponsible for allocating such land to compound heads, who make decisions about thecultivation or reallocate to a member of their extended families.

6.3 Land AdministrationThe principal agency responsible for land administration in The Gambia is the Ministry for LocalGovernment and Lands within which two departments are directly concerned with land matters.The Department of Physical Planning and Housing is responsible, among other duties, for long-term planning, design of layouts or subdivisions, and the issuing of development permits for allnew developments, as well as for changes in land use. It is also responsible for the formulationof housing policy, research into technical aspects of housing, and the administration of buildingcodes and rent control.The Department of Lands and Surveys, on the other hand, has four basic functions. It is thesole Government agency responsible for national mapping. In addition to its responsibilities, it isalso responsible for all cadastral survey activities, which include the demarcation of new layoutsand individual parcels for which leasehold titles are to be granted by the State. Some of itsresponsibilities also include the creation, recording and control of rights and interests in land, aswell as the valuation of properties for taxation purposes.Apart from the Ministry for Local Government and Lands, the Ministry of Justice also plays avital role in land administration. It runs the deed registry which records all transactions involvingland matters, also assisting with any legal matters.Local Institutions such as the Area Councils (Municipalities), Divisional Commissioners, Seyfolu(district chiefs) and Alkalolu (village heads) also play a significant role in the administration ofland. The general functions of Divisional Commissioners, Seyfolu, and Alkalolu are traditional innature, and hence fall under the jurisdiction of Customary Law. Their role in land administrationis therefore restricted to land under customary tenure.Due to the centralised nature of the Government, the role of the Municipalities with respect toland administration is limited to a small amount of development activities involving publicservices, as well as the collection of rates. They are also responsible, in the case of land heldunder customary tenure, for the issue of certificates of ownership as a first step in convertingcustomary tenure into a state leasehold.

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II Integrated Coastal AreaManagement Strategy

7 Strategy FrameworkThe ICAM position in the Government processThe distinctive feature of an ICAM programme is the fact that it is multi-sectoral and that itseeks to integrate or co-ordinate activities of most existing actors. Managerial dimension of theGambian ICAM initiative should involve political, legal and institutional aspects which areneeded to clarify programme jurisdictional scope and to minimise running into conflict with theexisting jurisdictional powers.The purpose of ICAM is to manage development so as not to harm environmental resources,but it does not directly manage the use of the resources. The resources themselves willcontinue to be managed by sectorally oriented agencies (ministries and their departments incharge of forestry, fisheries, wildlife, water pollution, land-use planning, etc). But coastaldevelopment planning and the development process will be managed by the ICAM bodies thatserve a multi-sectoral and co-ordinative purpose which otherwise would not be fulfilled. This iswhy the ICAM Strategy for The Gambia is presented through the sectoral policies which ensureclear responsibilities while requiring necessary co-operation.Main ICAM Process outputsThere are three important stages of the first generation ICAM initiative in The Gambia:

• Coastal Profiling;• ICAM Strategy formulation; and• ICAM Master Plan.

The first two are given in this document, and the third one is to be prepared in time to come.The Coastal Profile examined the facts of the Gambian coast, considering and identifying theissues. The ICAM Strategy formulates goals and objectives of the ICAM Programme, suggestspossible solutions, and proposes some of the needed institutional and legal arrangements. TheICAM Master Plan will bring the detailed framework of the ICAM Programme implementationproviding at least:• land classification as a basis of future coastal land use planning (including the designation

of the ecologically and historically sensitive areas that deserve some form of protection aswell as open space, buffer zones);

• regulatory system (permits, prohibited activities, setbacks, environmental impacts etc); and• delineation of the management boundaries and jurisdictions for different sectoral policies.The ICAM process and implementation prioritiesThe ICAM programme can be planned and introduced in a comprehensive and nation-wideformat, or it can be initiated incrementally (for example, as simple as environmental impactassessment for development projects in coastal area). Given the fact that all the problems the

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Gambian coast faces are not of equal importance and urgency, it is the incremental approachwhich is to be recommended. The main issues identified by the working team are coastalerosion, as the most urgent one, and land-use planning and tourism development as the mostimportant ones. In addition, some parts of the coast are experiencing higher rates of coastalerosion processes, as well as stronger tourism development pressures than the others. Thisrequires a selective response which should concentrate on those issues (and parts of thecoastal area) that are clear and salient enough to the programme constituencies to commandtheir interest and support. Another criterion which favours a selective approach is the fact thatthe first generation ICAM programmes, as the one in The Gambia, should select issues anddemonstration projects/sites that offer opportunities for tangible near-term success. It is the aimof the ICAM Master Plan to further clarify and elaborate strategy elements, to decide aboutshort-term priorities, and to prepare them, in a form of feasible project proposals, forimplementation.

7.1 Institutional AspectsFor an integrated management and sustainable development of the coastal area, there is anurgent need to put in place effective co-ordinating mechanisms by creating a multi-sectoralpolicy planning body. The body should not only include the government institutions, but alsoprivate sector and NGOs.The integration of multiple agency interests into a single entity is very difficult. Withoutexception, institutions will defend their positions and mandates, and show little will to yield someof their authorities. Getting institutions to co-operate in multi-sectoral activities is one of themost complex tasks for the Gambian ICAM initiative. The Gambia has presently no inter-agencyor inter-ministerial entity that is positioned jurisdictionally to take on an ICAM programme. TheCME Working Group, although needed and effective as a temporary solution, is a technicalbody to advise the Agency (NEA) where a matter requires specialised technical consideration,meant mostly to deal with the coastal erosion as a major environmental problem.There are two options to be considered as the ICAM institutional solution in The Gambia:1. a new lead agency with an interagency mandate to accomplish the co-ordinative

management and planning functions of ICAM; and2. ICAM office, located within an existing agency that already has appropriate regulatory

powers (such as NEA, or Department for Physical Planning).The political priorities of most countries are such that a new agency with strong powers thatwould pre-emt the authority of existing agencies would not usually be formed for ICAM. Mostdeveloping countries prefer to fit their ICAM programmes into the current governmentalstructure in a manner that causes the least possible disruption of the present institutionalalignments. Therefore, the second alternative seems to be more realistic for the Gambiansituation. The ICAM office within an existing agency should be mandated, staffed and budgetedto accomplish at least the following three tasks:• inter-institutional co-ordination on coastal development and resource conservation

matters;• environmental assessment and permit issuance for all major coastal developments; and• empowerment to ensure compliance with the adopted policies.Another task of the ICAM office is to participate in the ICAM Master Plan preparation with themandate to review progress, consider programme changes, discuss proposed new policies,and provide technical information and advice (CME Working Group may well serve this purposein the new ICAM office as well). It is important that the main role of the proposed ICAM office isco-ordination and supervision, while direct management and implementation functions staywithin the existing line agencies (or ministries and their departments).

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7.2 BoundariesWork on the ICAM in The Gambia, and the preparation of the Coastal Profile and ICAMStrategy required definition of the Study Area. Firstly, a proposed area with its problems andconcerns had to be as representative as possible of the whole coast. Secondly, in defininglandward boundary, a flexible approach was adopted, roughly following the boundaries given bythe issue being addressed or expected. Basically, work on the Coastal Profile and ICAMStrategy required regional approach and boundaries for planning purposes. In the managementphase these boundaries are usually narrower because general experience proves that thenarrower the management area, the more authority the management entity can expect toexercise. Accordingly, two major ICAM development phases (planning phase and managementphase) use different boundaries. An important aim of the planning phase was to define theboundaries reducing the geographical scope (for example, sites and areas of ecologicalimportance, or TDA) according to the available baseline information on the issue underconcern. The ICAM Strategy sets main management objectives for these areas, while the ICAMMaster Plan, as the first generation document of its kind, further refines these boundaries,provides legal and institutional details, and assigns management responsibilities.

7.3 Participation and Public AwarenessStrategic planning requires that the planners consult a wide array of interested parties. Theyinclude the government and private sector (either entrepreneurs or local communities), who areexpected to become the partners in setting the agenda, and carrying out coastal managementprogrammes. The main actions taken to provide as much stakeholder participation as possibleinclude:• stakeholder analysis undertaken by the Working Team for each coastal issue identified;• village meetings in the areas close to the main tourist capacities (Bakau village and the

Alkali Luntang Jaiteh), as well as in the southern villages mostly engaged in fishing andfish smoking (Ghana town);

• visits by the team members to the government stakeholders; and• organisation of the Stakeholder Seminar where draft Coastal Profile and Strategy

documents were presented and thoroughly discussed.It is important to keep stakeholder participation alive during all stages of the ICAM cycle, fromresearch and planning through implementation, to monitoring and evaluation. Publicparticipation should not be exercised only when management decisions have already beentaken, but rather, it should be a two-way consultation with ideas growing in both directions. Inthis way, coastal management, from its very inception, will be understood as a learning processfor all sides, in which steps forward are likely be small, while policies and behaviour have to beadaptive. The best way to promote this approach is to hold regular and frequent assessmentsof the progress of all project components.Public awareness is another element which plays a major role in accomplishing coastalmanagement objectives. An important goal is to convince people of the value of protectingresources by providing them with both information and ethics, so that they can understandcoastal issues and support management activities. Although changes of public attitude requirelong-term efforts, the result of a successful public awareness campaign is building of aconstituency willing to exercise pressure for putting coastal management on the politicalagenda. There are many techniques to be used in public awareness campaigns. The mostappropriate ones for The Gambia are the following:• radio series on environmental issues which can be used in schools and at homes;• print media where journalists can be most helpful in environmental education;• television, although a passive medium, can be of great benefit in general public education;• open meetings to discuss specific issues and enable interactive participation.

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8 Sectoral Strategies

8.1 Population

IntroductionThe population of The Gambia is just over a million inhabitants (1993 census). With a surfacearea of 10,689 square kilometres, and a population density of 96 inhabitants per squarekilometre, it is one of the most densely populated countries in Sub-Saharan Africa. About 2.9%of the annual growth rate of 4.3% is accounted for by natural growth, and the rest is a result ofmigration. The per capita income of The Gambia is US$ 360.Fertility levels are high and have remained so for the past two decades. The crude birth andcrude death rates are 46.2 per thousand and 18.0 per thousand, respectively. Infant mortalityrate (IMR) is 85 per thousand, and life expectancy is at an average of 54.5 years.The population of The Gambia is young, with close to 50% of population below the age of 15.This gave rise to a high dependency ratio of 88%. The young Gambian population places ahuge burden on the Government and the families for the provision of education, health, andother social services.Unemployment and underemployment rates remain high, particularly among urban youths,which poses threat to security and social stability. The growing population exerts a lot ofpressure on land, leading to more intensive cultivation of the same land and lower crop yields. Italso led to greater demand for buildable land in urban areas.Drought and absence of social and health facilities in the rural areas made 37.7% of thepopulation to live in the urban areas.Since the early 1980s through to 1990s, the Gambian Government embarked on a structuraladjustment programme in order to re-focus its economy to the path of meaningful growth. TheGambia’s reform programme is counted as one of the success stories amongst those in theSub-Saharan countries that implement structural adjustment programme. The reform did notonly contribute to an average annual growth rate of over 4% for the several years after thereform, but has also laid a solid foundation for sustainable economic growth. This rate couldhave been even higher had it not been for the rapid population growth.Although the structural adjustment programme has gone a long way in enhancing economicgrowth, it has failed to bridge the wide gap between per capita and household incomes. Thiscould be attributed to the heavy outflow of funds (foreign exchange) to service debts. In thelight of that development, the Government later addressed the issues of human resourcedevelopment and poverty alleviation.

Goals and ObjectivesThe general goal of the socio-economic development is an overall improvement of the livingconditions of the population on a sustainable basis. The specific objective of the country-widesocio-economic policies, particularly relevant for the coastal area, is population growthreduction and control of the population migration to the coast. This can be achieved through theprovision of equal development opportunities in some other parts of the country, and involvespolicies and actions in different fields of the social and economic life.

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How the coast is managed and who benefits is important from a socio-economic standpoint. Forexample, in rural communities, many people do not receive wages or salaries, but rather depend onactivities like subsistence fishing or small scale farming or trade for their survival. An increase in thenation’s per capita income is unlikely to affect these people much – improvement for them wouldmean the ability to continue the activities on which they rely, and modest improvements in healthand education. Actions that close future options by concentrating on large-scale economicdevelopment may create more problems than they solve. When, for example, industrial fishing isdeveloped to the point of squeezing out the artisanal fishermen, the net result to the coastalcommunity can be negative, despite officially claimed economic growth.Source: “Coastal Zone Management Handbook” by John R. Clark

Management StrategyThe Gambian Government has set up the National Population Commission in September 1991to look at ways of tackling its problems. The recommendations of the commission, which wereadopted by the Parliament in 1992, include the following:

1. to achieve reduction in the rate of population growth;2. to ensure balanced spatial distribution of the population;3. to monitor and manage international migration;4. to promote health and welfare of the population to enhance the status of specific

target population such as women, children, youths and the aged;5. to strengthen population statistics;6. to increase awareness about the effect of population growth on major economic and

social issues; and7. to increase the awareness of the family planning methods.

These recommendations, when adhered to, would go a long way in supplementing the progressmade in the structural adjustment programme.

8.2 Land-Use Planning

IntroductionLand-use or physical planning is carried out at both regional and local levels. It definesdesirable land use patterns that, at least in theory, balance social, market and environmentalvalues. It is always accompanied by a set of regulations (development ordinances) which setsthe type, intensity, amount and rate of development. In addition, a function of a land-useplanning program involves day-to-day administering, enforcing, and revising policies,regulations, public investments and other measures that constitute the actual developmentmanagement system.At the same time, land-use planning and decision making can be seen as a big-stakes gameover an area’s future land-use pattern. Planners play the game in an arena with other players,each with resources and influence over decisions. Bearing in mind the situation in some parts ofTDA, it is obvious that the role the land-use planners have been allowed to play is not in thebest interest of the sound development of the Gambian coast.

Goals and ObjectivesSustainable development is by all means an overall goal of the whole coastal managementprogram in The Gambia. In the case of land-use planning the goal is to identify the level andpatterns of development that can be sustained without critical environmental damage, whilemeeting economic and social needs of present and future generations.

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More practical objectives of land-use planning that follow from this concept are numerous. Inthe case of the Gambian coastal area, and Project Study Area in particular, they include:• land-use planning capacity building in, and application of environmental analysis,

assessment and management;• recognition of the land-use planning profession as a leading authority in development

management;• strengthening of stakeholders’ participation and public awareness, including local

communities, in the planning process;• infrastructural needs assessment and co-ordinated capital investment plans as a part of

the coastal area planning process;• improvement of the land-use planning intelligence through a planning information system;• preparation of a new generation of planning documents for the coastal area within the

framework of ICAM (following the land classification plan to be provided by the ICAMMaster Plan).

Management StrategyManagement strategy in the land use planning sector provides more detailed actions to betaken aimed at realisation of the defined goals and objectives.1. It is necessary to advance environmental considerations in the plan making process in the

coastal areas. The prerequisite for this is in-house capacity building within planninginstitutions (state level, such as DPPH and regional offices) in environmental analysis andassessment techniques and tools. Furthermore, strong inter-institutional and inter-sectorallinks should be established with NEA, and the national and international scientificcommunity. Particularly important tools for planners in advance planning are strategicenvironmental assessment (SEA) and carrying capacity analysis. Both tools have beenintroduced in this Project (in the evaluation of the sensitivity and classification of theecologically sensitive areas), but to a limited extent due to the lack of environmentalinventory and baseline information.SEA is needed to assess not only individual projects within the certain usually limitedgeografic area but whole development programs or plans covering wider coastalsegments. For this purpose an introduction of a SEA may be an appropriate tool to dealwith this issue. This will at least provide an opportunity for responsible authorities toanticipate cumulative impacts of a number of similar projects which (i.e. tourism), ifconsidered individually, may not impose danger to the environment, but assessed as awhole may show quite a different picture

2. The Department of Physical Planning and Housing and the Department of Lands andSurveys, as the key agencies responsible for land administration, must be given thenecessary support and funding for their institutional capacity building. This will enable theformer to carry out the necessary development control enforcement, and the latter toprovide the necessary inventory of land resources information on which all planning andimplementation will depend.

3. A plan implementation is very often the single most critical step in whole planning activity.In The Gambian case this has proved to be particularly true. Institutional arrangementscreated for 1989 TDA Plan implementation revealed serious deficiencies. In brief, fullrespect and leading role in the development management and land allocation processshould be given to land-use planners and Physical Planning Department. The onlyacceptable way to challenge or influence planning document solutions for any stakeholderis to take part in the planning process itself. Other than this, planning schemes can bechanged only through legally defined plan amendment procedures.

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4. Stakeholder participation is another important strategy in the planning process whicheventually brings more effectiveness in the plan implementation phase. It is equallysignificant in the land-use planning and in the overall ICAM process. Stakeholder analysisis a technique which prepares for negotiation in problem solving process (e.g. allocationof land for different activities, sensitive area regimes, infrastructure extensions). This is anadvance scoping of the interests of those affected by a plan, and how they are likely torespond to it. A stakeholder analysis looks at who the key players are, what they need,what they can contribute, what powers they have, and what their influence is.

5. The timing and amount of land-use demand should be co-ordinated with the availabilityand adequacy of infrastructure. Accordingly, capital improvement plan should be preparedin parallel with the land-use plan of the whole TDA, in accordance with the realities of landdemand (excluding speculative land allocation demands) and infrastructure financingopportunities. This is a necessary step (not the only one) if the rest of TDA wants to avoidpractices of the recent years tourism development within the GBA.

6. A planning information system is necessary to answer in accurate and timely mannerimportant questions about the location, type, amount and rate of land-use change withinthe coastal area. Since virtually all planning data are related to geography (or spatiallocation), the application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has becomewidespread. It must be pointed out that NEA has undertaken important steps inestablishing a strong environmental information section, and selected GIS as the principaltechnology of environmental information management. Building upon this, the ICAMProject organised five-day training course on ARCVIEW 2.1 for some of the national teammembers and the NEA GIS lab staff.

Table 15. Land-Use Planning Management Strategy Outline

Issue Action Components Time frame InstitutionsCapacitybuilding

Training programmes,inter-sectoral co-operation

Strategicenvironmentalassessment,carrying capacity

Short term Internationaltechnicalassistance, NEA,DPWM, DF, NGOs,

Lack ofequipment (h/s,vehicles,...)

Additional funding,donations

Short term Internationalassistanceprogrammes,regular budgeting

Physical plansimplementation

Planning Dept. leadingrole in developmentmanagement (e.g. landallocation process),enforcement

TADBpowers/structurereconsideration,enforcement of re-entry provision

Short termand ongoing

MTC, PPHD, NEA,CMEWG

Stakeholderparticipation inplanningprocess

Inter-sectoral, inter-institutional co-operation,public awarenesscampaigns, ICAM project

Stakeholderanalysis, consensusbuilding, participatoryworkshops

Short termand ongoing

PPHD, NEA,CMEWG

Development(growth)management

Coordinatedinfrastructure and land-use planning, strictenforcement

Land allocationdemand analysis,infrastructurefunding models

Short termand ongoing

PPHD, MWC,MTC,

Planninginformationsystem

Training and interagencyco-operation, datacollection

Information needsassessment, systemdesign, standards

Mid term andongoing

PPHD, NEA,CMEWG

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8.3 Tourism

IntroductionAmong the important sectors for The Gambia’s future development, tourism has been identifiedas perhaps the best one meeting the objectives for assisting the country's medium-termregeneration. Within this perspective, the National Policy for the Tourism Sector has assertedthat tourism could:

• develop as a sustainable, environmentally sound industry;

• promote The Gambia as an attractive destination;

• optimise foreign exchange earnings;

• generate employment opportunities for the Gambians;

• encourage and facilitate profitable investment; and

• contribute to a refurbishment enhancement of the national infrastructure.The Gambia’s prime attraction rests in its natural and cultural heritage. But while these arecritical resources and important marketing assets for the tourism industry, they are alsoextremely vulnerable and vital for the country's broader long-term survival. Even more importantin The Gambia than in some other developing societies is the obvious problem that thecountry's major potential tourist attraction, its coastal area, is highly sensitive and fragile, bothenvironmentally and culturally.Accordingly, tourism should not be permitted to become the country's key economic sector. It istoo vulnerable to the movement of international capital, changes in fashion, and natural andcultural environmental degradation. But as a supplementary income, particularly in conjunctionwith agriculture and rural development, an appropriate sustainable form of tourism can providevaluable economic and social gains.

Goals and ObjectivesAccording to the National Policy for the Tourism Sector, “its principal goal is to maximise theeconomic and social benefits that are derived from the totality of the tourism industry, by thedifferent categories of the Gambian service and skill providers”.In addition to numerous intra-sectoral tourism policy objectives, there are others very relevantfrom the point of view of sustainable coastal development. They include:

• diversification of traditional tourism product;

• protection and preservation of the natural environment and socio-cultural heritage byminimising the negative effects on the coastal environment, in particular onecologically/environmentally sensitive areas;

• TDA development and utilisation according to the principles and design given by theexisting or new planning documents;

• local population needs to be involved throughout the tourism development process.

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The tourist industry is an important earner of foreign exchange in the economies of the severalcoastal countries, including The Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Tanzania and Mauritius. Large -scale tourism, such as that already developed at points along the coast from Dakar to Lome, canhave severe impacts on the coastal zone. Construction of hotels, restaurants, recreation facilities,and so forth, located directly on the shore have been responsible for the clearing of coastalvegetation, filling of wetlands, and an ever increasing loading of sewage and solid waste. Many ofthese facilities, built with public funds, have since deteriorated due to lack of maintenance, or havebeen washed away, due to the absence of adequate setbacks from shore. The heavy capital lossesresulting from inadequate planning and zoning are compounded by marring of the coastline anddestruction of the aesthetic appeal that initially attracted tourists to these areas. (...) Because it isreadily apparent to visitors, degradation of the coastal zone due to pollution, urban sprawl andhabitat destruction can rapidly erode a country’s tourism base, jeopardising existing investmentsand future foreign exchange earnings.Source: “Africa: A Framework for Integrated Coastal Zone Management” by The World Bank

Management StrategyManagement strategy determines a number of sound steps and actions aimed at realisation ofthe goals and objectives that are spelled out above. They include:1. Besides making the Gambian tourism product more attractive, diversification of the

tourism activities and their spatial dispersal provides reduced pressure on the sensitivecoastal environments while ensuring more equitable distribution of benefits nation-wide.This is to be achieved through the incentives for tourism facilities development in the up-country provinces, improved transportation (in particular by river), and discovering andopening up new cultural and natural attractions.

2. Environmentally and ecologically sensitive areas are defined in this study as areas inwhich uncontrolled and incompatible development may result in irreversible damage.Tourism in or around sensitive areas can be developed as a part of the overall areamanagement program. The appropriate kind of tourism is nature tourism which can bedefined as travel or visit to unspoilt natural environments for the specific purpose ofexperiencing their flora, fauna and scenery. The fundamental issue is to do it in such away as to support its protection (e.g. through raising of revenue for area management). Inany case, tourism facilities must be small scale and go with the carrying capacity of suchareas.

3. A plan implementation is very often the most critical step of the whole planning activity. Inthe Gambian case this has proved to be particularly true. Institutional arrangementscreated for 1989 TDA Plan implementation revealed serious deficiencies. In brief, fullrespect and leading role in the development and land allocation process should be givento land-use planners and Physical Planning Department. The only acceptable way tochallenge or influence planning document solutions for any stakeholder is to take part inthe planning process itself. Other than this, planning schemes can be changed onlythrough legally defined plan amendment procedures. (The same applies for the Land-usePlanning Strategy).

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Table 16. Tourism Management Strategy Outline

Issue Action Components Time frame InstitutionsTourismproductdiversification

Inland tourism promotion,up-country tours, boattrips, cultural antiquities,sacred pools, sanctuaries

Economic incentivesfor investors,strategic EIA, touristfacilities designguidelines

Short to midterm

MTC, PPHD,NEA,CMEWG

Natureprotectionsupportprogrammes

Tourism activities thatsupport nature protectionand sharing of revenue

Land classification,carrying capacity,multiple useregimes, localcommunityinvolvement,preparation of anEnvironmental Codeof Conduct forTourism

Short to midterm

DPWMDF, NEA,CMEWG

Physical plansimplementation

Planning Dept. leadingrole in developmentmanagement (e.g. landallocation process)

TADBpowers/structureexamination,enforcement of re-entry provision

Short term MTC, PPHD, NEA,CMEWG

8.4 Coastal Erosion

IntroductionAs it is shown in the coastal profile, coastal erosion due to natural causes and at different rates,occurs along the entire coast of The Gambia. In addition, some human activities (e.g. sandmining) have aggravated the natural erosion in certain areas. As a result, the rate of erosion incertain areas caused much concern. Some of these areas are:

• Muslim Cemetery and vicinity;

• Kololi area (e.g. Kairaba and Senegambia hotels); and

• Sunwing and Amie's beach hotel.

Goals and ObjectivesThe overall goal is to reduce the rate of erosion or its impacts along the entire coast of TheGambia, particularly in the environmentally sensitive areas listed above.The objectives are to protect the existing and new waterfront developments from coastalerosion, as well as to minimise human activities which contribute to erosion processes (e.g.sand mining). In addition, development schemes and regulations that reduce erosion riskshould be developed.

... high erosion potential in the region combined with poor decision making regarding the siting ofcoastal infrastructure, ad hoc decisions about the kinds and location of mitigation measures, andthe extraction of the coastal resources have all contributed to high rates of erosion in the WestAfrican coastal zone.

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Source: “Africa: A Framework for Integrated Coastal Zone Management” by The World Bank

It should be clearly understood that beach problems usually result from human actions. Beach anddune systems in their natural state provide a buffer against storm-caused erosion and stormbreaching. The natural forces at work are immense; therefore, structural solutions to beach erosionand protection of shoreline property from the hazards of sea storms may be expensive, and areoften temporary or counterproductive.Source: “Coastal Zone Management Handbook” by John R. Clark

Management Strategy1. Short to medium term interventions. As a result of the lack of reliable information or data

with regard to the general coastal geomorphology, dynamics, rates of erosion, etc.,temporary measures have to be adopted to reduce or contain the rate of erosion,particularly in the environmentally sensitive areas (e.g. Muslim cemetery and vicinity), ona short term. The temporary measure considered to reduce the rate of erosion in this areais the construction of new Rhun-palm groynes and boulder rivetments along its 160 mstretch. The quantity of Rhun-palm trunks required (four thousand) is however notavailable in the country and the plan to obtain them from a neghbouring country has notsucceeded. Consequently, boulder rivetments were constructed along the 160 m stretchof the cemetery area to contain the erosion for the short term.

2. Research and monitoring. On a medium to long term, studies should be carried out on thegeneral coastal geomorphology, dynamics, rates of erosion, offshore bathymetry andother relevant parameters along the entire Gambian coast, but in particular along theknown erosion-sensitive areas. This information will allow for the selection of the mosteffective coastal protection measure to be applied in different coastal areas. Furthermore,the same will provide for a baseline information necessary in monitoring erosion trendsand effectiveness of applied measures.

3. Setback lines. The information on the rate of erosion will be useful in determining setbacklines in virgin areas (i.e. undeveloped areas) along the entire coast, especially in the TDA(tourism development area). These setback lines will establish the minimum distance fromthe shoreline where no hard structures (e.g. solid blockwork hotels) should be erected orbuilt at various areas along the entire coast. These setback lines should be given to thepublic in general, and to the TDB (Tourism Development Board) in particular which isresponsible for the allocation of land in the TDA (the setback line should be 100 times therate of erosion in a particular area).

4. Environmental Impact Assessment. All development projects in the TDA (e.g. shorefrontstructures, sand mining) should have an EIA carried out on them to assess their effectson the coastline or beach.

5. Public awareness campaign. The general public should be sensitised on the effects ofcoastal erosion, particularly how certain human activities (e.g. random sand mining alongthe coast) can aggravate coastal erosion. Each village or community can be asked to setup a committee to control and monitor coastal erosion in their areas, and to report theirfindings or observations to the relevant institutions as soon as possible.

6. Control of sand mining. In the future, all designated sand mining areas should have amanagement plan regulating the volume of sand to be extracted so as not to affect thestability of the coastline, as is done in the Kartong sand mining quarry at present. Thesedesignated areas, wherever possible, should be located inland, away from the coast.

7. Co-ordination between stakeholder institutions. All the above steps will be of little or nouse unless there is co-ordination between the different stakeholder institutions with

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interest in the coastal zone. To this end, the present ICAM working group should not bedissolved after the completion or preparation of the coastal profile and strategy, butshould rather be maintained and strengthened to include other institutions (e.g. TDB,Hotel Owners Association etc.) and local stakeholders.

Table 17. Coastal Erosion Management Strategy Outline

Issue Action Components Time frame InstitutionsLack of reliableerosion-relatedinformation

Research and monitoring Policy orientedresearch

Short to mid-term

GU, Internationalprograms,

MuslimCemetery area

Boulder rivetment Performancemonitoring

Short-term MWC, ICAM Team,Wright Construction

Waterfrontdevelopmentimpacts

EIA Effects on longshoredrift and beachbudget in wider area,Inter-sectoral co-operation

Commenceshort-term andongoing

NEA-CME,DPPH

Waterfrontdevelopmentschemes

Development ordinanceswith setback regulations(50-100 x annual erosionrate)

Erosion ratesmonitoring

Commenceshort-term andongoing

DPPH

8.5 Wildlife

IntroductionThe coastal strip of The Gambia has been subject to considerable pressure from human activityfor many decades. Tourism development has altered much of the natural habitat from the CapePoint to Bijilo, and further South, the fishing activities (notably the collection of wood for fish-smoking), clearance of land for agriculture development, and timber harvesting have hadconsiderable impacts.The original primary habitat of the coastal strip was closed woodland dominated by rhun palm(Borassus aethopium). Stands of such forest exist at Bijilo, Kachuma and Dau Dula. Much ofthe coastal forest has been degraded to coastal shrub or bushed-grassland. Such areasnonetheless retain a considerable ecological value for birds, small mammals and reptiles. Riverestuaries are generally characterised by lagoons with associated mangrove fringes and salt-pans (barren flats). Such areas are dynamic and may undergo considerable alteration inmorphology over very short time scales. The lagoons are generally backed by a stabilised dunesystem with characteristic vegetation zones grading into closed canopy forests. An intactexample of this vegetation succession exists at the Tanji Bird Reserve.The fauna of the coastal area varies according to the habitat type, with large mammalsgenerally limited to more closed vegetation types. Among some of the large mammals there isconsiderable mobility with lie-up sites provided by areas of closed vegetation, and nightlyforaging extending into more open areas or agricultural land. Such movements are undertakenby species such as hyena, aardvark and porcupine.

Goals and ObjectivesThe DPWM primary objective within the coastal area is the maintenance of intact areas ofcoastal habitat with adequate interconnections via corridors to permit the viability of wildlife

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populations. Associated to this aim is the control of illegal activities within the coastal area, suchas illegal hunting, bushfires, deforestation, and uncontrolled development.Maintaining Primary HabitatThe key areas of primary habitat, or areas of high ecological value, have been outlined in theCoastal Profile under the appendix to the Wildlife section. Many of these areas are under threatfrom agricultural development, urbanisation, tourism development, and felling for fuelwood orlumber. Recognition should be given to the wildlife/biodiversity value of these areas and theirimportance for maintaining a coastal strip which fulfils diverse needs of the various sectors,both private and commercial. Cross-sectoral co-operation is essential in such areas as firewoodutilisation for the fish-smoking industry, where local communities, international donors(protection of biodiversity), and various government departments are all stake holders.Hunting ControlTraditionally, local communities depended for much of their protein supply on wild animals.Since 1977 the Wildlife Act has prohibited the hunting of all species, with the exception ofvermin (warthog, Gambian and cane rat) and certain bird species, but illegal hunting of a widerange of species still occurs. The maintenance of populations of larger mammals is dependenton the control of this activity, as well as on the preservation of their habitat. A close co-operation with the GPF is required, concurrent with an on-going educational campaign in localcommunities. A further area of concern is the illegal bycatch of marine turtles by fishermen whomarket the meat openly at landing stations, and the collection of turtle eggs from the entirecoastal strip thereby jeopardising the reproductive success of the species.Maintenance of CorridorsFragmentation of habitat is occurring at an alarming rate within the coastal area with the resultthat areas of high ecological value are becoming isolated in terms of potential movementbetween areas by terrestrial fauna. To maintain viable populations of large animals there is arequirement for genetic mixing which small isolated populations may not be able to fulfil.Corridors connecting areas of high biodiversity are therefore essential in maintaining thatbiodiversity, and should be integrated in the zoning/planning stage for the coastal area.Eco-tourism PromotionThere is considerable possibility for the integration of non-consumptive and compatible forms oftourism into the protected coastal area system. This aspect of tourism should be givenincreasing attention as the funding of conservation projects is likely to decline over comingyears, and it is imperative that protected areas generate and retain some form of revenue forimprovement of the existing, and development of additional protected areas. Initial funding mustbe provided to establish and develop park/reserve infrastructure to an acceptable level.

Management Strategy1. Research and Monitoring. The sites of high ecological value in the coastal strip are poorly

known in terms of their condition, biodiversity and threats to which they are subject.Potential corridors linking the various areas also need to be identified. Priority should begiven to establishing a baseline information for each site, and determine a strategy fortheir management based on an assessment of their condition and threats. This should becarried out on a short to medium term basis. With an established baseline information,monitoring can be implemented to determine the effectiveness of management orotherwise.

2. Planning/Zoning. Based on the assessment of the sites of ecological value, along with theother multiple demands and activities of other sectors and communities, a comprehensivezoning of land use should be conducted, which will form the grid for future developments

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and activities. This exercise may be best implemented by commencing from the bottomup, in a similar approach adopted by the LEAP fact-finding mission.

3. Inter-sectoral Co-operation. Many areas of resource utilisation cross the divisionsbetween the various sectors as indicated above with regard to fuelwood use for fishsmoking. Forums for the management of such resources should be established to find anacceptable solution to all concerned parties, and can be developed from an extension ofthe Coastal and Marine Environment Working Group with relevant local communityinvolvement. The approach should be to focus on a particular critical issue at first (e.g.fuelwood demand) and to follow it through to a satisfactory conclusion rather than takingon board too much at one time. The success with one issue will gain support for theprocess.

4. Control and Enforcement. The strategies adopted for the coastal area will require theimplementation of certain control and enforcement procedures. This can be achieved onlythrough an active and willing participation at the community level, and with the necessarysupport from the GPF and appropriate sectors, as applicable. Community awareness andco-operation should be tackled from the outset, with ongoing inputs aimed at rewardingactive participation.

Table 18. Wildlife Management Strategy Outline

Issue Action Components Time frame InstitutionsHabitatdegradation

Protection, zoning, EIA,inter-sectoral co-operation

Research,communityawareness,alternative land use

Short term butongoing

DPPH, DF, DPWM,FD

Habitatfragmentation

Zoning protection TDA Communityawareness

Mid term DPPH, MTC

Illegal hunting Protection, Wildlife Actenforcement

Communityawareness, reviewact

Short-term &ongoing

DPWM, GPF DF

Fisheriescontrol impacton wildlife

Legislation enforcement,review of legislation

Communityawareness fishingmethod review

short-mid term DFi, DPWM

Ecologicallysensitive areas

Research, managementstrategy

Inter-sectoral,baseline informationestablished

Short term toongoing

DPWM DF, NEA,CMEWG,...

Coastal erosion Establish baselineinformation, monitor,control

Developmentcontrol, communityawareness,protection

Short term tomid term

GU, Soil & WaterUnit, NEA

8.6 Fisheries

IntroductionWhile the fisheries sector plays a vital role in the Gambian economy, operations within thesector generate some negative impacts on other sectors that have a vested interest in thecoastal area. The activities of these other sectors also have impact on fisheries. Fish smoking,the main method of processing and preservation of fish, has been a major contributor todepletion of the forest cover within the coastal area. This activity also generates smoke and

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smell which are serious pollutants, particularly as far as tourism and recreational activities onthe beaches and surrounding areas are concerned.Oyster harvesting, which often involves cutting mangrove roots and stems, causes significantloss of much of the mangrove cover. In addition, in recent years, coastal and estuarineagriculture also involved clearing of several hundred hectares of mangrove areas. Spawningand nursery grounds for fish, shrimps and other aquatic organisms provided by mangroveswere lost in the process. Consequently, the vital role that mangroves play in preventing erosionand salt water intrusion into rice fields, vegetable gardens and wells was impaired.The area designated as the Tourism Development Area (TDA) happens to be the traditionaloperating ground of the fisheries sector. A lot of conflict is generated between tourism andfisheries as a result of the necessity to construct fish landing facilities and other fisheriesinfrastructure while catering for tourism and recreation needs near or on the beaches.Sewage disposal is done directly into the sea threatening fish and other aquatic organisms, andthe quality of fish destined for consumption.For successful coastal area management conflicts between fisheries, tourism, forestry,urbanisation and sewage disposal have to be addressed.

Goals and ObjectivesThe Government’s objectives for the fisheries sector include increased production whilereducing post-harvest losses, and improved nutrition of the population through the supply ofcheap animal protein in the form of fish. The provision of improved fish landing infrastructureand preservation facilities, such as ice and cold storage, is considered to be an important factorin the achievement of these objectives.Where these preservation methods are unavailable, post-harvest losses can be reduced bysmoking and drying of fish. In this regard a sustainable supply of fuelwood for fish smokingmust be provided.The sustainable harvesting of fish, oysters and other sea organisms constitutes an importantfactor in achieving and ensuring long-term food supply. Certain sites and ecosystems, such asDog Island and fragile mangrove areas, should be granted some form of protection since theycontain invaluable aquatic biological diversity which must be preserved and protected.

Management Strategy1. Tourism development and fishing activity around the Dog Island and mangrove areas

could be restricted and even prohibited. The establishment of protected areas would be auseful option. The time frame for the implementation of the management strategies couldrange from short-term (for acute issues) to long-term (for chronic problems).

2. The management of mangrove forests would require inter-sectoral collaboration. It maybe necessary to establish a national mangrove committee comprising all sectors involvedwith mangrove areas, as well as those communities dependent on mangroves.

3. The sustainable supply of firewood for fish smoking would require the establishment ofplantations and community forests, and the encouragement of natural forest managementby the local communities. To this end community forestry and plantation committeesshould be set up.

4. The integration of fisheries into coastal area management must be given priority, as it isessential to any management strategy elaborated to achieve the set developmentobjectives and goals.

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Table 19. Fisheries Management Strategy Outline

Issue/site Action Components Time Frame InstitutionsDog Island Elaborate protection plan Studies,

consultations,workshops

Mid to longterm

DFi, PA, NEA-CME, DPPH,MWC-TS, DPWM

Mangroveareas

Establish nationalmangrove committee

Tree plantingawarenesscampaigns

Mid to longterm

DF, DPWM, DFi,Communities

Fishprocessing

Establish plantationcommunity forests,natural forestmanagement

Research alternativeor improved andenergy-efficient fishsmoking methods

Short to midterm

DF, DPWM, DFi,Communities,NGOs,

Tourism &fisheriesdevelopment

Integrate fisheries intocoastal areamanagement

Inter- sectoralconsultations.Designate fisheries& tourismdevelopment areas

Short to longterm

NEA-CME, DFi,MTC, DPPH,DPWM

8.7 Mineral Resources

IntroductionThe Gambian coastal area is endowed with placer mineral deposits in the ancient raisedbeaches. The mineral reserves include both metalliferous (heavy minerals) and non-metalliferous industrial minerals and rocks, such as quartz sand, construction sand and gravel.Construction sand and gravel are currently the only minerals mined in The Gambia. In thecoastal area three quarries are currently active in terms of commercial mining. Mandinary andBafuloto are gravel quarries used by several small miners. Bijilo, and as of recently Kartongquarries are sand mining areas.All the mineral deposits also occur in environmentally sensitive areas. The Bijilo sand quarry,for example, was located at the beach, and because of coastal erosion problems it was closedon January 1, 1995. The Kartong sand mining area is more than 100 m away from the highwater mark. It is the only quarry managed under a management plan, with proper supervisionand monitoring.Two mining companies operating the quarry are licensed under the Minerals Act (the miningcode of The Gambia). All other quarries are managed by the Municipal Councils. Nomanagement or restoration programmes exist for these quarries.There are mineral reserves in the Tourism Development Area (TDA), creating numerousproblems and conflicts between the Ministry of Tourism and Culture and the local communitiesand other Government departments which have a stake in the coastal area.

Goals and ObjectivesThe principal goal of research and development of industrial minerals and rocks, such asquartz, sand, construction sand and gravel, is to attract the Government’s attention to thedevelopment of resources which help achieve greater self-sufficiency and a higher livingstandard in the rural areas.

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The exploration and exploitation of these materials, however, should be in accordance withproper mining legislation that adequately emphasises environmental concerns.

Management Strategy1. Mining at any scale is usually accompanied by serious environmental damage. Sand

mining at the Bijilo Beach caused serious erosion problems at Bijilo, and is believed tohave contributed to coastal erosion in other beaches far from Bijilo. Similarly, quarrying ofgravel at Bafuloto and other areas within the Greater Banjul Area has caused seriousdamage to landscape, polluted the ground water, and in many cases loss of human lifehas been reported. Therefore, the country needs a proper and adequate mininglegislation to cover the broad spectrum of mineral types.

2. In addition to proper mining legislation, it would be prudent to empower the administratorsof this legislation, i.e. to develop technical and management skills of the Governmentagency staff responsible for planning, managing, monitoring and supervising of mining.

3. Apart from providing employment and income to the local community, the miningcompanies should provide some social facilities, such as electricity, water and toiletfacilities to villages close to the mines.

4. Constant road maintenance should be embarked on to cure the damage done to thecoastal roads.

5. Mining licenses should have land restoration programmes and conditions which should bestrictly adhered to by the mining companies.

6. Old quarries should be rehabilitated or reclaimed as soon as possible.7. Proper cross-sectoral consultation is necessary prior to any development of mineral

reserves.

Table 20. Mineral Resources Management Strategy Outline

Issue Action Components Time frame InstitutionsResearch onmineralresourcepotentials

Reserve calculation andmapping

Input for EIS Short term GU,

Impacts ofmining

EIA Effects onecologically /environmentallysensitive areas,roads, aquifer

Short termand ongoing

NEA, CMEWG,

8.8 Forestry

IntroductionDuring the negotiation process for the establishment of forest parks in The Gambia betweenthe colonial authorities and local authorities, no attention was paid to the coastal problems aswe experience them today (in particular coastal erosion and deforestation). The coastal areawas a closed forest with a stable ecosystem, hence the need for forest parks along the areawas not seen as urgent. This could be responsible for having now only the Bijilo Forest Park

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along the western coast with an area of only 55.5 hectares. The rest are presently open accessforests with the exception of the Tanji Bird Reserve.

Goals and ObjectivesThe goal is a sound sustainable management of the coastal forests (the Bijilo Forest Park beingthe most important among them), and the open access forests within the study area. Theimportance of maintaining a stable ecosystem in this area is a priority to the Department ofForestry. Current forest policies are in line with this goal.The objective is to encourage nature tourism in the area, and to meet the basic needs of thelocal communities for forest products.

Management Strategy1. The Bijilo Forest Park was re-surveyed in 1982, and in 1983 a new plan was developed

for a proper management of the area. The plan, in addition to securing protection of thearea, provides for its controlled use as a nature tourism site. This is a viable solutionbecause of the forest park location within the Tourism Development Area (TDA).

2. The Management Plan for the Bijilo Forest Park calls for the protection of the Parkagainst illegal activities and fire, and conservation of biodiversity. Its habitat values tonumerous bird species have also been considered for protection. Other than the deadwood utilisation which has been carried out, no other exploitation is allowed. Small-scalesilvicultural activities, such as enrichment planting and species site trails, were organisedin the 1980s.

3. The open access forests, including the mangrove forests, are managed and protectedthrough periodic patrolling by forest scouts and the licensing system of the Department.These forest types are a source of fuelwood for fish smokers and household energy tothe communities. In addition, they provide other forest resources needed by the ruralcommunities to satisfy their local needs (e.g. poles for roofing houses, boat building, andfence posts).

4. There is an urgent need to carry out a survey in this area to determine the stable trendand utilisation of the forest resources in this area – this could be done by the ForestryDepartment with adequate funds in place.

5. The community forestry management, currently practised in the hinterland, should bereplicated in the coastal area.

6. Co-operation between institutions dealing with natural resources in the coastal areashould be encouraged.

7. Any development project in the coastal areas should give consideration to the forestresource within the area – harmonisation of the existing legislation with all stakeholders isnecessary.

8.9 Water Resources

IntroductionThe Gambia is endowed with three types of water resources:

• groundwater;

• surface water; and

• rainwater.

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More than 80% of the population rely on groundwater. Groundwater recharge is mainly throughrainfall. The quantity and quality of groundwater is a cause for concern, as a result ofuncontrolled abstraction and indiscriminate waste dumping or discharge.Surface water is important for fisheries and recreational activities. In addition, the freshwater ofthe Gambia River upstream is mainly used for agricultural and domestic purposes.It is envisaged that human influence could have a negative impact on the country's waterresources in view of the current state of affairs regarding the water use, saline intrusion andaquifer protection.Currently, the Department of Water Resources has the mandate to monitor and developpolicies regarding all activities dealing with water resources. The 1979 Water Resources Actprovides the legal framework for concerted public sector intervention in the implementation ofthis act. However, there is the need to develop a more comprehensive water law.

Goals and ObjectivesThe goals/objectives of having an integrated management strategy for water resources are toachieve an effective management, development and control of the nation’s water resources forsustainable development

Management StrategyAn inter-ministerial taskforce on water resources (1988) made, among others, the followingrecommendations:1. Privatisation of well digging and borehole drilling for effective monitoring, on both short

and long term.2. Review the institutional framework by enacting a comprehensive water law to define the

Ministry of Water Resources, Forestry and Fisheries as the ultimate authority in the useand management of the national water resources, and their protection against over-exploitation and pollution.

3. To carry out research, investigation and exploration of the water resources, involving allmajor public users in the process.

4. Preparation of the Master Plan for the National Water Resources Development.

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REFERENCES

1. Africa: A Framework for Integrated Coastal Zone Management, The World Bank, 1994.2. Climate and Water Resources of The Gambia, 1993.3. Coastal erosion in The Gambia, 1993.4. Coastal Zone Management Handbook, John R. Clark, 1996.5. Environmental Legislation and Administration in The Gambia vis-à-vis The Gambia Environmental

Action Plan, 1992.6. Environmental Management and Tourism Development Study, Brown & Root Environmental, 1994.7. Fisheries Port Study Project, Interim Report, 1992.8. Gambia Parks Revenue and Budgetary Requirements Study, 1994.9. Geology and Mineral Resources of The Gambia, Whyte and Russell, 1988.10. Guidelines for Carrying Capacity Assessment for Tourism in Mediterranean Coastal Areas, UNEP

PAP/RAC, 1997.11. Guidelines for Integrated Management of Marine and Coastal areas, UNEP, 1995.12. Heavy Mineral Reserves in the Coastal Area of The Gambia, Whyte, Stewart and Pijl, 1981.13. Integration of Policies: a Requirement for Coastal Zone Management, paper by P. Winsemius,

1993.14. Legal and Fiscal Cadastral Information System for The Gambia, A. K.M. Manneh, 1991.15. Legal and Institutional Aspects of Integrated Coastal Management in National legislation, by S.

Boelaert-Suominen and C. Cullinan, FAO, 1994.16. Maps and Aerial Photographs Publication List, 1991/92.17. National Accounts of The Gambia, Central Statistics Department,1993.18. National Conference on Coastal Zone Management, 1993.19. National Dialogue on Environmental Reporting, Draft, 1996.20. National Policy for the Tourism Sector 1995-2000, 1995.21. National Population Policy for Social Welfare and Sustained Development, Draft, 1991.22. National Seminar on Policy Framework for Environmental Legislation, 1993.23. Physical Development Plan for the Tourism Development Area, GTZ, ARGE and MLGL, 1989.24. Population Databank, Central Statistics Department, 1993.25. Population and Housing Census 1993, Foreign Nationals in The Gambia, Central Statistics

Department, 1993.26. Population and Housing Census, Provisional Report, Central Statistics Department, 1993.27. Rapid Assessment of Land based Sources of Pollution, Case study for The Gambia.28. Rehabilitation and Upgrading of the Trans-Gambia Highway and the Kombo Coastal Roads, Stage

I, 1996.29. Rehabilitation and Upgrading of the Trans-Gambia Highway and the Kombo Coastal Roads,

Environmental Assessment, Stage I, 1996.30. Report on the Second National Conference on Tourism, 1995.31. Sand Mining Management Plan, Kartong Site, Draft, 1993.32. Statistical Abstract of The Gambia, Central Statistics Department, 1991, 1996.33. The Gambia Environmental Action Plan 1992-2001, 1992.34. The Gambia's Environmental Information System: Inventory of Environmental Data in The Gambia,

1994.35. Third Banjul Port Expansion Project, EIA, 1993.36. West African Long-Term Perspectives: Population, Land and Development, 1992.

Table 8. Sites of Ecological Importance within the Study Area

Site name Status Habitat types Ecological value Tourism potential Threats1. Toll Point to

Cape Creek(includesCamalooCorner)

This area, alongwith the entiremangrove swamp(site 2) extendingto MandinariPoint, is due tobe proposed as aRamsar site.

The seaward strip to thenorth is composed of amosaic of habitat typesincluding coastal lagoon,mangrove, saltpan,coastal scrub andgrassland, and freshwaterponds which form in theCamaloo corner.

The area has a high ecologicalvalue. Botanical, avifauna, fishbreeding and nursery grounds,possibly also for reptiles andinvertebrates. Some dataavailable on avifauna.

There is a limited amount ofbirdwatching currently takingplace. Its proximity to theCape Point hotel areamakes it very accessible.

Commercial development,especially along the Banjulhighway (as evidenced by recentpetrol station development);agricultural intensification;dumping; tourism development,especially along the coast (beachbars, etc); motorised sportactivities (quads, water skiing);industrial pollution.

2. Oyster Creekmangroveswamp (toMandinari Point)

This area (alongwith the site 1) isdue to beproposed as aRamsar Site.

Mangrove swamp withfringing salt pan andgrassland, some relicpatches of woodland esp.towards Abuko toMandinari.

High ecological value foravifauna, fish breeding &nursery grounds, and forzoological (esp. manatee –Trichecus senegaliensis).

Currently used for touristboat trips and fishing,access from Denton Bridgeto the river proper. Alsobirdwatching trips, esp. fromLamin Lodge. Potential formanatee watching site.

Urban encroachment fromSerakunda side, commercialdevelopment from Banjul highway– Kanifing side. Current fishing,timber harvesting, oystercollection appears to be done ona sustainable basis, but nobaseline information available.Some illegal hunting of manatee.Need for speed controls for boatsusing the waterways, bothcommercial and private.

3. Tanji birdreserve

Gazetted (1993)Nature Reserveunder DPWM.Area ca 616 ha.

Coastal lagoons,stabilised sand-dunes withwoodlands, scrub andgrassland components,fresh water swamp, riverwith fringing mangrove &saltpan, dry woodland,offshore islands withsurrounding shallow reef.

Very high – avifauna (bothresidential and migratory),zoological (both marine andterrestrial), botanical, and alsoencompassing a cultural site atGhana town, Sanementereng.

High, currently receiving alimited number of birdwatchers. Reserveinfrastructure not welldeveloped. Proximity to amajor tourist centre giveshigh potential.

Currently timber collection (tosupply fish smoking at Tanji andGhana town), clearance foragriculture, potential roaddevelopment through reserve.

4. Brufut wood None Relic patch of riverinewoodland.

High. Important botanically andalso for presence of specificriverine woodland bird specieslimited in dist. to sites such asAbuko and Pirang. Possiblyalso for invertebrates.

Currently being used forlimited bird-watchingactivities, and potential forincrease in this sector.

Active clear felling currently underway for timber and agriculture.

Table 8 continued

Site name Status Habitat types Ecological value Tourism potential Threats5. Solifor point None Coastal woodland/scrub,

inshore reef, laterite cliffs.Moderate. Little availableinformation. Potentiallyimportant for avifauna andbotanically, possibly alsogeologically.

Good potential fordevelopment of coastalwalkway with views fromalong cliff – Tanji toTujering. None at present.

Timber collection for Tanji andTujering fish smoking operations(both funded by the EU andhaving potential seriousenvironmental impact). Alsoresidential and agriculturaldevelopment.

6. Tujering lagoons None Coastal lagoon withmangrove salt pan fringe,also stabilised dunes withgrassland/shrub/woodland complex.

Moderate to high for avifauna,and possibly also botanically.

Potential for inclusion incoastal walk mentionedunder site 5. None atpresent, though immediatelyinland is the site of thecontroversial Tujering ParrotPark.

Tourism development (parrotpark), timber collection. Point ofentry to beach for tourist safarisdriving south to Sanyang. Threatto coastal stability,breeding/roosting birds, breedingturtles.

7. River Kakimadelta – Kachumaforest

None Outflow of the RiverKakima. A mosaic oflagoons, mangrove,saltpan and stabiliseddune vegetation, backedby a relic fringe of highcoastal woodland(dominated by Rhunpalm).

Potentially high – noassessment made to date.Outflow of the River Kakima. Amosaic of lagoons, mangrove,saltpan and stabilised dunevegetation, backed by a relicfringe of high coastal woodland(dominated by Rhun palm).Invariably high feeding value forresident and migratory birds.Forest of botanical importance.

None at present, thoughsome potential forbirdwatching or inclusion incoastal walk.

Beach driving by tourist safaricompanies. Illegal rhun palm andtimber felling in Kachuma.

8. Dau Dula toKartong

None Coastal forest (Rhun palmdom.) merging to scrub-grassland in stabiliseddune complex towardsKartong.

High for forest, both botanicallyand for avifauna (potentiallyalso zoologically – thoughcurrently no data). Stabiliseddune scrub of moderate valuefor avifauna – limited data.

None at present though DauDula was the site of a nowabandoned touristdevelopment (rondavels bybeach).

Possibly timber/rhun palm felling,agricultural development.

9. Kartong Point –Allahein rivermouth

None Coastal scrub/grasslandon stabilised dune system,lagoon complex, riverestuary and mangrovefringe. Also Falonkocrocodile pool at Kartongvillage with relic patch ofriverine forest – very small(<1ha).

Unknown, but potentiallymoderate to high, especially foravifauna, but possibly alsobotanically.

Limited at present – boattrips up the river, visits toFalonko crocodile pool.

Timber collection, agriculture,road development for commercialsand-mining at Kartong,expansion of sand-mining area.