A new study published in the Journal of Coastal Conservation shows that scientific knowledge on coastal evolution along the Atlantic coast of Africa remains scarce and unevenly distributed. This gap comes as the continent faces ongoing coastal erosion and rapid population growth in its coastal zones.
The study was led by researchers from the Atlantic International Research Centre (AIR Centre) and the Instituto Dom Luiz (Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa), in collaboration with partners in Nigeria and Benin. It reviewed all indexed research published on the topic between 1973 and mid-2025 and identified only 258 relevant publications across 23 Atlantic African countries.
Research is heavily concentrated in a few countries. Ghana and Nigeria alone account for more than half of all publications. Equatorial Guinea, the Republic of the Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sao Tome and Principe have no indexed studies at all. As the authors stress, the absence of research does not mean the absence of coastal hazards.
The study also found that most research relies on satellite observations, and only one third of these studies are validated with field data, often because of logistical and security constraints. Sediment budget issues, a key driver of coastal change, remain largely overlooked.
These gaps matter. Africa is one of only two continents experiencing net coastal erosion. Meanwhile, the population living in low-lying coastal zones of Sub-Saharan Africa is projected to grow from 24 million in 2000 to 174 million by 2060.
The authors call for stronger regional cooperation, field-validated datasets, and coastal management based on sediment cells that extend beyond national borders. In their view, this is essential to support adaptation and build resilient coastal communities.
Read the full article: Albuquerque, F., Carapuço, M., Balogun, B.O., Sohou, Z., Miranda, M., Taborda, R. (2026). Coastal evolution and dynamics along the Atlantic African coast: a bibliometric analysis and visualization of coastal research. Journal of Coastal Conservation, 30, 118. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11852-026-01303-5
[MC, 3 November 2026]
Research
