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West and Central African
Coastal Ecosystem Services
Chapter 3
Coastal ecosystems can be considered as those that exist in “the area between 50 meters below mean
sea level and 50 meters above the high tide level or extending landward to a distance 100 kilometers
from shore.”
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The GCLME and CCLME studies capture the extent of the substantial coastal ecosystems
in west, central and southern Africa.
Mangrove forests and coastal lagoons cover approximately 1,827,240 hectares of the coastal edges
in the GCLME and 659,000 hectares in the CCLME alone (the regions for which data are provided).
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Seagrass ecosystems are also an important component of the region’s natural wealth, albeit covering a
much smaller area, most of which is in the CCLME (100,525 hectares). Mauritania has extensive seagrass
and meadows, while stretches of beach are found in The Gambia and all three northern states.
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Not all coastal ecosystem services are examined due to various data gaps. Sandy beaches are important
to the tourism industry, but since data on the size of beach ecosystems is limited, aggregate economic
shares specific to beaches and dunes are not provided. Beaches also serve as nesting grounds for sea
turtles and birds, especially on the Angolan coast, but the distribution of these nesting grounds is
unknown.
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The value of estuary systems are not examined either due to data gaps, such as information
regarding the share of land and water in estuary systems.
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