Senegal

Sustainable beach

Dakar is the westernmost city in Africa and is located on a peninsula surrounded by the ocean. Many of its 3 million inhabitants depend on the ocean for their daily livelihoods. The city's rapid and uncontrolled urban growth has significant environmental and health impacts.

An initiative of Surfrider Foundation Sénégal

Overview of the project

Dakar is the westernmost city in Africa and is located on a peninsula surrounded by the ocean. Many of its 3 million inhabitants depend on the ocean for their daily livelihoods. The city’s rapid and uncontrolled urban growth has significant environmental and health impacts. The ever-increasing amount of plastic waste, the selling off of fishing areas to international investors, water pollution, and construction on the coastline are having a devastating impact on the environment and on the daily lives of the people of Dakar. Beach users are not informed of the impact of these pollutants due to poor access to education and a lack of awareness campaigns. It is urgent to act and to bring concrete solutions to preserve the ocean and the populations that depend on it.

Through the sustainable beach project, our objective is to respond to this issue by directly addressing the needs and problems encountered by the communities and users, while raising their awareness of the issues related to the protection of the oceans. To do so, we act through the implementation of the following specific objectives:

  • (1) Raise awareness and mobilize communities around ocean protection issues
    (2) Develop fun awareness activities, adapted to the target audience, using participatory science
    (3) Identify coastal conservation issues in Dakar
    (4) Co-construct a sustainable beach model based on the needs of users and the knowledge of local and international experts.
Objective

Contribute to the preservation of the oceans through citizen awareness and the co-construction of a sustainable beach model.

Level of progress

Ongoing research

Project timeline

01/11/2021 - project still in progress

Quantitative results
  • A total of 234 participants in the different activities
  • 27,216 people reached by the 27 posts published on the association’s social networks.
  • 24 environmental associations from Dakar mobilized and trained in the characterization of coastal waste
  • 1 community regrouping 24 environmental associations in Dakar created on coastal waste
  • 1385 liters of waste collected and characterized on the beaches of Dakar
  • 3 new awareness tools created on the theme of coastal issues.
  • 4 major issues identified for the sustainability of the beaches in Dakar
  • 40 participants from 30 organizations mobilized to co-create a sustainable beach model
  • 27 existing solutions listed
  • 13 new solutions co-created during the workshop
Qualitative results

Result 1: Innovative and fun activities developed and carried out:

  1. 2 events of collection and characterization of coastal waste on the beaches of Ouakam and Virage carried out to identify waste, raise awareness and act at the source
  2. 1 pilot module of eco-courses of aquatic sports created and realized
  3. 1 film-debate session in Guédiawaye on coastal issues
  4. 1 Suñu Gèèj series created and shared on social networks in order to give a voice to coastal users on the issues encountered during their activities.

Result 2: Actors, needs and major challenges to beach preservation in Senegal identified (see report in presentation)

Result 3: The users of the beaches of Virage and Ouakam and thematic experts mobilized and gathered around

Financing

Pilot project funded by the Portuguese Embassy in Senegal.

Find out more
About the
organisation

Surfrider Foundation Sénégal

Claire Stragier
Project Manager
claire@surfrider.sn
+221 77 476 99 24

General objective of the association: To protect the ocean by reducing marine and coastal pollution.

Missions of the association :

  1. MEASURE – Regularly measure the quality of the water and the waste found on the coastline.
  2. ALERT – To alert ocean users, concerned authorities and more widely the Senegalese to the causes and consequences of marine pollution.
  3. ACT – Communicate and educate citizens about the urgency and solutions to protect the ocean. Mobilize local actors, politicians and industrialists to take concrete actions.
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Other partners / supporters

During the realization of each activity it seems essential to us to associate ourselves with local actors in order to ensure an adapted content and the sustainability of the implemented activities.

List of the main partners mobilized for the implementation of the different activities:
ors de la réalisation de chaque activité il nous semble essentiel de nous associer aux acteurs locaux afin d’assurer un contenu adapté et la durabilité des activités mises en œuvre.

Liste des principaux partenaires mobilisés pour la mise en œuvre des différentes activités :

  • Associations: Océanium, Association Zéro Déchet Sénégal, Barracuda Club Dakar, Sénégal propre, Les Eclaireurs et éclaireuses du Sénégal, Consortium Jeunesse.
  • Structures: Yennenga Center, El Hadj Demba Ndoye primary public school
    The French National Center for Scientific Research