{"id":285,"date":"2015-08-17T12:00:53","date_gmt":"2015-08-17T11:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/deccma\/?p=285"},"modified":"2017-03-09T12:13:14","modified_gmt":"2017-03-09T12:13:14","slug":"keta-point-of-no-return","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/deccma\/2015\/08\/17\/keta-point-of-no-return\/","title":{"rendered":"Keta – Point of no return"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Coast

Coast in the Volta delta<\/p><\/div>\n

On 26 July 2015, the DECCMA team visited the district of Keta on the coast of Ghana as part of a field program. The first stop was Fort Prinzenstein on the Gulf of Guinea. Fort Prinzenstein is one of several \u2018point of no return\u2019 locations for the slaves who were transported across the Atlantic. It is hard to fathom the thought of those unfortunate souls who were looking at the far away ocean while passing through this \u2018point of no return\u2019.<\/p>\n

Whilst inside the fort, it was difficult to hear the heart wrenching story of enslavement and the debasement of humanity during the time of slave trading. Fort Prinzenstein has stood for hundreds of years as a reminder of our inhumanity.<\/p>\n

Now, half of the fort is gone to the raging sea which is trying to engulf the fort as if to erase our shameful past. In front of half of the fort, a line of sea defence has been erected to protect Keta from further erosion. I could not help but ponder to myself whether, we as mankind, have reached another kind of \u2018point of no return\u2019 and this time another human folly \u2013 climate change.<\/p>\n

The defence is impressive and appears to be impregnable. It took 15 million cubic meters of sand and one million tonnes of granite to build this steely defence. Coming from Bangladesh, I could not help but gaze at this impressive defence with envy, but will it hold against the rising sea? Will it prove to be a successful adaptation to climate change or turn out to be a maladaptation in the end?<\/p>\n

Such \u2018hold the shoreline\u2019 defences are now necessary given the current threats, but how have we reached this stage? A major cause of increasing sea erosion is the loss of sediment nourishment due to the Akosombo Dam on the Volta River. Research by our Ghana colleagues shows that this sea defence is causing down drift erosion, transferring the risk downstream. The defence is itself at risk due to bottom scouring. Our Indian colleagues informed us that in their part of the Mahanadi delta in Odisha, sand dunes are being looked at more favourably as a better natural defence than hard structures.<\/p>\n

For a developing country like Bangladesh, we know how difficult it is to maintain such structures. The construction and maintenance of the sea defence are of much better quality, indicating a better governance system in place in Ghana than in our delta. What makes it tick in Ghana? Can we translate these to our part of the delta where we have to frequently engage armed forces to ensure quality and time of construction?<\/p>\n

During the next 4 to 5 years we will have more opportunities to evaluate this impressive defence as an adaptation measure. We intend to learn from it and transfer the learning to our delta. We hope that it will stand its guard. Till then – looking at you Keta!<\/p>\n

by Rezaur Rahman, DECCMA Bangladesh<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On 26 July 2015, the DECCMA team visited the district of Keta on the coast of Ghana as part of a field program. The first stop was Fort Prinzenstein on the Gulf of Guinea. Fort Prinzenstein is one of several \u2018point of no return\u2019 locations for the slaves who were transported across the Atlantic. It […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2288,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8,17,7,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-285","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conferences-meetings","category-delta","category-ghana","category-volta"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8jyTh-4B","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2698,"url":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/deccma\/2019\/02\/27\/deccma-ghana-success-with-proposal-empowering-women-and-transforming-gender-relations-in-the-volta-delta-ghana\/","url_meta":{"origin":285,"position":0},"title":"DECCMA Ghana success with proposal “Empowering women and transforming gender relations in the Volta delta, Ghana”","author":"katharinevincent","date":"27th February 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"The DECCMA Ghana team has been successful in its proposal \"Empowering women and transforming gender relations in the Volta delta, Ghana\".\u00a0 The project\u00a0will bring together researchers with local and national policy-makers, a leading Ghanaian advocacy NGO, and traditional leaders to build networks and share research findings with the aim of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Delta"","block_context":{"text":"Delta","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/deccma\/category\/delta\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/deccma\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/181\/2019\/02\/Ghana.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2470,"url":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/deccma\/2018\/10\/01\/profiling-our-stakeholders-keta-municipal-planning-officer-in-ghana\/","url_meta":{"origin":285,"position":1},"title":"Profiling our stakeholders: Keta Municipal Planning Officer in Ghana","author":"katharinevincent","date":"1st October 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"by Prosper Adiku and Gertrude Owusu During the monitoring and evaluation of the DECCMA Ghana project, it came to light that the Planning Officer for the Keta Municipal Assembly has been making efforts to incorporate some of the learnings from the DECCMA project engagements. This feature article highlights his involvement\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Delta"","block_context":{"text":"Delta","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/deccma\/category\/delta\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/deccma\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/181\/2018\/09\/MPO_passport-233x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":266,"url":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/deccma\/2016\/05\/19\/drones-over-the-delta-monitoring-coastal-protection-structures-along-the-shoreline-of-ghanas-volta-delta-using-an-unmanned-aerial-vehicle-uav\/","url_meta":{"origin":285,"position":2},"title":"Drones over the delta: Monitoring coastal protection structures along the shoreline of Ghana\u2019s Volta delta using an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)","author":"Lucy Graves","date":"19th May 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=zkILRW5zXbo Coastal erosion in the Keta district of the Ghana\u2019s Volta delta is causing increasing problems by destroying property and infrastructure and displacing people. With erosion rates of up to 8 metres per year, proactive efforts are required to manage these impacts. Within the Keta Sea Defence Project (KSDP) various\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Delta"","block_context":{"text":"Delta","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/deccma\/category\/delta\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/img.youtube.com\/vi\/zkILRW5zXbo\/0.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2094,"url":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/deccma\/2017\/12\/11\/deccma-team-participates-in-fao-regional-meeting-in-ghana\/","url_meta":{"origin":285,"position":3},"title":"DECCMA team participates in FAO Regional Meeting in Ghana","author":"katharinevincent","date":"11th December 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"by Prosper Adiku DECCMA was invited to make a presentation at the Food and Agriculture Organisation Regional Meeting held in Akosombo, Ghana from November 20-24, 2017; and hosted a field visit to the Volta delta. FAO\u2019s is committed to promoting rural agricultural development. Migration currently has a negative impact on\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Conferences & meetings"","block_context":{"text":"Conferences & meetings","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/deccma\/category\/conferences-meetings\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/deccma\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/181\/2017\/12\/Mumuni-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":282,"url":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/deccma\/2015\/09\/08\/3rd-deccma-consortium-workshop-ghana\/","url_meta":{"origin":285,"position":4},"title":"3rd DECCMA Consortium Workshop, Ghana","author":"Lucy Graves","date":"8th September 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"DECCMA PI, Professor Robert Nicholls mentioned \u201cBuilding the Consortium\u201d as an important part of the functioning of the project and what better way to do it than organising face-to-face meetings for the entire consortium. The entire DECCMA consortium meets every six months, this time being the 3rd Consortium Workshop at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Bangladesh"","block_context":{"text":"Bangladesh","link":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/deccma\/category\/from-the-countries\/bangladesh\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"3rd deccma workshop","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/deccma\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/181\/2017\/02\/3rd-deccma-workshop-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1391,"url":"https:\/\/generic.wordpress.soton.ac.uk\/deccma\/2017\/08\/15\/deccma-7th-consortium-meeting-held-in-ghana\/","url_meta":{"origin":285,"position":5},"title":"DECCMA 7th Consortium Meeting held in Ghana","author":"jlawncariaanet","date":"15th August 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"By Prosper Adiku and Gertrude Domfeh The DEltas, vulnerability and Climate Change: Migration and Adaptation (DECCMA) project held its 7th Consortium meeting in Ghana on Sunday July 2, 2017 at The Royal Senchi Hotel. 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