Sea-level rise has accelerated across Africa in recent decades, thanks to global warming and, in particular, to the melting of ice sheets and glaciers, according to a recent study.
Sea levels across the continent have risen four times faster since 2010, on average, than they had in the 1990s. About 80% of the sea-level rise is due to added water mass from meltwater.
The impacts include flooding, erosion of coastal land, intrusion of salty seawater into freshwater drinking sources and displacement of coastal communities.
In many coastal areas, sea-level rise occurs even as the land itself is sinking due to groundwater extraction or other factors, exacerbating its impacts.
