Lome (Togo)-Cotonou (Benin) Coastal Corridor (e-book 8)

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A practical guide to legal and financial levers

N O 8

Border cities and climate change

The Lomé (Togo) – Cotonou (Benin) Coastal Corridor T

his case study describes the Lomé-Cotonou cross-border axis, a corridor of coastal cities containing 1.7 million inhabitants.1 For ECOWAS, it is of strategic importance for regional integration. Along this axis, Lomé (the capital of Togo), forms a cross-border agglomeration with Aflao (Ghana), Aného (former capital of Togo) and Hillacondji (in the municipality of Grand Popo).

The transport corridor serves other large cities such as Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire), Accra (Ghana) and Lagos (Nigeria), in addition to Lomé and Cotonou. It is also the focus of the Abidjan-Lagos Corridor Organisation (ALCO), a sub-regional institution that supports policies for development, health and the free movement of people and goods. The two agglomerations reviewed in this area are coastal agglomerations that are both affected by coastal erosion. Barrier beaches on the Benin coastline have created lagoons2, the largest of which forms Lake Nokoué that separates Cotonou and Porto-Novo, the country’s two largest cities3 . This has contributed to the settlement of over 50% of the population of Benin is concentrated in just 10% of the country’s land mass — along its southern area.

1  www.afdb.org/fr/news-and-events/afdb-commits-us-40-8-million-to-reinforce-the-lome-cotonou-roadand-protect-it-against-coastal-erosion-16634. 2  Landscapes of West Africa, A Window on a Changing World, USAid/USGS, p. 74, https://eros.usgs.gov/ westafrica. 3  According to www.africapolis.org, in 2015 Cotonou had over 1.5 million inhabitants, and Porto-Novo over 570 000 inhabitants.

BORDER CITIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE

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PRACTICAL GUIDE N O 8 JULY 2020

© SWAC/OECD


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Lome (Togo)-Cotonou (Benin) Coastal Corridor (e-book 8) by SWAC/OECD - Issuu