It was once a jewel of West Africa — the “Pearl of Lagoons,” people liked to call it, IgbereTV reports
Residents use open latrines at the Ebrie lagoon of the Zimbabwe district in the commune of Portbouet in Abidjan on July 22, 2022. – Once a prized feature of Ivory Coast’s economic capital Abidjan and its surroundings, the “pearl of lagoons” has lost its shine to become a victim of plastic pollution on a vast scale.
Known as the Ebrie lagoon from the name of an ethnic group that lives on its banks, the brackish waterway extends over 120,000 hectares (297,000 acres) mostly separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a strip of land. (Photo by Sia KAMBOU / AFP)
Today, the vast Ebrie lagoon which abuts Ivory Coast’s economic capital Abidjan is a sick and sorry sight, choked by plastic pollution and ravaged by sand extraction and unbridled development.
Named after an ethnic group that lives on its banks, the lagoon covers 120,000 hectares (297,000 acres), mostly separated from the Atlantic Ocean by a strip of land.
Old-timers wax nostalgic about the days when its waters were a pristine aquamarine and mangroves teemed with fish and wildlife.
Today, the shoreside village of Beago exemplifies a nightmarish problem with plastic.
Discarded bottles, wrappers and other plastic rubbish smother the banks for at least a kilometre (more than half a mile).
“The situation is alarming. There are no more fish because of the pollution — fishing has been abandoned,” said the village chief Paul Abe Blessoue, 73.
Urban and industrial waste from Yopougon, Abidjan’s biggest district, has transformed his village of 3,000 inhabitants into an open dump, he said.
“If we are not careful, Beago could disappear in a few years, abandoned by its inhabitants,” he said
