Drowning Villages Threaten Ghana's History and Tourist Trade

Agbakla Amartey trudges through the sand near the village of Totope, Ghana, and points out the submerged concrete walls of a house.

``This used to be my room,'' Amartey says above the crash of Atlantic Ocean waves pounding the coastline. ``Yes, this would have been the roof.''

Totope, on a slip of land that juts off the Ada peninsula east of Accra, Ghana's capital, is one of 22 coastal settlements the local government says may be swallowed by the ocean over the next few years. The rising tides also threaten former slave forts that are luring American tourists searching for their heritage.

Along the Gulf of Guinea in northwest Africa, residents blame climate change for accelerating the destruction of homes and beaches. Lawmakers and scientists say a network of sea walls is necessary to stem the destruction and save Ghana's nascent tourism industry.

"Even this year, Totope we are not sure will be there," says Israel Baako, chief executive of the Ada district.

Average sea levels rose 17 centimeters (6.7 inches) worldwide in the 20th century, according to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. The waters may advance a further 18 to 60 centimeters by 2100, the group estimates.

Ghana's low-lying shore makes it particularly vulnerable says Rudolph Kuuzegh, the government's environmental director, who estimates the ocean claims 1 to 3 meters of land a year.