Drowning town: Nigerian community helpless against rising seas
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00:00As waves crash along the shore of this Nigerian seaside town, residents are in distress.
00:07This once vibrant coastal city now lies in ruins, slowly drowned by the ocean.
00:14Victoria Arawolo has lived in Ayetoro her whole life.
00:18The retired civil servant has had to move three times as waters continue to claim land.
00:24More than two thirds of Ayetoro has been claimed by this sea erosion.
00:31Where we are is a new settlement.
00:35The old Ayetoro has been taken away by the sea.
00:40And if you look where the sea is now, that is the end of the former Ayetoro.
00:49Due to years of coastal erosion, buildings have collapsed, pushing the community further inland.
00:55Ayetoro is located within the Mahin Mud Coast,
00:59which has lost nearly 60% of its land to the ocean over the last 30 years.
01:04For this professor, more study is needed to completely understand
01:08what is happening to the community's natural landscape.
01:11And there is a need to really understand the marine processes that is actually occurring.
01:16As you can see, in this environment, we have the ocean surge and also we have erosion
01:21and at the same time there are flooding from time to time.
01:24For scientists, there are many factors at play,
01:27including mangrove deforestation, climate change and underwater oil drilling.
01:33Earlier this year, the Ondo State Government announced a commitment to finding
01:37lasting solutions to the threat to Ayetoro.
01:41However, for residents and the professor, these measures may be arriving too late to be effective.