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00:00This sacred land is one of the last mangrove oases in this area.
00:04Out of this vegetation, which used to cover over 500 square kilometres of coastline in the 1970s,
00:09only 30 kilometres remain.
00:14Originally, this mangrove forest was where fish came to reproduce.
00:17It was an area very rich in fish.
00:19As the city of Abidjan grew, there were land grabs.
00:23People came to us with land titles.
00:25We don't know by what magic they got them.
00:27The administration told us that it has not produced any document
00:30that gives authorisation to destroy the mangrove.
00:33There are people who have great political support
00:35and in the administration who commit abuses, and that's the result.
00:54In many cases, the areas which have been refilled
00:56are wetlands which are critical for the environment.
00:59Refilling makes them suitable for building.
01:05Wet ecosystems are the areas that drain water.
01:09When there is a lot of rain, they hold water
01:11and allow infiltration into the water table, a slow infiltration.
01:16When it's backfilled, it's closed, it blocks the system.
01:21The erosion becomes strong and then it causes flooding.
01:28Ivory Coast's Ministry of Construction has been trying to stop this.
01:34We have adopted the Construction and Housing Code
01:36and the Urban Planning and Land Code, to name but a few.
01:41The second thing is stepping up inspections
01:43to prevent uncontrolled construction.
01:47Ivory Coast has struggled to preserve the Bassam coastline
01:50despite it being a Ramsar site,
01:52a convention which identifies wetlands of international importance.