© Shutterstock

Lagos, Nigeria -

The city of Lagos, Nigeria is a major economic hub. It's home to more than 24 million people, and with plenty of opportunity people are coming from far and wide.

© Getty Images

Vulnerable -

But Lagos is also one of the African cities most affected by flooding and rising sea levels, a problem that is only compounded by the rising population.

© Getty Images

Risk of flooding -

Flooding has long since been a problem in Lagos, which experiences a tropical savanna climate. The wettest month of the year, June, can see up to 315.5 mm of rainfall.

© Getty Images

Trash disposal -

The streets are often flooded due to the improper disposal of trash, which after a downpour builds up in open gutters and blocks the city’s streets.

© Getty Images

Trash disposal -

As it stands, the city’s population generates between 6,000 and 10,000 tonnes of trash per day, and this is only set to worsen as the population of the city continues to rise.

© Getty Images

Increased risk of flooding -

What's more, although climate change is expected to decrease the volume of rainfall in Lagos, its intensity is expected to increase, thus making flooding even more likely.

© Getty Images

Rising sea levels -

At the same time, the fact that the city is low-lying makes it particularly vulnerable to rising sea levels, a serious consequence of global warming in many parts of the world.

© Getty Images

Rising sea levels -

According to research conducted by a physicist at the UK’s National Oceanography Centre, if global warming exceeds 2°C (about 36°F), sea levels in Lagos could rise by 90 cm (about 35 inches) by 2100.

© Getty Images

Counteractions -

In order to combat increased flooding and rising sea levels, the city of Lagos has had to adapt. It has already introduced a number of innovative measures to keep itself afloat.

© Getty Images

Floating structures -

One area of Lagos that has particularly extensive experience of high waters is Makoko. Much of Makoko does not sit on land, but rather rests on stilts above the water.

© Getty Images

Floating structures -

The Makoko neighborhood does not yet have much access to electricity or clean sanitation, but it is immune to flooding and rising water levels.

© Getty Images

Makoko Floating School -

Until 2016, it was also home to the innovative and pioneering Makoko Floating School, a structure that rested on empty plastic barrels floating on the waterline. The school had a pyramid-shaped roof, which meant that its structure was particularly stable (due to its lower center of gravity) as well as able to withstand heavy rain.

© Getty Images

Trailblazer -

The Makoko Floating School was unfortunately destroyed by a storm in 2016, but it did set a precedent for floating structures to be built in other coastal cities, including Venice.

© Getty Images

NLÉ -

In 2010, the architect who designed the Makoko Floating School, Kunlé Adeyemi, founded NLÉ, an urban design and development consultancy.

© Shutterstock

African Water Cities -

NLÉ now runs the African Water Cities project, which aims to find innovative solutions for coastal African cities that increasingly have to grapple with rising water levels.

© Getty Images

Water transport -

To deal with the epic traffic jams caused by flooded streets, the city has introduced water transport. Ferry travel offers a speedy alternative to travel by bus or car.

© Getty Images

Water transport -

So far the Lagos State Waterways Authority has introduced 42 ferry routes on the waterways, and there are 30 commercial jetties operating across the three districts.

© Getty Images

Uber Boat -

Companies such as Uber have also launched their own water transport solutions to the city’s traffic congestion problem, which can rob the residents of Lagos of hours each day.

© Getty Images

Uber Boat -

However, the pilot of ‘Uber Boat’ only lasted two weeks and the company is currently still assessing whether it could provide a long-term solution to the problem.

© Getty Images

Long road ahead -

Although the potential of water transport is evident, particularly as an eco-friendly commuter transport solution, it is yet to make proper inroads in the city of Lagos.

© Getty Images

Long road ahead -

The numbers of Lagos residents still relying on the roads is huge, and numbers of passengers on ferries has been low during the pandemic. It is clear that water transportation as an option still has a way to go.

© Getty Images

The Great Wall of Lagos -

A particularly visible defense against rising sea levels is the “Great Wall of Lagos,” a structure built to protect the shoreline by Eko Atlantic, a development under construction on reclaimed land.

© Getty Images

The Great Wall of Lagos -

The barrier consists of 100,000 concrete blocks that weigh a massive five tonnes each. It is 60 ft (18 m) tall and is intended to protect the shoreline from long swell waves.

© Getty Images

Groynes -

Other measures introduced to protect the shoreline of Eko Atlantic include groynes, which trap the coast’s sand and prevent it from being washed into the ocean.

© Getty Images

Groynes -

The groynes built at Eko Atlantic already span 4.5 miles (about 7 km), and there are plans to install groynes spanning an area of 37.3 miles (some 60 km) of the coastline of Lagos State.

© Getty Images

Flood Mobile App -

Finally, Nigeria’s federal authorities have created an app, the Flood Mobile App, which is able to make predictions about extreme weather that allow cities like Lagos to adequately prepare.

© Getty Images

Flood Mobile App -

The Nigeria Hydrological Service Agency, which provides the data the app uses to make its predictions, says that the app will be able to monitor flood risk throughout the country.

© Getty Images

Step in the right direction -

This is a great improvement on the previous go-to app, the WetIn App, which was only able to provide information for the three most flood-prone states in Nigeria.

© Getty Images

Step in the right direction -

Authorities therefore believe that the Flood Mobile App has great potential, although its effectiveness will be limited until greater numbers of Nigerians have smartphones.

Sources: (BBC) (NLÉ)

See also: Floating gardens: Bangladesh's answer to climate change

© Getty Images