The World Bank has approved $240 million for the first phase of the West Africa Coastal Areas Blue Economy and Resilience Programme (WACA+), targeting coastal protection and blue economy job creation in Benin and Mauritania. The package combines $207 million from the International Development Association, $5 million from the PROBLUE trust fund, and $28 million in mobilised private capital. More than 530,000 people are expected to be protected from coastal flooding and erosion. Approximately 13,000 jobs will be created.
West Africa’s coastal zones are home to more than 360 million people and serve as critical engines of economic activity in tourism, fisheries, aquaculture, and port services. These livelihoods face mounting pressure from climate change, coastal erosion, and flooding. In Benin, WACA+ will stabilise the Bouche du Roy estuary and the Mono River mouth, protecting homes, farmlands, tourism zones, and transport corridors. In Mauritania, it will reinforce the dune belt shielding Nouakchott, reducing flood risks for densely populated neighbourhoods and key economic infrastructure.
Across both countries the programme will support large-scale ecosystem restoration, including up to 3,000 hectares of mangroves and coastal wetlands, which are expected to enhance fishing productivity and expand ecotourism. Private capital mobilisation is built into the structure: matching grants for micro, small and medium enterprises and a Partial Portfolio Credit Guarantee in Mauritania are designed to unlock up to $20 million in new lending for fish processing enterprises.
Over the long term, WACA+ aims to protect more than 1.3 million hectares of marine areas and support over 50,000 jobs across the West African region. The programme builds on the existing WACA Programme, which has operated across 17 West African countries since 2018.
Chakib Jenane, World Bank Regional Director for Planet, described the challenge: “West Africa’s coastal communities are on the frontlines of climate change, facing the loss of the ecosystems and economic assets they rely on. WACA+ brings the integrated response these challenges demand.”
Bigger Picture: West Africa’s coastline is one of the most economically productive and climate-vulnerable stretches of territory on the continent. The fishing, tourism, and trade infrastructure concentrated on these shores generates livelihoods for tens of millions of people who have no realistic alternatives if sea-level rise and erosion accelerate. The WACA+ structure is notable for its private capital mobilisation mechanism: pulling $28 million in private finance alongside $212 million in public and multilateral money is the model the development finance community has been trying to scale across African infrastructure. If the credit guarantee in Mauritania unlocks fish processing lending at the projected ratio, it becomes a replicable template for coastal blue economy financing across the region.
Source: World Bank
