SEA LEVEL RISE IN MAPUTO BAY

Sea level rise is a harsh reality in the Bay of Maputo, with coastal erosion eating away at the Xefina archipelago, reports Thursday’s issue of the independent daily “O Pais”.The archipelago today consists of three islands, Xefina Grande, Xefina Pequena and Xefina do Meio. The largest, Xefina Grande, is just five kilometres from Maputo’s Costa do sol beach.In 1942 the Portuguese colonial regime installed artillery on Xefina Grande to defend the coast against possible attack. Those cannons were 600 metres from the shoreline. Today, 72 years later, the five cannons have practically been swallowed up by the sea. In other words, over that period, the sea has advanced 600 metres into Xefina Grande.According to a fisherman named Paulo Mangaze, who accompanied the “O Pais” reporters, up until 2000 Xefina do Meio was joined to Xefina Grande. In the floods of 2000, the island was split in two.

Mangaze refused to take his boat right up to the sinking cannons, because there were once houses here that are now under water and could pose a threat to boats.Xefina was once used as a prison. Mozambican nationalists and railway workers arrested after a 1926 strike were incarcerated here. About 30 people still live on Xefina Grande – even though the island has no school, no shops and so source of fresh water, so that everything must be brought in from the mainland. An elderly native of Xefina, known as Grandma Aida, told the reporters in a resigned tone “This island is going to disappear”.Prominent environmentalist Carlos Serra is worried that she may be right. He told the paper “Intervening in Xefina today is very complicated, but if we do nothing, we risk losing a natural protective barrier for Maputo city”.Xefina offers some protection against the waves of the Indian Ocean for the Maputo coastline. “Imagine what erosion in Maputo would be like if Xefina did not exist”, said Serra.