The World Bank has approved a $240 million financing package to help Benin and Mauritania protect their coastlines from erosion and flooding while expanding economic opportunities linked to the ocean.

The funding marks the first phase of the West Africa Coastal Areas Blue Economy and Resilience Programme (WACA+), a regional initiative designed to help countries adapt to rising sea levels, restore damaged ecosystems, and create jobs in sectors such as fisheries, tourism, and coastal logistics.

Coastal zones are among West Africa's most economically active regions, generating a large share of regional output and supporting millions of livelihoods. But decades of coastal erosion, flooding, and environmental degradation—worsened by climate change—have threatened homes, infrastructure, and fishing grounds across the region. Studies have previously estimated that coastal degradation costs West African economies billions of dollars each year.

Under the new programme, Benin will receive support to stabilise the Bouche du Roy estuary and the mouth of the Mono River, areas critical to tourism, transport routes, and agriculture. In Mauritania, funding will go toward reinforcing the dune system that shields the capital, Nouakchott, from storm surges and flooding.

The project will also restore up to 3,000 hectares of mangroves and coastal wetlands, ecosystems that serve as natural flood barriers while supporting fish breeding and coastal biodiversity.

World Bank Regional Director Chakib Jenane said the initiative is aimed at helping communities already facing the effects of climate change. "West Africa's coastal communities are on the frontlines of climate change," he said, noting that the programme would reduce exposure to erosion and floods for more than 500,000 people.

Beyond infrastructure and environmental restoration, WACA+ is structured to stimulate private investment and job creation. The programme will provide technical assistance, training, and financing tools for micro, small, and medium-sized businesses in coastal economies, including fish processing, aquaculture, ecotourism, and maritime services.

By 2031, more than 31,000 people are expected to benefit from training and business-development programmes, while the first phase alone is projected to create about 13,000 jobs across Benin and Mauritania.

In Mauritania, the project includes a partial credit guarantee mechanism designed to unlock up to $20 million in new lending for fish-processing companies, an effort to address one of the main barriers facing coastal entrepreneurs: access to finance.

The new programme expands on the earlier West Africa Coastal Areas Management Programme, launched in 2018 to coordinate regional responses to shoreline erosion and flooding across several countries. That initiative funded seawalls, beach nourishment, and mangrove restoration projects, helping stabilise vulnerable coastlines and protect coastal communities.

WACA+ aims to scale those efforts while placing stronger emphasis on economic development through the so-called "blue economy". World Bank officials say future phases of WACA+ will extend to additional countries and eventually support more than 50,000 jobs while improving climate resilience for hundreds of thousands of coastal residents.