Fig. 1: Coastal vulnerabilities and oceanographic context of Africa.
From: Accelerating sea level rise in Africa and its large marine ecosystems since the 1990s
Population distribution across Africa, overlaid with the tracks of major tropical cyclones that have severely impacted East and Southern Africa over the past seven years: Alvaro (April 2019), Chalane (December 2020), Eloise (January 2021), Guambe (February 2021), Jobo (April 2021), Gombe (March 2022), and Freddy (February–March 2023). Solid lines indicate cyclone paths, while red and black dashed lines represent the minimum and maximum seasonal positions of the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ), marking the extent of the African monsoon. The boundaries of Africa’s seven LMEs are delineated in bold, ordered from highest to lowest annual ecosystem service value: Agulhas Current (ACLME, NOAA ID: 30), Red Sea (REDLME, 33), Somali Coastal Current (SCCLME, 31), Benguela Current (BCLME, 29), Guinea Current (GCLME, 28), Canary Current (CCLME, 27), and Mediterranean (MEDLME, 26), based on NOAA’s classification (https://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/ecosystems/lme/). Africa’s heritage location sites are marked with purple dots.
