Urban Economics Policy Report · Saint-Louis, Senegal
Climate-induced relocation, spatial mismatch, and the economic cost of moving households away from the sea.
By Christopher Wilkins · Hassan Nidham · Anisa Sifat
Executive Summary
Climate-induced flooding in Saint-Louis has prompted relocation of households from fishing villages along the Langue de Barbarie coast to inland resettlement sites — primarily Khar Yalla and Djougop. While these efforts reduce exposure to rising sea levels and coastal erosion, they have introduced a new set of economic and social challenges.
This report analyzes three of those issues: a severe spatial and economic dislocation because the fishing economy remains entirely concentrated on the coast; the failure to address the underlying environmental degradation driving displacement; and the systematic exclusion of earlier Khar Yalla residents from the World Bank–funded SERRP program.
Three complementary policies are proposed: a subsidized transport network, a coastal climate adaptation program, and a formal integration and permanent housing solution for Khar Yalla residents. Together, these interventions address the economic, environmental, and equity challenges that relocated households face.
Problem Definition
Relocation to Khar Yalla and Djougop — 5 to 10 kilometers inland — has severed displaced households from the fishing economy. Families pay daily for private transport to the coast, directly eroding already strained incomes. Fish processing, which requires immediate access to landing sites, has become largely unviable.
Policy responses have prioritized moving people over protecting the coast. The 2003 artificial canal — dug to prevent flooding — expanded from 4 meters to 6 kilometers by 2020, reshaping the coastline dramatically. Despite accelerating risks, sustained investment in coastal protection has not materialized.
Around 1,000 people displaced in 2015–2016 have lived in Khar Yalla for nearly a decade with no permanent solution. While SERRP focuses on Djougop, Khar Yalla residents face inadequate infrastructure, no electricity in most homes, no school, no clinic — excluded from the program with no credible explanation.
Spatial Analysis
The thin Langue de Barbarie peninsula (left) sits exposed between the Atlantic and the Senegal River. Khar Yalla and Djougop sites lie several kilometers inland to the east. Source: Copernicus / Sentinel-2. Graphic © 2025 Human Rights Watch.
Movement of displaced households across four flood cycles. Families from 2015 and 2016 floods were sent to Khar Yalla and later left behind when SERRP routed 2017–2018 flood IDPs onward to Djougop. Source: © 2025 Human Rights Watch.
Policy Options
A government-funded shuttle connecting Djougop and Khar Yalla to the Langue de Barbarie fishing grounds, timed to fishing schedules, with free or heavily subsidized rides for registered fishing households. Includes a means-tested mobility voucher for the most vulnerable, and an 18-month phased review.
A structured program combining nature-based solutions — dune stabilization, resilient vegetation, fencing — with targeted hard infrastructure at critical erosion points. Addresses the environmental degradation driving displacement rather than only managing its consequences.
Formally incorporate Khar Yalla into SERRP's policy and funding framework, bringing infrastructure to parity with Djougop. Paired with economic development — aquaculture, agriculture, vocational training — aligned with the site's geography rather than replicating coastal activities inland.
Data Analysis — Senegal LSMS
Source: Senegal LSMS — inland households used as proxy for resettled populations
Using Senegal Living Standards Measurement Survey data, the analysis reveals a stark divide between coastal and inland households in the Saint-Louis region — a proxy for the difference between populations with and without access to the fishing economy.
Coastal households earn nearly 50% more than inland counterparts. They have more than double the electricity access. And fishing activity is almost entirely absent among inland populations, confirming the fishing economy is spatially locked to the coast.
Regression analysis, controlling for age and sectoral employment, shows a statistically significant consumption advantage of approximately 0.33 in log terms associated with coastal proximity — suggesting the gap is structural, not coincidental.
Expert Interview — April 27, 2026
A semi-structured interview conducted via Zoom with Professor Séne — himself from one of the fishing villages on the Langue de Barbarie — surfaced critical gaps between the formal architecture of SERRP and the lived reality of displaced communities.
Professor Séne emphasized that the fishing industry remains entirely concentrated along the Langue de Barbarie, meaning relocated households must travel approximately 10 kilometers daily — a distance most cannot cover without paid transport that directly erodes household income.
He was also critical of the policy design process: relocation sites were selected without sufficient impact evaluation or community input. International actors, particularly the World Bank, did not adequately engage with locally developed proposals focused on coastal adaptation and fisheries revitalization rather than inland resettlement.
Distributional impacts were also highlighted: children face disrupted education due to incomplete school infrastructure in relocation areas, while women in fish processing have struggled to find alternative employment. Relocation has exacerbated existing inequalities rather than alleviating them.