While everyone wants to see economic development in Africa, the problem from an environmental standpoint is that coastal zones are going to become very overcrowded, overdeveloped, and overexploited. Pollution is the most important coastal problem. According to Hinrichsen, there has been an overload of nutrients from untreated or partly treated sewage, agricultural runoff, and erosion. This is a problem for both the developed and the developing world, but the impacts on the developing world will be much more severe because their coastal regions will be threatened just as they are trying to develop and grow economically. The developing world is suffering more than the developed world because the developing world lacks the money, the institutional capability and expertise to manage their coastal resources effectively.
Mangrove forests are especially productive.
Seagrasses serve much the same purpose as mangroves, and they too are being threatened from coastal development. They are particularly vulnerable to land-based pollution and to overloads of sediment that bury them. Coastal mining and dredging have smothered millions of hectares of seagrass beds throughout the world. Coral reefs protect coastlines from storm damage and erosion and promote the growth of many species of fish. In most cases coral is being killed by erosion sediment washed off the land as a result of massive deforestation and poor agricultural practices.