Drowning Heritage: The Impact of Climate Change and Erosion on Azizakpe’s Water Culture

Authors

  • Rhoda Osei-Nkwantabisa Massachusetts Institute of Technology image/svg+xml
  • Martin Larbi Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology image/svg+xml

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58981/bluepapers.2026.1.15

Published

2026-02-21

Issue

Water & Heritage for Sustainable Development

Section

methodologies and case studies

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Rhoda Osei-Nkwantabisa, Martin Larbi

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Drowning Heritage: The Impact of Climate Change and Erosion on Azizakpe’s Water Culture. (2026). Blue Papers, 166–77. https://doi.org/10.58981/bluepapers.2026.1.15

Keywords:

erosion, flooding, habitable islands, heritage preservation, coastal management

Abstract

Islands have built their culture and heritage around bodies of water. However, due to climate change, the coastal islands are steadily disappearing because of severe flooding and erosion, as in the case of Azizakpe, a fishing community whose history and culture are strongly connected to water. Human activities, including the dredging of the estuary, along with sea level rise exacerbated by global climate change are the primary drivers for this loss. Although various coastal management and adaptation measures have been introduced, their outcomes remain uncertain. This study examines the Azizakpe community and the rapidly deteriorating state of the island. It highlights the effect on local livelihoods and how the community is attempting to cope with the situation and safeguard their water-based heritage, which will be at risk if islanders are displaced.

Author Biographies

  • Rhoda Osei-Nkwantabisa, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

    Rhoda Osei-Nkwantabisa is a graduate architect in Ghana. She holds a master’s degree in architecture from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. She is currently pursuing another master’s degree in City Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She has practiced at Atelier SMQ, an architecture firm in Ghana, and writes about resilient communities, sustainable architecture and urban design. She is also an active volunteer of 350 Ghana Reducing our Carbon, which prioritizes spreading awareness about the need for renewable energy use.

  • Martin Larbi , Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology

    Martin Larbi is a lecturer in the Department of Architecture at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology. His research interests lie in sustainable architecture, green transitions, pro-environmental behavior and livable and smart urbanism. He is currently a Postdoctoral Fellow at the ARC Training Centre for Advanced Building Systems against Airborne Infection Transmission (THRIVE) at Queensland University of Technology, Australia. He was awarded his PhD in Architecture and Urban Design in 2019 at the School of Architecture and Built Environment, University of Adelaide, South Australia. Martin is a scholar of the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute (AHURI) and a Green Star Accredited Professional of the Green Building Council of Australia for Design and As-Built rating. 

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