The Lake City of Ganvié in the Face of Environmental Development Challenges: A Review of the Literature

Ganvié is a lake city in Benin, West Africa, known for its unique architecture and culture. However, the city is facing numerous environmental challenges that threaten the livelihoods and culture of its inhabitants. This article presents a comprehensive literature review of the environmental challenges facing Ganvié, their drivers, consequences, existing interventions and policies, and potential solutions. The state of the environment around the city of Ganvié is highly contaminated, due to the various pollutions caused by waste and wastewater, the decomposition of acadjas, petroleum products that spill into the lake during transportation, etc. However, the impacts of climate change, combined with increasing demographic pressure, are threatening the way of life of the inhabitants.

Solving these problems will require a combination of community engagement, policy interventions and technological innovations.