The West African Economic and Monetary Union (UEMOA) on Tuesday announced a 146 million euro (205 million dollar) plan to study and fight coastal erosion in the region.

"UEMOA has this year launched a regional programme to prevent the erosion of the coast in west Africa," the head of the union's water and environment commission, Malick Diallo, said.

"It's a five-year plan that we'll be financing from 2009 to 2015," he said, adding that the scheme involved UEMOA members Benin, Guinea-Bissau, Ivory Coast, Senegal and Togo.

However, the plan will also cover Gambia, Guinea, Liberia, Mauritania and Sierra Leone because "it serves no purpose to look after some coasts and leave others untreated."

Diallo said the International Union for Conservation of Nature was working on a study on how to treat coastlines at a cost of nearly one million euros that could pave the way for what happens in west Africa.

"This survey will tell us how the sea is advancing over the continent and which areas are most sensitive to coastal erosion. It will also enable us to have a complete photographic map of the coastline of the region."

Alongside the study, the UEMOA plans to invest more than six million euros in 2009 to establish a regional observatory for coastal erosion and to take urgent action to protect the western shore of the estuary of Lake Togo, between Togo and Benin.