By Sirrah Touray
The National Environment Agency (NEA), through its Coastal and Marine Environment Programme, in collaboration with the West Africa Coastal Areas Resilience Investment Project (WACA), on Saturday, September 26, organised a community cleanup exercise along the Kotu stream as part of activities marking International Coastal Cleanup Day 2026.
The exercise covered eleven communities along and surrounding the Kotu stream: Manjai, Dippa Kunda, Bakoteh, London Corner, Latri Kunda Yiringanya, Latri Kunda Erinjang, Sukuta, Nema Kunku, Latri Kunda Sabiji and Bundung Borehole. The meeting point was at the NEA headquarters in Kanifing and the cleaning was done across nine wards.
For many years, the cleanup focused on the 80-kilometer coastline from Barra to Kartong. This year the focus shifted to the Kotu Stream, which is considered a very sensitive ecosystem.
Lamin Thoma, Programme Manager for Coastal and Marine Environment at NEA, said International Coastal Cleanup Day falls on the third Saturday of September and is meant to clean beaches and other ecosystems littered with waste. He said this year they wanted to change the approach because the Kotu stream is important for biodiversity conservation, tourism and ecosystem management.
He said the stream starts from a furrow in Nema Kunku and flows into the Atlantic Ocean via Kotu. There are eleven settlements along the corridor. During the rainy season, communities around the stream are vulnerable to flash floods. Downstream is also sensitive for habitat protection, where tourists go for birdwatching and where hotels are located. Much of the waste ends up in the ocean. He said they were only cleaning the banks, left and right, from Kotu to Nema Kunku, and no one was entering the stream itself.
He added that NEA cannot do waste management alone. The agency has policies and regulations and enforcement is crucial. Inspectors in all nine wards are working with communities to raise awareness on anti-littering and to enforce fines against illegal dumping.
Haruna Cham, Social Development Specialist for the WACA Project, said this year’s theme is ‘Clean Seas and Resilient Communities’. He said WACA is part of the World Bank-funded WACA ResIP II programme covering The Gambia, Ghana and Guinea-Bissau. In The Gambia, unlike other countries that work directly on the coastline, the project works on the Kotu stream because it connects to the sea at Ocean Bay Hotel.
He said a lot of waste is illegally dumped by community members and eventually ends up in the sea, so cleaning the stream will also help clean the sea. He said sustainability is key and that is why WACA is working with NEA, Kanifing Municipal Council and Brikama Area Council. In July, the project handed over equipment worth millions, including compactor trucks, garbage bins, wheelbarrows and tricycles to access hard-to-reach areas. He said short-term interventions to remove vegetation blocking the waterway were completed two months ago before the rains. He said communities will be encouraged to conduct monthly cleanups.
Nuha Jammeh, Senior Wildlife Management Officer at the Department of Parks and Wildlife Management, said Kotu Stream is ecologically sensitive. He said he saw birds and fish feeding around the area but waste dumping is polluting it. He advised communities to refrain from dumping because if the stream is blocked, runoff will not flow and may destroy surrounding compounds. He added that there is need for more consultation and sensitisation to improve community participation.
