| Island of Saint-Louis | |
| Designation1: | WHS |
| Designation1 Offname: | Island of Saint-Louis |
| Designation1 Date: | 2013 |
| Designation1 Number: | 956bis |
| Designation1 Criteria: | (ii)(iv) |
| Designation1 Type: | Cultural |
| Designation1 Free1name: | Region |
| Designation1 Free1value: | African States |
| Map Type: | Senegal#Africa |
| Coordinates: | 16.0278°N -16.5044°W |
| Location: | Saint-Louis, Senegal |
| Type: | Settlement |
The Island of Saint-Louis is the historic part of the city of Saint-Louis in Senegal.[1] In 2000, it was inscribed by the UNESCO on the World Heritage list.[2]
Founded as a French colonial settlement in the 17th century, Saint-Louis was urbanised in the mid-19th century. It was the capital of Senegal from 1872 to 1957 and played an important cultural and economic role in the whole of West Africa. The location of the town on an island at the mouth of the Senegal River, its regular town plan, the system of quays, and the characteristic colonial architecture give Saint-Louis its distinctive appearance and identity.
See main article: Sea level rise. In 2022, the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report included the Island of Saint-Louis in the list of African cultural sites which would be threatened by flooding and coastal erosion by the end of the century, but only if climate change followed RCP 8.5, which is the scenario of high and continually increasing greenhouse gas emissions associated with the warming of over 4°C.,[3] and is no longer considered very likely.[4] [5] The other, more plausible scenarios result in lower warming levels and consequently lower sea level rise: yet, sea levels would continue to increase for about 10,000 years under all of them.[6] Even if the warming is limited to 1.5°C, global sea level rise is still expected to exceed NaN0NaN0 after 2000 years (and higher warming levels will see larger increases by then), consequently exceeding 2100 levels of sea level rise under RCP 8.5 (~0.750NaN0 with a range of NaN0NaN0) at some earlier point.[7]