Nigeria’s 'Happy City' Ayetoro disappearing beneath the sea
Ayetoro, a historic coastal town in Nigeria once nicknamed "Happy City," has lost more than half its land to coastal erosion and repeated flooding, forcing large numbers of residents to relocate. The settlement was founded in the 1940s by a Christian group that organized it as a communal utopia with cooperative schools, farms and social institutions. Intensifying tidal surges have eaten away shoreline, inundated homes and washed away roads and cemeteries, including a major surge in the early hours of 15 February 2019 that devastated parts of the town. Environmental campaigner Nnimmo Bassey says Ayetoro is a concrete example of "loss and damage" and that the town's interests should be central to global climate discussions, underscoring the human cost of rising seas.
