Landscape-Environmental Heritage in the Coastal Zone of Guinea-Bissau: Current Trends and Design Scenarios in a Changing Climate

The paper presents a study on the landscape system, understanding the landscape in the broadest sense of heritage and common good, with a focus on the identification, analysis, and critical evaluation of the coastal Landscape Systems (LSs) of Guinea-Bissau (GB) in north-western Africa. It examines the major spatial and temporal transformations of a rapidly evolving landscape, particularly in recent years, due to socio-economic dynamics and the impacts of climate change, including a specific assessment of climate change effects on coastal landscape quality. The analysis was conducted at the geographical-territorial scale using the traditional landscape approach in order to highlight homogeneous landscape systems and subsystems, and to propose a coastal perimeter for landscape management in at-risk areas of GB. The research aims to protect and enhance the GB landscape, as well as to manage the territory and its botanical-ecological and historical-cultural heritage. Specifically, it supports coastal-landscape planning towards climate resilience and the safety of communities in the coastal area, from the perspective of sustainable development, which in this context is particularly significant given the widespread poverty, administrative-financial and socio-health challenges, as well as the absence of up-to-date data, studies, or projects on the coastal landscape. The study further develops two complementary GIS-based scenarios: one describing socio-cultural and spatial trends in the absence of planning initiatives, and another resilience-oriented scenario focused on coastal safety, the enhancement of natural and cultural heritage, and the improvement of quality of life.