JOAL, Sinigal, Nov 6, (APP/AFP) – Pelicans, flamingos, monkeys and even hyenas are under threat in Senegal along with the livelihoods of the local people as thick clusters of mangroves are disappearing. And it seems that not even an ancestral spirit can save them. The protected marine area (AMP) of Joal in western Senegal, just to the north of the Gambia, is home to an incredibly rich biodiversity. The hardy mangrove shrubs thrive in salty water, thick mud and hot, humid conditions that would kill most other plants. Part of Senegal’s peaceful Petite Cote, Joal’s mangroves are being eroded by a combination of factors, including global warming, deforestation, public works, oyster and clam fishing, salination of the fresh water river and drought. All along the riverbed, great swathes of sandy dunes have appeared in place of the once suffocating canopy of mangroves. “The empty spaces are areas where the mangrove has disappeared,” said