How a tropical island nation's trees are being washed away by the seas

We've been to this twin island nation in the Gulf of Guinea to learn about living in a country that is feeling the effects of climate change.

As a small island nation with Africa's smallest economy, So Tomé and Principé is caught in the middle of the crisis, with insufficient money to deal with the big problem.

The Atlantic Ocean has already swallowed almost 4% of the country's land mass. It's something that everyone in coastal communities is talking about.

We went to Principé's Praia das Burras, where large stretches of buildings have already been wiped away by the water.

As 36-year-old fisherman Dionesio Neto Caleeb packs dried, smoked fish into hessian bags, he told me when he first arrived the silky golden sand we were standing on used to be forest.

“It was the waves that washed the trees away,” he says.

He points to a black volcanic rock jutting out of the sea about 20m (65ft) from the shore: “That used to be hidden under the sand.”

These islands were formed millions of years ago by volcanic activity deep underwater. Today, they are mountains and valleys covered in lush, tropical rainforest.

It’s breathtakingly beautiful and home to some of the most important biodiversity in Africa; endemic species of birds, amphibians and reptiles not found anywhere else on the planet.

More than two thirds of the islands are protected national parks and Príncipe is a Unesco biosphere because of its unique environment.

But is it possible to protect these wonders and have economic development at the same time?

“It’s difficult,” says President Carlos Vila Nova when we speak to him at the Palácio Cor de Rosa in São Tomé.

“Because our people, they say they don't eat biodiversity. That's true. But it's important for the world. And it's an honour for us to have it.”

So Tomé and Principe still want to locate oil. It's been on the lookout for decades.

If they found it, what would it signify for the country's climate ambitions, the president is asked. He chuckles.

He responds, "We haven't found it yet, so I don't know." But if they do, it would be fantastic.

"I'd like to improve my people's living conditions." Thank you if it is derived from oil revenues."