Monrovia, Nov. 11 -- At West Point, the sea works to its own timetable, and it is not waiting for anyone.

The crowded fishing township sits on a narrow spit of sand where the Mesurado River meets the Atlantic Ocean, on the edge of Liberia's capital. For years its residents have watched the shoreline move inland, taking homes, walkways and the beaches where fishermen pull up their canoes. Each rainy season brings the same worry: which houses will still be standing when the season ends.

By Rodney D. Sieh

In 2021 an international climate fund made the township a promise. A sloping wall of heavy rock would be built along its exposed shore to break the waves before they reached the houses, with landing points so the fishing fleet could stil...