Casamance Mangroves,
Senegal
Restoring wetlands in Senegal
0 ha

target

0

trees growing

0

species regenerating

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people trained

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communities engaged

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The estuary of the Casamance river was once home to an abundance of mangroves – tropical trees and shrubs that thrive in salty, tidal waters.

Villages here rely on the mangroves to protect them from storms and to support agriculture, fishing and the harvesting of shellfish. In the 1970s, the area was blighted by drought. People started using the mangroves for firewood, which fed a vicious cycle of deforestation and poverty.

Our project here is expected to form part of the largest carbon-certified mangrove project in the world, together with a similar project in the more northerly Sine-Saloum delta.

Why and how we’re working here

The delta was seriously affected by a drought from 1968 to 1994, which killed the mangroves in the higher parts of the mudflats. The mangroves were also chopped down for their wood, which is used for construction, firewood and charcoal for fish smoking and cooking.
Without the mangroves, the coastal communities are vulnerable to the loss of income from shellfish harvests, as well as to the destruction caused by storms.
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Location

The Casamance river, south Senegal

Restoration approaches

Full planting

restoration partners

Oceanium

Eclosio

species

Rhizophora mangle, R. racemosa, R. harisonnii and Avicennia germinans

Certification

VCS + CCB

The project’s impact on people

The project aims to build local capacity to hand management of the reserve over to the communities. A livelihood plan will alleviate the pressure on the forest resources by providing alternative sources of income from activities such as sustainable agriculture, agroforestry and beekeeping.

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Who’s funding the Casamance Mangroves project?

Updates from the Blue Carbon programme

Our favourite trees: Rhizophora species

Where the earth meets the sea resides a botanical wonder. The ‘true mangroves’ – Rhizophora – stand as nature's resilient...

WeForest joins the Global Mangrove Alliance

WeForest has become a member of the Global Mangrove Alliance (GMA), which brings together NGOs, governments, scientists, industry, local communities...

How we measure impact: Monitoring and Evaluation

There’s an important topic in forest restoration that often gets overshadowed by the excitement of setting new records for the...

Mangroves projects on Ubani TV

Our mangroves projects with Oceanium – and WeForest’s Senegal Manager Germaine Ebong – appear on online television channel Ubani TV, which...

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