Rooted Resilience: expanding mangrove conservation and restoration in the Casamance
In 2017, Wetlands International launched the Mangrove Capital Africa (MCA) program. This ten-year program boldly aims to safeguard 1 million hectares of African mangroves benefitting 2 million people. Under this program, Wetlands International has undertaken projects across the African continent and has been active in the Casamance region in Senegal since 2021.
We are excited to announce that our work in the Casamance is expanding with the start of a new project, called “Rooted Resilience”, funded by The Swedish Postcode Lottery Foundation. The project fits into the existing Mangrove Capital Africa program and aims to safeguard 65,000 hectares of mangroves in the Casamance. The first activities have taken place, including the official launch of the project, the opening of our office in Ziguinchor and training for local stakeholders around the Global Mangrove Watch and Community-Based Ecological Mangrove Restoration.
Rooted Resilience launched: a joint opening of a Wetlands International office in Ziguinchor
On May 30, 2024, Wetlands International Africa West Coast and Gulf of Guinea (WIACO) proudly opened a new office in Ziguinchor. A broad range of parties, including NGOs, civil society, administrative authorities, the press, and other stakeholders attended the opening.
A two-day workshop was organised around the opening to jointly explore the prospects for collaboration at the landscape level through strengthening an earlier established “regional mangrove platform”. A mapping exercise was also organized to better understand where the platform is already undertaking projects. This is an essential step to ensure coordination and alignment of conservation, restoration, and livelihood activities in the coming years. The workshop ended with outspoken enthusiasm of parties in the region to continue this joint effort in the future.
Strengthening capacity: from monitoring to planting
Building further on the enthusiasm of the kick-off meeting, we organized a follow-up training workshop in Ziguinchor from July 8 to 10, 2024. This workshop aimed to promote the use of good practices in mangrove restoration, monitoring, and conservation.
Traditional mangrove restoration and conservation initiatives have experienced numerous failures due to the use of unsuitable restoration methods, the lack of reliable data on mangrove coverage and extent, and the lack of involvement of communities living near mangrove areas. Wetlands International, in partnership with other international institutions, has thus developed innovative conservation and restoration approaches and tools, such as the Best Practice Guidelines on Mangrove Restoration, Community-Based Ecological Mangrove Restoration (CBEMR), a video series on mangrove restoration, and the Global Mangrove Watch (GMW) platform.
Unlike traditional mangrove restoration methods, CBEMR promotes the restoration of ecological functions such as hydrology, and the active participation of communities in creating the ideal conditions for mangroves to regenerate naturally. GMW, set up by Wetlands International, is a platform that provides the remote sensing data and mangrove monitoring tools needed for conservation. With high-resolution information on topography, soil conditions, and hydrology, it offers universal access to near-real-time information on the location and evolution of mangroves worldwide.
This training course, which combined classroom work with a field visit to the Kaloolaal Boulouf Fogny Marine Protection Agency (MPA), was an opportunity for participants, notably MPA management committees and other organizations present, to build their capacity in these good conservation and restoration practices. Participants trained in the use of the GMW platform and the CBEMR method are better equipped to prioritize, plan, and monitor their conservation and restoration efforts. This workshop opens the prospect of greater synergy in mangrove conservation and restoration efforts in the Casamance landscape and more widely in Senegal.
New financial management: the principles of GECCOM
In addition to technical training, a workshop has also been given to spontaneous savings and loans groups (GECCOM) in Ziguinchor. A group of key stakeholders coming from over 30 villages covering five Marine Protection Agencies were trained in the principles of GECCOM, strengthening their administration practices and financial management. At the end of the training, GECCOM kits, including boxes, mats, registers, and calculators, were made available to the beneficiary groups to promote and facilitate the transition from spontaneous to official status.
The expansion of the Mangrove Capital Africa program through the “Rooted Resilience” project marks a significant step towards sustainable mangrove conservation in the Casamance region. With a strengthened local mangrove platform, community-based ecological mangrove restoration techniques, and enhanced financial management training, Wetlands International is fostering a collaborative environment for reaching its long-term goal to safeguard 1 million hectares of African mangroves of which 65,000 hectares in the Casamance by 2027.
The Rooted Resilience project is supported by The Swedish Postcode Lottery Foundation and the overarching Mangrove Capital Africa program by DOB Ecology.