Guinea-Bissau Communities Lead Revolutionary Mangrove Restoration Effort
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📰 The quick summary: Guinea-Bissau’s grassroots mangrove restoration efforts have successfully revitalized coastal ecosystems, providing a model for combining ecological benefits with community economic development.
📈 One key stat: Wetlands International restored 2,600 hectares of mangroves in Guinea-Bissau between 2015 and 2024, helping reverse the loss of nearly a third of the country’s mangrove forests over the past 80 years.
💬 One key quote: “Mangroves and humans, they are married. We cannot separate them. We depend on mangroves every day for our livelihoods,” says Padjallo, a park ranger.
1️⃣ The big picture: Guinea-Bissau boasts the world’s highest proportion of mangrove coverage at 9% of its national territory, making these coastal forests vital to both the environment and local communities. Despite losing nearly a third of its mangroves over the past 80 years, a grassroots revolution led by national organizations and international partners has been working to restore these critical ecosystems since 2016. The initiative uses Ecological Mangrove Restoration, focusing on creating natural conditions for mangroves to regenerate rather than simply planting trees. This approach combines environmental restoration with community development through savings groups and economic opportunities, creating a sustainable model that benefits both people and nature.
2️⃣ Why is this good news: Local communities have transformed from mangrove exploiters to conservationists, gaining sustainable livelihoods through new economic opportunities like beekeeping and palm oil production. The restoration efforts protect villages from floods, improve fish stocks, and safeguard essential rice fields while sequestering carbon and providing habitat for endangered species. More than 1,000 women have gained economic independence through 45 savings and loans groups established by Wetlands International, allowing them to start small businesses and support their families. The collaborative approach through PLANTA, the national mangrove platform, has created a unified strategy involving over 20 government agencies and organizations, demonstrating how placing communities at the center of conservation creates lasting change.
3️⃣ What’s next: Continued funding must reach grassroots organizations to sustain and expand these successful restoration efforts. The PLANTA platform will need to strengthen coordination between government agencies, NGOs, and local communities to scale up mangrove protection. Communities must maintain their leadership role in restoration while developing additional sustainable economic activities that align with mangrove conservation.
Read the full story here: Mongabay – Guinea-Bissau’s grassroots efforts offer a blueprint for global mangrove restoration (commentary)
