The Magic of Mangroves

The magic of mangroves is multi-dimensional. They serve as nursery grounds for fish, act as barriers against storms and provide sources of wood for building and cooking. Their impressive network of roots also acts as a filter for sediment, cleaning up waterways while also stabilizing soils.

Yacoub Issola, Project Coordinator for the UNEP/Abidjan Convention, explains, “If today, we do not reforest the mangroves, the rainfall and the various activities will erode the bases. And, once those bases are gone, this soil will become barren, and nothing will be able to grow.”

Mangroves also play a pivotal role in combatting climate change; their soils act as effective carbon sinks that lock away large quantities of carbon dioxide, stopping it from entering the atmosphere.

This, in addition to being host habitats for countless species, means that mangroves help a multitude of living organisms to survive. These saline forests’ thick roots provide safety for both aquatic creatures and coastal communities alike.

Fishers are not the only ones championing mangroves and sustainable fisheries in the zone. Fatou Ndong Sarr, President of the Local Federation of Economic Interest Groups, is also promoting the CFI’s objectives. This Federation invests in ensuring that women can earn a living from mangroves and the fish found in their ecosystems.

“We have a processing unit for shellfish products. We manage the entire production process here, from receiving the raw materials through to processing and packaging, we have about 20 women working with us,” she said.

The CFI is a collaborative Initiative that fosters climate-friendly activities, while strengthening fisheries value chains working together with local people to nurture native landscapes.

Through the CFI – which works in six countries across three continents – communities have restored and sustainably managed 175 hectares of mangrove ecosystems in Senegal in 2020 and a similar amount in Côte d’Ivoire.

The importance of mangroves and local ecosystems are becoming more widely appreciated with initiatives like the CFI and the Abidjan Convention, an important framework which helps national policy makers and resource managers implement protection measures in developing marine and coastal environments of west and central Africa.

As the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration (2021-2030) gets going, the CFI, FAO and its partners are enhancing healthy mangrove ecosystems and their production capacities, restoring local habitats for the benefit of communities and the planet.

Learn more

• Website: Coastal Fisheries Initiative
• Website: FAO country profile: Senegal
• Website: Global Environment Facility (GEF)
• Website: UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration

*SOURCE: FAO. Go to ORIGINAL. 2021 Human Wrongs Watch