Together with the community ACEC is growing mangrove seedlings and planting them along the coastal line. It is how the project increases communities’ resilience against climate change and simultaneously restores and protects the mangrove forests and its biodiversity.

Over the years the mangroves have been used for charcoal production, firewood extraction and as firewood to smoke their fish.  Fisherfolk say that their fish is tastier and better preserved when smoked with mangrove wood. It leaves the coastal and river sides degraded and in turn led to low fish catch that dwindled incomes of the people.

The district authorities and local people particularly lack the knowledge to curb the growing rate of degradation and deforestation of mangrove plantations in the area. The community members acknowledge the problem and are calling for a solution with ACEC’s help in the form of training and resources. ACEC encourages the sustainable use of mangrove forests with public awareness campaigns as well as the training of community members.

Short term, 2.5ha of degraded mangroves will be restored, allowing for the growth of small fishes that use the mangroves as spawning grounds along the coastline in the community.

In addition, jobs will be restored for 600 women and men. In an earlier successful project, men could go back to fishing as a source of livelihoods, while women now could continue to do their fish processing.

It is expected that in the long term, the mangrove’s biodiversity is restored, and community’s livelihoods are sustained.

Ultimately, this intervention will lead to increased knowledge on mangrove conservation and sustainable utilisation of natural resources within Winneba fishing community enhancing the ecological integrity of the coastline of Winneba and the community’s climate resilience.

The project requires donations totalling GHS17,500 (or €2,432). The donations will be used for:

• Purchase propagules (i.e. mangrove seedlings).
• Train nursery workers to grow the seedlings.
• Conservation and environmental protection awareness activities in the community.

This is part of a bigger project in which ACEC supports planting of tree species along lagoons and rivers and provides conservation education and public awareness campaigns as well as community training on sustainable natural resource conservation and management. ACEC uses internally generated funds to support other activities under the project.