Seagrass Restoration in The Gambia

Ba Nyamo Tanko, meaning ‘conserving seagrasses’ in Mandinka, is the first community-led seagrass conservation and restoration project in The Gambia and the West African region. Ba Nyamo Tanko will focus on the following activities:

  • Design and implement a pilot seagrass restoration project in The Gambia with the aim to be upscaled and replicated across West Africa.

  • Organise a training workshop to strengthen in-country capacities, knowledge, skills and competencies in restoration considerations and techniques.

  • Create a management network of community groups to ensure decision-making is participatory, inclusive and transparent.

  • Use a communication, education and public awareness strategy to enlighten members of the community about the benefits of protecting seagrasses, as well as the negative impacts of fishing gear and practices on both seagrasses and fish populations

 

“The primary objective of Ba Nyamo Tanko is to kickstart a pioneering community-led seagrass protection intervention in The Gambia.”

Tackling threats and taking action in The Gambia

The Gambia has made tremendous progress in advancing seagrass knowledge, from having no official seagrass records back in 2018 to full distribution maps in just three years. However, seagrass meadows in the country remain under immense human pressures, including unregulated fishing activities, which have hindered the natural regeneration of depleted seagrass meadows.

Ba Nyamo Tanko will focus on two pillars, capacity building and community involvement, to ensure that the project has a real, long-term impact for both the environment and the people.

The project will actively engage community members, fisherfolk in their majority, whose livelihoods are connected to and reliant on the health of seagrasses.

This will be achieved by organising ‘Sateh Alfaa Bengo’ - community council meetings - to discuss the coordination and delivery of project plans and activities. Advocacy will be a key tool, with civil society and journalists pushing for better governance and management of local natural resources. The project will also engage young people at schools and the university to impart the essential skills for the conservation of seagrass meadows.

Coordinated by the Department of Parks and Wildlife Management of The Gambia in partnership with Alma and the University Eduardo Mondlane of Mozambique, Ba Nyamo Tanko will:

  • Restore degraded seagrass areas through community participation;

  • Enhance ecosystem services provided by seagrasses, including improved fisheries, biodiversity, carbon sequestration and coastal protection;

  • Integrate seagrass conservation into national regulations and sectoral laws;

  • Act as a demonstration programme showcasing community-led seagrass conservation and influence national and regional policy.

The project is funded by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) Small Grants Programme 2021.