Stewards of the Mangroves
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The mangroves that flank the mouth of River Gambia are an essential part of the river’s ecosystem, including providing a spawning ground for fish and creating economic opportunities for the local woman who collect oysters that grow on their sinewy branches. Mangroves, like other coastal wetlands, are powerful carbon sinks. They suck up carbon dioxide from the air to store in their roots and branches, as well as the sediment that collects around them, and store up to ten times more carbon than forests.
The TRY Oyster Women Association are now one of the key protagonists in the fight to protect the mangroves. Before the formation of TRY oyster collectors hacked off branches entirely and picked even small, unsaleable oysters. Through educational initiatives organised by TRY and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the women were encouraged to consider themselves stewards of the mangroves; the mangrove branches are now left intact, and harvesters prevent deforestation by stopping locals from cutting them for firewood
TRY is also involved in reforestation; as part of a UNDP-funded project, members planted more than 50,000 mangrove seedlings. In 2011, they voted for a closed harvesting season, from March to June, and to set a minimum size for collecting oysters.
Published in:
The Guardian
photographs by Jason Florio
words by JR Patterson