A seagrass restoration workshop was held between the 17th and the 21st of January in The Gambia, which is the first country in West Africa to engage with seagrass restoration. Seagrass meadows in The Gambia are currently threatened by both anthropogenic and natural causes, and this workshop is part of an initiative called Ba Nyamo Tanko, which means ‘conserving seagrasses’ in Mandika, and aims to restore, manage and strengthen the capacity for seagrass conservation in The Gambia.
Ba Nyamo Tanko, a project delivered by the Department of Parks and Wildlife Management (DPWM), is one of the projects supported by 2021 edition of the ICRI/UNEP Small Grants Program, and is a community-led seagrass conservation and restoration effort in the south-western beach communities in Gunjur and Kartong. Up to 7 ha are envisaged for restoration, corresponding to around 5% of the estimated seagrasses area in the Gambia.
Trainers from The Eduardo Mondlane University (Mozambique) and the DPWM of The Gambia delivered the first technical training workshop at the Gunjur Project Lodge.
The main pillars of Ba Nyamo Tanko are Seagrass restoration and monitoring, the enhancement of the Ba Nyamo Tanko network partnership, and the implementation of the CEPA (Communication, Education and Public Awareness) strategy.
Read more about the ICRI/UNEP Smalls Grants Programme >>
© Photographs by Salomão Bandeira.
