Niger Delta Community-Driven Mangrove Restoration Project

The Niger Delta Community-Driven Mangrove Restoration Project is a scalable initiative focused on restoring the historically mangrove-rich wetlands of the Niger Delta through a community-led approach. The Niger Delta—the largest river delta in Africa and home to the world’s third-largest mangrove forest—has faced severe degradation over the past decades due to a variety of pressures. This has compromised biodiversity, diminished livelihoods, and increased vulnerability to flooding and erosion for the 30 million people who live there. This Programme of Activities aims to restore the ecosystem through training local communities to plant native, locally adapted mangrove species, while also addressing the causes of mangrove loss. Its objectives are to: • Empower communities by providing the livelihood support, education, and tools needed to become long-term ecosystem stewards and bolster their resilience in a climate-changing world, • Restore a critical ecosystem and its services while promoting biodiversity by rebuilding the habitats of numerous species, strengthening regional food security, and providing flood and storm protection. • And finally, sequester carbon in the fight against climate change while utilizing mangroves as a powerful nature-based solution. Rooted in strong local partnerships and ecosystem restoration approaches, the project is designed to scale and serve as a model for community-first restoration across Nigeria and the wider region.