Djibouti Government–UNEP Mangrove Restoration — Khor Angar & Damerjog, with Project Sahil Carbon-Credit Follow-On

Djibouti's mangrove forests, concentrated at Khor Angar in the north and Damerjog in the south, declined sharply — the Khor Angar forest alone shrank from an estimated 120 hectares to about 60 hectares — as rising seas blocked the tidal channels that fed them. From 2014, the Government of Djibouti and UN Environment (UNEP), with roughly US$2 million in Global Environment Facility (GEF) funding, ran a restoration and climate-adaptation project combining mangrove replanting with wider community works: three small dams and solar-powered irrigation at Damerjog, an upgraded desalination system, and training in sustainable fishing, date-palm cultivation, eco-tourism and small-scale agriculture for local households.

By nursery output, the project had planted over 100,000 mangrove seedlings, with the Khor Angar nursery alone producing around 35,000 seedlings a year, and UNEP-reported replanting achieved a 0.5% mortality rate. Visible ecological recovery includes the documented return of crabs to restored channels. However, community participation in tree maintenance is reported as largely unpaid volunteer labour rather than a direct per-hectare or per-tree payment to households, and UNEP itself estimates full forest recovery will take 50–100 years — this is a slow, government-run restoration and livelihoods programme rather than a market-priced payment scheme.

A distinct, more recent initiative — Project Sahil, developed with Africa Carbon Solutions (ACS) and local communities — proposes to scale restoration across eight sites covering 2,921 hectares (781 ha preservation, 1,675 ha mangrove replanting, 465 ha green coastal barriers) over a 40-year horizon, following Verra's VCS methodologies (VM0033, VM0047) toward VCS/CCB-certified carbon credits. Its promotional materials project sequestration of roughly 2,011,199 tonnes of CO2 equivalent over the project's lifetime — an ex-ante modelled estimate, not a measured or third-party-verified result, and no independent verification or credit issuance had been reported as of the sources reviewed.

Taken together, the record combines solid observational evidence for the original GEF/UNEP restoration (survival rates, nursery output, infrastructure delivered) with an unverified, still-prospective carbon-finance layer (Project Sahil) that should be read as a pipeline claim rather than confirmed impact.

Read more: https://www.thegef.org/news/oasis-dreaming-regreening-djiboutian-desert

Read the full analysis: https://www.apolownia.com/projects/djibouti-mangrove