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Good practice Imported

The Manzanar Project — Fertilised Mangrove Afforestation on Eritrea's Red Sea Coast

Eritrea · Hargigo · See the Eritrea profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 76% 33/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Since 1985, cheap bags of nitrogen, phosphorus and iron buried at each seedling's base have let mangroves take root on Eritrea's barren tidal flats near Hargigo, now an estimated 700,000-1 million trees restoring fish nurseries and mangrove-leaf livestock fodder.

~700,000 trees
Mangrove trees established (2024 peer-reviewed estimate) (by 2024)
~1,000,000 trees
Mangrove trees established (later press/encyclopaedia estimate)
The Manzanar Project — Fertilised Mangrove Afforestation on Eritrea's Red Sea Coast

Details

Promoter
Manzanar Project (founded by Dr Gordon H. Sato)
Period
1985–2017 (ongoing legacy)
Keywords
coastal ecosystem restoration, fisheries, livestock fodder, community livelihoods

Context

Eritrea's barren, saline tidal mudflats near Hargigo had repeatedly failed to support mangrove seedlings until Dr Gordon H. Sato began the Manzanar Project there in 1985.

Objectives

The project aimed to establish mangrove stands on nutrient-poor tidal flats using only cheap fertiliser and manual labour, without freshwater, arable soil or heavy machinery.

Activities

Small plastic bags of nitrogen, phosphorus and iron were buried at the base of each seedling and pierced with a hole so nutrients leached out gradually as the tide moved.

Results

A 2024 peer-reviewed account in Ecological Restoration put the total at roughly 700,000 mangrove trees, with later press and encyclopaedia accounts describing growth to nearly one million; crabs, shrimp and juvenile fish returned to support local fisheries, and families began feeding mangrove leaves, supplemented with ground fish remains, to sheep and goats.

Conclusions

No independent hectare-level survey or carbon-stock study of the site was found, and the model rested heavily on Sato personally, who died in 2017, leaving it a community-scale, informally governed restoration rather than a certified or replicable scheme.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Low (< €50k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Dr Gordon H. Sato (project founder), local community members/families in Hargigo

Conditions for success

  • no freshwater, arable soil or heavy machinery required — only cheap fertiliser and manual labour
  • gradual nutrient leaching via perforated fertiliser bags timed to tidal action

Common failure modes

  • model rested heavily on one individual (Sato), who died in 2017, threatening continuity
  • no independent hectare-level survey or carbon-stock study conducted
  • informally governed, not a certified or replicable scheme

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes Philanthropic / foundation funding

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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