Tristao Islands Mangrove Restoration — 1,400 Hectares Replanted in Guinea's Ramsar Wetland (2019-2022)

The Tristao Islands, on Guinea's northern coast bordering Guinea-Bissau, have been a Ramsar-listed wetland since 1992 and gained marine protected area status in 2013. Satellite-informed monitoring found the wider Tristao-Kapatchez area lost roughly 7,000 hectares of mangrove between 2010 and 2015, driven by charcoal production, rice-field conversion and coastal erosion.

From 2019 to 2022, Guinee Ecologie (BirdLife International's Guinean partner) worked with the Regional Partnership for the Conservation of the Coastal and Marine Zone in West Africa (PRCM), the NGO PREM, Guinea's Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development, and the national Office of Parks and Reserves (OGPNRF), funded by the Dob Ecology and Audemars Watkins foundations, to replant degraded mangrove stands and support community-led protection across the Tristao Islands.

The project restored more than 1,400 hectares of mangrove. The islands remain a breeding ground for multiple fish species and marine turtles, with over 200 bird species recorded in the Ramsar site. A second phase launched in January 2023 targets a further 500 hectares in the neighbouring Konkoure delta, split between direct reforestation (100 ha), assisted natural regeneration (100 ha), restoration of converted rice paddies (50 ha), and pressure-reduction activities on the remaining 250 ha.

Restoration at this scale illustrates a replicable community-NGO-government model for West African mangrove recovery. However, the project's own framing of 1,400 hectares restored, set against roughly 7,000 hectares lost in the wider area between 2010 and 2015 alone, is a reminder that recovery to date remains partial relative to the scale of historical degradation, and that sustained multi-phase funding is needed to close the gap.

Read the full analysis: http://mangrovetristao.prcmarine.org/

Read the full analysis: http://mangrovetristao.prcmarine.org/