Guinea-Bissau
Ridge to Reef Watershed

12°18'38.37"N , 16°11'25.19"W & 11°16'29.85"N, 14°59'8.00"W

Support the Community Based Avoided Deforestation Project in Guinea-Bissau

This "Ridge to Reef" REDD+ project protects 181,200 hectares of coastal watershed in Guinea-Bissau, a country along West Africa’s Atlantic coast.

This project, known as The Community Based Avoided Deforestation Project in Guinea-Bissau (CBADP), supports the long-term conservation of two National Parks in the Republic of Guinea-Bissau: The Cacheu Mangrove Forest National Park and the Cantanhez Forest National Park.

The CBADP project also supports the sustainable development of over 134 villages and 50,000 people living in each national park.

Supporting Local Communities

Guinea-Bissau is one of the poorest countries in the world, yet the country possesses extremely rich biodiversity of local and global importance. The people of Guinea-Bissau depend on its forests, especially its mangrove forests, for their livelihood. Nearly 80% of the country’s population lives in the coastal zone and is dependent on marine and coastal biodiversity for income, material goods, and food security.

Project Summary

Project Impact:

  • Reduces poverty of the local communities surrounding the project areas.
  • Improves the well-being of over 50,000 local people.
  • Empowers local communities through increased incomes and improved social infrastructure.
  • Improved educational opportunities and literacy.
  • Strengthens efforts to safeguard the area's cultural and natural heritage.
  • Curbs deforestation.
  • Preserves and protects mangrove zones.
  • Protects globally and regionally significant species (including marine turtles, African manatees, chimpanzees, sharks, sea-going hippopotami, migratory birds and colobus monkeys).

A CRITICAL ECOSYSTEM

Threatened by Deforestation

Guinea-Bissau's coastal ecosystems are being degraded as a result of human-induced pressures. Driven by unsustainable agricultural expansion and land-use practices, deforestation threatens these mangrove-rich protected areas and the thousands of species that call them home. Given the country’s poverty, investment in protection of these ecosystems is extremely limited.

Mangroves cover 9.4% of the country, meaning Guinea-Bissau has the highest proportion of area covered by mangroves in the world, and is second in terms of total area covered by mangroves in Africa.

Cacheu Mangrove Forest National Park has 55,247 ha project area, and protects the most relevant patches of mangroves around the Cacheu River estuary in the northern part of Guinea-Bissau.

Cantanhez Forest National Park has 90,451 ha project area, and protects the remaining patches of primary sub-humid forest in the southern part of Guinea-Bissau.

a biodiversity champion

Ridge To Reef Watershed

Wetland and marine environments are less vulnerable to damage when rivers upstream are healthy and protected. The critical blue carbon ecosystems loacted in the project areas protects five of the seven existing species of sea turtles, Nile Crocodiles, Saltwater Hippos, and Chimpanzees.

Guinea-Bissau’s economy heavily depends on its rich but vulnerable biodiversity.

Both the Cacheu Mangrove Forest National Park and the Cantanhez Forest National Park are home to many threatened species such as manatees and marine turtles, provides important breeding habitat for hundreds of thousands of migratory birds and serves as a nursery ground for countless species of fish.

VCS CERTIFIED

REDD+ Carbon Project

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The REDD+ project will halt deforestation through the application of a community-led management approach. This approach includes surveillence, enforcement, fire control, and the implementation of an innovative micro-finance system designed to increase incomes and improve social infrastructure while curbing deforestation and conserving water sources.

Reduced Emissions from Degradation and Deforestation

Project Partner

BioGuinea Foundation

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UN SDGs

Sustainable Development

This project provides income flow for the local community and sustainable management and protection of marine and coastal ecosystems. This in turn drives other Sustainable Development benefits produced by the project. This project's longer-term success is ensured by the creation of meaningful jobs that are reliant on the forest being protected.