By The Photographer [CC0], from Wikimedia Commons
This article was originally published on United Nations Climate Change.
“Highlights:
- Over 14,500 hectares of mangrove forest have been demarcated and educational sign boards have been installed in almost 50 lagoons and estuary systems;
- In 2017, the project propagated 703,800 mangrove seedlings;
- More than 7,900 women and young people have been trained in mangrove conservation and 2,893 have received microloans to create or expand sustainable businesses and foster financial stability.
Seacology, a nonprofit environmental conservation organization, is helping Sri Lanka become the first nation in history to preserve and replant all of its mangrove forests. As a result, Sri Lanka is on a path to be a model for other countries wishing to build conservation capacity and economic prosperity in communities where healthy mangroves are most critical – small fishing villages.
Seacology helps mitigate poverty in coastal communities by providing sustainable livelihoods training and microloans in exchange for leadership in community mangrove conservation cooperatives. Through these conservation cooperatives, programme participants lead their communities in mangrove propagation, reforestation, and protection.
The livelihood training and microloan programme enables beneficiaries to create or expand sustainable businesses, contributing to greater financial stability, better nutrition and health, increased economic security for families, and improved resilience against destructive storm surges…”
Read on at: United Nations Climate Change.
