Artículo | 10 Ago, 2021

Ghana: IUCN and partners celebrated the international mangroves day in Anyanui community, Volta region

The International Day for Conservation of Mangrove Ecosystem, proclaimed by UNESCO's General Conference in 2015 and celebrated annually on 26 July, aims to raise awareness of the importance of mangrove ecosystems as a "unique, special and vulnerable ecosystem" and to promote solutions for their sustainable management, conservation and use.

IUCN Ghana Project Coordinator delivering her address at the Durbar

Photo: IUCN

The Coordinating team made up of IUCN and The Development Institute Staff

Photo: IUCN

Participants at the Mangroves planting exercise

Photo: IUCN

For this year, in Ghana, IUCN and its partners celebrated this day under the theme "Mangroves: Our Lifeline, Our Livelihoods" to illustrate the important role mangroves play in providing key ecosystem services that sustain life on earth, while generating resources that serve as livelihoods for millions of people at the local and national levels.

As part of the EU-Funded Management of Mangroves from Senegal to Benin Project, being implemented in Ghana (Songor Lagoon and Anlo-Keta Lagoons), Roy Mouth landscape in Benin and Mono Delta Biosphere Reserve in Benin and Togo, IUCN, in collaboration with The Development Institute (The DI) - a local conservation NGO in the Anlo-Keta landscape (and IUCN Member) and the Wildlife Division of Forestry Commission (WD) successfully organised a mangroves planting exercise and stakeholder durbar to commemorate the International Day for Conservation of Mangrove Ecosystem on 26th July 2021 at Anyanui Community in the Volta Region.

The Mangroves Day celebration saw the active participation of landscape/national level stakeholders. Participants planted 1,500 White and Red mangrove seedlings on a 1 acre plot.

The event helped raise awareness on the importance of mangroves ecosystems in the fight against climate change as well as the socio-economic importance of mangroves to communities and the country as a whole. It also brought to the fore the key challenges and opportunities that exist with respect to the sustainable management of this important resource. The platform was also used to highlight the objectives and planned activities of the IUCN Mono-Volta Mangroves project as well as other key interventions led by The DI all aimed at supporting the sustainable management and utilisation of mangroves resources in the landscape.