Mangrove restoration is one of One Tree Planted's key programmatic priorities. In Africa, through our TerraFund for AFR100 program, we have supported mangrove restoration projects across Ghana, Benin, Mozambique, and Guinea.
Mangrove Restoration in Ghana: The Hen Mpoano Partnership
One inspiring example is our partnership with Hen Mpoano, which has been restoring mangroves along Ghana's southwestern coast since 2022. Together, we have restored 125 hectares by planting more than 488,000 mangrove trees. At the heart of this work are local community members, who are leading restoration efforts while creating sustainable livelihood opportunities such as beekeeping and mangrove nursery establishment.
Walking through these restored wetlands, you can already see the transformation taking place. Young mangroves are now connecting with existing mangrove stands, providing shelter for crustaceans and helping to restore the productivity of the ecosystem. During one of our field visits, community members shared how the project has improved food security. “We no longer have to walk long distances to collect periwinkles," they explained. "Now we can find them close to our community — even within the restored mangrove areas."
Another resident reflected on how the project had changed local perceptions: "Before, we knew nothing about restoration and never thought that restoring these God-created things was possible. From this belief, the mangroves were nearly gone. But look now, our mangrove is back.”
These stories demonstrate something that goes beyond tree planting — they reflect growing community appreciation and ownership of the project. That local stewardship is essential for ensuring restoration efforts continue long after project funding ends. It also creates a strong foundation for future blue carbon initiatives that can generate lasting benefits for communities, biodiversity, and the climate.
What Is Blue Carbon, and Why Do Mangroves Matter?
Around the world, blue carbon ecosystems — including mangroves, seagrasses, and salt marshes — are gaining recognition for the extraordinary benefits they provide to people and nature. Mangroves alone serve as nursery habitats for more than 1,500 fish species, provide breeding grounds for migratory birds, strengthen food security for coastal communities, buffer shorelines against storms and coastal erosion, and serve as powerful nature-based solutions to climate change.
Mangroves are also remarkable carbon sinks, storing 3–4 times more carbon per equivalent area than terrestrial ecosystems, making them one of the world's most effective natural climate solutions.
Global Mangrove Forests Are Expanding
These interconnected benefits have fueled growing global investment in mangrove conservation and restoration through blue carbon initiatives. Encouragingly, a 2026 study published in Science, led by researchers from Tulane University, found that global mangrove forests are now expanding overall after decades of decline driven by shrimp farming, land reclamation, agricultural expansion, and climate change.
By analyzing 40 years of satellite imagery, the researchers found that while many mangrove forests were lost over past decades, new mangroves have naturally regenerated and expanded along coastlines in other areas. As a result, the total global area covered by mangroves in 2023 was only about 1% smaller than it was in the 1980s.
Why Africa's Blue Carbon Market Remains Underdeveloped
Despite this encouraging trend, blue carbon remains an underdeveloped part of global climate finance. Credits generated from blue carbon projects account for only 0.35% of activity in the voluntary carbon market.
One Tree Planted has contributed to advancing knowledge in this field. I co-authored a study examining the barriers and opportunities for blue carbon projects across Africa. The study found that, as of 2024, Africa hosted 24 of the world's 70 operational blue carbon projects. While this represents more than one-third of all projects globally, Africa's total carbon offsets remain comparatively low, largely because many projects are smaller in scale and differ in ecosystem type and project design.
Although Africa has tremendous potential for blue carbon, its contribution remains disproportionately small despite its extensive mangrove ecosystems and the millions of people who depend on them for their livelihoods.
A blue carbon horizon scan study that I co-authored identified 13 major barriers limiting the growth of blue carbon projects across Africa. Among these, five challenges consistently emerged as the most significant:
- Weak governance, ineffective law enforcement, and corruption;
- Complex land tenure systems, unclear carbon rights, and inadequate benefit-sharing mechanisms;
- Limited access to sustainable alternative livelihoods for local communities;
- Insufficient funding for adequate project consultation, design, long-term monitoring, and implementation; and
- Limited integration of blue carbon into national policies.
These are not theoretical challenges; they are barriers that project developers continue to encounter across the continent.
In a study that I led in 2025, we found that nearly half of the 33 African countries with mangrove ecosystems are not fully leveraging them to achieve the climate commitments outlined in their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs). Even more striking, only 11 countries had allocated dedicated budgets for blue carbon or coastal ecosystems within their NDCs.
This lack of policy prioritization often translates into limited funding opportunities, making it difficult for countries to develop and scale blue carbon projects.
Another persistent challenge is that many restoration projects focus primarily on ecological outcomes, such as tree planting, while investments in sustainable livelihoods receive comparatively less attention. Although many projects do create alternative income opportunities, these are often not sufficiently funded to meet the needs of the majority of community members. As a result, households remain economically vulnerable and may continue relying on unsustainable practices such as illegal logging or overharvesting of the resources found in mangrove ecosystems.
Lessons from Successful Mangrove Restoration in Africa
Overcoming these barriers requires building on lessons from successful mangrove restoration projects that are already delivering positive outcomes across Africa.
One example is our TerraFund for AFR100-supported project in Ghana, implemented by our partner Hen Mpoano. A defining feature of this project is its strong community-led governance model. Restoration activities are led by a local Community Resource Management Area (CREMA) group, which is supported by Ghana's Forestry Commission through its Wildlife Division. The group is empowered to establish local bylaws and sustainably manage natural resources outside protected areas, including these mangrove ecosystems.
Community members are involved throughout the entire restoration process; from project planning to implementation and long-term stewardship. This participatory approach strengthens local ownership, improves accountability, and helps address one of the greatest barriers to blue carbon projects: weak governance.
The project also benefits from a community-based land tenure system in which traditional authorities oversee communal lands. This governance structure helps facilitate equitable benefit-sharing and provides greater clarity around resource management, helping to address challenges related to land tenure and community participation.
Equally important is the investment in sustainable livelihoods. Activities such as beekeeping, mangrove nursery management, and improved access to fisheries resources — including the return of periwinkles to restored mangrove habitats — help diversify household incomes while reducing pressure on the ecosystem. By linking restoration with tangible community benefits, the project creates stronger incentives for long-term conservation.
Finally, sustained financing remains critical. Through initiatives such as the TerraFund for AFR100, locally led organizations like Hen Mpoano have been able not only to expand their restoration efforts, but also to leverage additional funding from other donors. Having been selected in both the first and second TerraFund cohorts, Hen Mpoano has strengthened its capacity and financial sustainability, demonstrating how strategic investment can help overcome one of the greatest constraints facing blue carbon projects across Africa.
Africa's Opportunity to Lead in Mangrove Restoration and Blue Carbon
Africa remains one of the world's most underrepresented regions for mangrove restoration and blue carbon investment, yet it holds enormous potential. The continent is home to approximately 20% of the world's mangrove forests, representing a significant opportunity to contribute to global climate mitigation, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable coastal development.
Unlocking this potential will require greater investment in locally led restoration efforts and sustainable financing mechanisms that can bring promising conservation and restoration projects to life.
At One Tree Planted, we believe that successful mangrove restoration is built on both science and community leadership. We work alongside local partners who demonstrate meaningful community engagement, apply restoration practices grounded in scientific evidence, and incorporate traditional ecological knowledge into their work.
Beyond supporting tree planting, we are committed to helping partners build resilient restoration programs that create lasting environmental, social, and economic benefits. By investing in projects with strong local ownership and exploring innovative financing pathways — including those that support future blue carbon opportunities — we aim to ensure that restoration efforts continue to deliver positive impacts long after the initial project has ended.
These partnerships are helping demonstrate that restoring mangroves is about far more than planting trees. It is about strengthening communities, protecting biodiversity, addressing climate change, and creating a more resilient future for Africa's coastal ecosystems.
