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.
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 Impact:
A CRITICAL ECOSYSTEM
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
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+ - aka "Reduced Emissions from Degradation and Deforestation" projects are some of the highest quality carbon credits available. REDD+ creates permanent protection for existing old-growth forests that are under direct threat. This is achieved through a 30-year sustainable development program that transitions the local economy to permanent forest protection.
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.
This REDD+ Project, through the sale of carbon credits, will provide sustainable and stable flow of funds to the participating communities for the continued operation of Cacheu and Cantanhez National Parks.
Guinea-Bissau has committed to the protection of one-fourth of the country’s total land area, under the co-management of government and communities. Through prioritizing REDD+ as a core strategy, Guinea-Bissau aims to provide sustainable financing and fully implement its conservation and development vision.
Project Partner
Established in 2011, the BioGuinea Foundation promotes the conservation, protection and improvement of the environment and biodiversity of Guinea Bissau prioritizing the country’s national system of protected areas. The Foundation will serve as long-term financing mechanism for managing Guinea-Bissau’s parks and biodiversity through a conservation trust fund
UN SDGs
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.
