French Minister Annick Girardin visits our project in Senegal!

The French Minister of State for Development and Francophony, Annick Girardin, visited the Livelihoods mangrove restoration project in Casamance, Senegal, on September 10th. Ms. Girardin was in Senegal preparing for the 15th Francophonie Summit. She signed several French Development Agency financing agreements on electrification, drinking water and support for decentralization and public finance. But despite her busy schedule, she still found time to discover our project with the NGO Océanium, which is the largest mangrove restoration project in the world today!

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The Livelihoods project, carried out with the local NGO Océanium, constitutes the world’s largest mangrove restoration project today. It has mobilized 400 villages and 100,000 villagers to plant 100 million mangrove trees over 10,000 hectares in the regions of Casamance and Siné Saloum. These mangroves will generate additional food resources (crabs, fish, etc.), which will allow local fishermen to increase their incomes. It will also permit the return of rice-growing activities, as the mangroves will once again shield the paddy fields from saltwater.

We are happy to share some photos taken by the Livelihoods-Océanium project officer Mustapha Faty of Ms. Girardin’s official visit there.

SAM_8799 Ms. Girardin with Haider Ali, founder of the NGO Océanium

SAM_8811Visiting the restored mangroves in Casamance, Senegal 

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For more information about the project, visit: https://livelihoods.eu/portfolio/oceanium-senegal/