SENEGAL / MANGROVES CLIMATE CHANGE

STORY: SENEGAL / MANGROVES CLIMATE CHANGE
TRT: 3:53
SOURCE: IFAD
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH /WOLOF /NATS

DATELINE: 27 JULY 2021, FATICK, SENEGAL

SHOTLIST:

1.Aerial shot, mangroves in Senegal Delta of Saloum
2.Various shots, Marianne Ndong oyster and cockle farmer on her boat with other oyster catchers.
3.Wide shot, area where mangroves used to be.
4.Various tracking shots, mangroves
5.Various shots, Marianne and others work on oyster and cockle pots
6.SOUNDBITE (Wolof) Mariane Ndong, oyster and cockle farmer:
“Reforestation is very important. If the sea today has not taken our village. This is thanks to reforestation, if nothing had been done, the sea would have destroyed the village. When you reforest, you see the mud in the mangrove. The mud reduces the force of the sea; the sea can no longer attack the village.”
7.Areal shot, mangroves
8.SOUNDBITE (English) Yotsna Puri - Director of the Environment, Climate, Gender, Youth, Nutrition and Social Inclusion, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD):
“It’s really important to reforest areas around Senegal with mangroves, because mangroves provide the last bastion of resilience for countries such as Senegal. Reforestation, road construction, deforestation have led to the denigration of these kind of forest areas which has essentially meant that incomes have been lost by vulnerable communities and this is what IFAD is trying to redress now.”
9.Aerial shot, people working on oyster farm
10.Tracking shot, people walking through mangroves
11.Various shots, workers carrying oysters
12.Various shots, working on oyster farm
13.SOUNDBITE (Wolof) Mariane Ndong, oyster and cockle farmer:
“When I started this business, I didn't know a lot. I didn't know that we could farm oysters. I did not know that we could make nurseries to grow oysters.
14.Various shots, workers opening oysters
15.Various shots, workers cooking oysters
16.SOUNDBITE (Wolof) Mariane Ndong, oyster and cockle farmer:
“Now we take the oysters, we put them to boil and dry. By processing them, we see that we earn much more. Because a tub full of dried oysters does not make you much profit. If you transform and put them in the jars, you earn a lot more. “
17.Various shots, putting the oysters in the jars
18.Various shots, villagers celebrating
19.Aerial shots, oyster farmers at work

STORYLINE:

Thousands of hectares of restored Mangroves are changing the lives of local fishing communities in Senegal by helping them tackle and adapt to the climate change.

It’s a good start to the day for Marianne Ndong she is hoping to bring home a good catch. She and her colleagues make a living farming and selling oysters and cockles in the Delta of Saloum in the Fatick region of Senegal.

However, ten years ago the picture was very different, many of these mangroves has disappeared. Senegal is among the worst affected countries on the continent. Persistent droughts linked to climate change, saw nearly 40 percent of its mangrove area lost since the 1970s.

The mangroves not only cultivate wildlife and sea life like shellfish, but also act as a protective barrier between the land and the sea.

Marianne owes her livelihood to a local project, which funded the huge mangrove reforestation in the region.

SOUNDBITE (Wolof) Mariane Ndong, oyster and cockle farmer:
“Reforestation is very important. If the sea today has not taken our village. This is thanks to reforestation, If nothing had been done, the sea would have destroyed the village. When you reforest, you see the mud in the mangrove. the mud reduces the force of the sea, the sea can no longer attack the village.”

Mangroves are essential for preventing soil erosion, holding back rising sea levels and promoting marine ecosystems but in the last 25 years, Africa has lost nearly 500,000 hectares of its mangroves due to drought, deforestation and construction.

This week a landmark report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) said Humanity's damaging impact on the climate is a "statement of fact" and stated that, a rise in sea levels approaching 2 metres by the end of this century "cannot be ruled out.”

SOUNDBITE (English) Yotsna Puri - Director of the Environment, Climate, Gender, Youth, Nutrition and Social Inclusion, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD):

“It’s really important to reforest areas around Senegal with mangroves, because mangroves provide the last bastion of resilience for countries such as Senegal. Reforestation, road construction, deforestation have led to the denigration of these kind of forest areas which has essentially meant that incomes have been lost by vulnerable communities and this is what IFAD is trying to redress now.”

Funded by the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Senegalese government, more than 50 thousand families in the region benefit from mangrove reforestation, this also includes loans and training in how to add value to their produce.

SOUNDBITE (Wolof) Mariane Ndong, oyster and cockle farmer:
“When I started this business, I didn't know a lot. I did not know that we could farm oysters. I did not know that we could make nurseries to grow oysters. Now we take the oysters, we put them to boil and dry. By processing them, we see that we earn much more. Because a tub full of dried oysters does not make you much profit. If you transform and put them in the jars, you earn a lot more. “

The extra income means that she can pay for her children’s education and clothing
As climate change continues to grab the headlines this small project is playing its part to help communities adapt and survive. The project aims to reforest more the one thousand hectares of mangroves in the next few years.

Protecting this ecosystem not only provides a vital habitat for sea life, but for thousands of fishing communities like this one, the homes and livelihoods of people depend on it.