• Up to 1.0 million community members positively impacted.
• Improved biodiversity with long-term sueconomic support and monitoring systems.
• Improved status of IUCN threatened species.
• Sustainable practices for fin and shellfish harvesting with increases in available stock.
• Reduction in erosion and flooding threats.
• Improvement in local primary/secondary education and vocational training programs.
• Reduction in child labor and trafficking.
• Improved carbon sequestration and storage in 10,000 hectares of mangrove forest.
• An additional +/- 3,000,000 tonnes of carbon sequestration and storage over 20 years.

The global loss of mangroves over the past century has been dramatic.  The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) has listed mangroves as “threatened” for the past fifteen years.  Yet, mangroves are nature’s precious gems of biodiversity and coastal ecosystems.

Mangroves are also one of the best sequesterers and facilitators of carbon storage on the planet.  Mangrove forests have been scientifically verified to sequester and store up to four times the amount of carbon as compared to Amazon forests and up to ten times the amount stored in terrestrial forests and with a significantly lower rate of “leakage” or loss of carbon sequestration benefits as a consequence of wildfires.

Mangroves also provide protective environments for fish nurseries and shellfish and are known to improve water quality and salinity due to their unique salt-tolerant characteristics.  They protect coastal areas and human populations from flooding associated with storms and surges and their unique root system helps prevent erosion.  And even as seawater levels rise, mangroves, in established forests, will self-propagate and migrate to more inland areas.
The aboveground and waterline flora provide nesting and protection for birds, lizards and snakes, while the below waterline roots provide protection for fish, mollusks, crabs and marine mammals.
Mangroves, supporting the fish, shellfish and crabs, in turn provide economic benefits to the local economies.  Expanding on this benefit, the vast majority of ‘shellfishers’ in Ghana and West Africa are women.  They are also the majority population for fish processing and marketing.
Direct evidence of the economic power of the mangroves was demonstrated in the Densu Protected Area west of Accra, which experienced near total destruction and loss of the native mangroves.  Human activity from the local community devasted the mangrove population. Almost the entire fishing industry for that community was lost by 2015.  The community members had not understood the interdependence of the fish and shellfish populations to the mangroves.  However, recent initiatives supported by the University of Rhode Island and USAID helped to restore a significant portion of the mangrove population and provided ecosystem education and resources to the community. This, in turn, led to a marked increase in fish and oyster stocks.

Positive outcomes were also demonstrated in Senegal following a mangrove reforestation project that engaged members of 450 villages who helped replant over 10,000 hectares of mangroves.
A follow up study conducted ten years later determined that 95% of the community members surveyed reported improvements in livelihoods because of the mangrove reforestation.  For biodiversity, significant improvements in shellfish and fish stocks were reported as the primary positive outcome.  The fish stocks were reported as improved by 70% of the villages and estimated to aggregate to an annual increase in catches of 4,200 tons.

Social and human benefits were notable as well.  “Communities and households mentioned positive impacts on social mobilization, awareness, collective dynamic, confidence building, experience, technical knowledge and proudness.”

These documented results inspire Standard Blue and its partners to protect and restore mangrove forests as a critical and viable climate mitigation solution while supporting economic development for Ghana and West Africa.

Standard Blue Investments, a social enterprise, is a registered Ghanaian company.  Ghana is also the home country of the founder of Standard Blue and most of our participating partners.  Ghana is considered one of the most stable governments in Africa and the economics of the country were improving prior to the COVID pandemic.  Today post-COVID Ghana is experiencing runaway inflation (over 100% for 2022) and a dramatically devalued currency (more than 50% against US currency).

As a paramount chief, HRM Notse Nii Nortey Owou IV (a.k.a Bernard Botchway), has pledged to improve the health and well-being of his people and his country. He has experienced firsthand the local impacts of climate change.  Furthermore, he emphatically supports the position of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs that has also set forth in its “A Just Green Transition” policy that “securing a low-carbon future is a matter of justice, as poor people and countries are the most affected by climate change”

The World Economic Forum ranks biodiversity loss as the third largest global risk over the next ten years.Conservation International recently published in its Exponential Roadmap for Natural Climate Solutions, that West Africa offers some of the greatest opportunities for restoration, as reflected in the graphic below.  Ghana is positioned within one of the top-rated tiers.

The Blue Economy for Resilient Africa Program at the World Bank reports, “the Blue Economy is at the core of the economic development and competitiveness of Africa’s coastal countries. However, unsustainable infrastructure development, inadequate management of natural habitats and resources, and pollution are threatening their productivity.” Standard Blue’s specifically addresses these root challenges.
These are just a few of many reasons that make Ghana an ideal choice and opportunity to support the economic improvements of the indigenous coastal communities.

• Plant an additional 3,000 hectares of indigenous mangrove species years 3-5.
• Develop successful sustainable community projects that engage all seventeen UN Sustainable Development Goals by empowering and sustaining the ecosystems, organisms, and processes that strengthen human wellbeing.
• Develop, train, and employ local community members for monitoring and reporting on conservation efforts to project partners.
• Create and maintain local nurseries for mangrove, coconut and bamboo seedlings with community participation and employment.
• Educational program curricula development and deployment for biodiversity, waste management and conservation with local municipal participation.
• Establish a sustainable, community-driven waste management and sanitation system.
• Micro-venture support to community members for waste management initiatives.
• Provide on-going financial support for local wildlife offices and community schools.
• Fairly compensate local family/clan owned lands.

• Mangrove forest coverage expanded by 50% in the focus areas over 10 years.
• Increased food security.
• Increased household incomes.
• Improved local fin and shellfish stocks.
• Establish an acceptable replacement for mangrove use in fuel and cooking.
• Establishment of medium scale farms (50-100 hectares) of bamboo, indigenous tree, and agricultural species to support local farmers.
• Development of value-add industries within communities including charcoal production, biochar, construction materials.
• Reduced exposure to flooding./li>
• Reduced rate of child labor and slavery.
• Increased educational and vocational opportunities.