Notes to broadcasters
Notes to broadcaster
In coastal ecosystems, as in all ecosystems, there are interactions between living things and the physical environment. Mangroves are important parts of the intersection between land and sea environments, and they typically thrive in intertidal zones. Mangrove systems can store large amount of carbon both above-ground and below the ground sediment, which plays a role in mitigating climate change. Mangrove systems also create dense root networks and form dense canopies with intertwining branches. These act as natural barriers to, respectively, reduce the impact of rushing waters and act as buffers against floods during extreme weather and mitigate the force of strong winds. They are also breeding zones for commercially important aquatic species that people depend on for their livelihoods, like black chin tilapia and crabs. Mangroves are also cultivated for fuel wood for smoking fish, for building, and for other kinds of construction.
In Ghana, the Development Institute is undertaking a one-year project called Strengthening Local Participation in Mangrove Conservation and Restoration, whose goal is to boost the capacity of coastal communities to manage mangrove systems and help local mangrove user groups to rehabilitation mangrove sites and ecosystems. The project is being piloted in the community of Agbledomi in the Anloga district of Volta Region. Agbledomi is close to the main Volta Estuary between Ada and Anyanui to the west and between the sea and the Anyanui Creek or river to the south and north, respectively. On the seaward side of Agbledomi, there are lagoons and a long stretch of beach.
In this script, we interview Mr. Senyo Adzah, a researcher and consultant, who explains what mangrove systems are and gives a vivid description of the Agbledomi community. We also speak with Richard Abebu, a farmer and fisher in Agbledomi, who talks about the benefits of mangroves in his community and to him as a farmer. Madam Aho Adugba is a fishmonger in Agbledomi, and she shares her knowledge on mangrove restoration and gives advice on how to restore mangroves. Gabriel Koblah Ahianyo shares his experience as a fisher and how he benefits from the mangrove restoration project. Clemence Kugbey shares project details and explains the aim of the project.
You could adapt this script to produce a program on environmental conservation, climate change solutions, afforestation, or any other kind of Nature-based Solution that is suitable to your particular situation and is being implemented.
You could use this script as a basis for producing a program of your own by:
- Inviting an expert on Nature-based Solutions to your radio program and discussing the research findings on climate change solutions and the benefits of community efforts to conserve the environment.Interviewing small-scale farmers and fishers who actively engage in communal efforts to protect their environment and are interested in finding Nature-based Solutions to their problems. Be sure to give equal space to women’s experiences in all your coverage of farming and communal
- You could also pre-record this script, using voice actors, and play all or part of it during a program and studio discussion about preserving coastal areas or inland rivers in our communities with Nature-based solutions such as rehabilitating mangroves and practicing afforestation.Estimated running time for the script: 25 minutes, including intro, outro, music, and sound effects.
Script
Elikem Kuampah:
Good evening, cherished listeners. You are welcome to Environment Channel O. My name is Elikem Kuampah, host of Environment Today. Today, we will discuss the rehabilitation of mangroves and how important that is to the environment—and people’s livelihoods! Stay tuned, don’t touch that dial!
Elikem Kuampah:
Welcome back to Environment Today. Today, we are going to talk about mangroves, the many benefits they offer to communities and to the environment in general, and how communities can help to restore them.
To learn more about this, we will speak with Clemence Kugbey of The Development Institute, Mr. Senyo Adzah, Mr. Gabriel Kobla Ahianyo, and Miss Aho Adugba, a team of workers from Agbledomi in the Volta Region. Unfortunately, there’s a bit of a concern in Agbledomi—there’s been a decline in mangroves. This team is working hard to restore mangroves in their community because of this challenge. They all have a lot of experience in their line of work.
They are here to share their experience restoring mangroves in their community.
Thanks for joining us!
Elikem Kuampah:
Please call me Eli. Mr. Adzah, can you please tell me what mangrove systems are?
SENYO ADZAH:
Thank you, Eli. The soil ecosystem, the water ecosystem, and other ecosystems come together to form a larger ecosystem in which the mangroves dwell. The system includes mangrove roots and other kinds of living organisms as well as the non-living components of the ecosystem such as soil, water, and air. Mangrove systems have a lot of life in them. You can find crabs in the mangrove system, fish use the roots as breeding grounds, and certain birds make their nests on branches to raise their offspring.
Elikem Kuampah:
Thanks to Senyo for giving us a good description of the mangrove systems. Mr. Clemence, can you briefly tell us about the rehabilitation project being implemented at Agbledomi?
CLEMENCE KUGBEY:
The project mainly aims at getting people in the community involved in restoring mangroves to extend the fishing way of life and preserve our environment. After this pilot, with some funding, we hope to scale it up.
But the first step is to educate people about mangroves, and to train and build people’s capacity to understand the need for this project to succeed in their community. When the people own the project, it ensures continuity. Then people will continue to restore mangroves to protect their rivers, lagoons, and farmlands without our intervention.
Thank you, Mr. Clemence Kugbey.
Mr. Abebu, please tell us how important mangroves are to the environment.
RICHARD ABEBU:
Good morning to all listeners. I’m Richard Abebu, a farmer at Agbledomi in the Volta region of Ghana.
Eli, I must confess that I did not understand why we must rehabilitate mangroves because I believed that they are God-given plants that would grow on their own. I felt they didn’t need human intervention. I’m of a different opinion now because the project about mangrove conservation opened my eyes to the benefits we can get from rehabilitating mangroves in my community. I now know that mangroves store a lot of carbon and help to reduce flooding in our community.
Elikem Kuampah:
Do you experience flooding at your farm?
RICHARD ABEBU:
No, but I know friends who have experienced flooding before and they lost so much income that season. As a farmer who farms on land that is close to the river, it is clear that mangroves sustain and protect my farm from floods. I am happy to help plant more mangroves to ensure that there is always enough of them to help keep the rivers from flooding our farms.
Elikem Kuampah:
That is a very good motivation. I also have an expert fisher in the studio. Please introduce yourself to our listeners.
AHIANYO GABRIEL:
My name is Mr. Ahianyo Gabriel, and I am a fisher at Agbledomi in the Volta region. I have been fishing almost all my life. My father was a fisher and he passed it on to me. I learnt how to fish by assisting him.
Elikem Kuampah:
Impressive. How have the efforts to rehabilitate mangroves in your community impacted fishing activities?
AHIANYO GABRIEL:
I have about 52 years of experience as a fisher. But until The Development Institute project started, we didn’t fully understand the importance of rehabilitating mangroves. The mangroves have been around the rivers and the coast for years, so we thought that they would always be there. But now we know their value. Mangroves serve as habitats and a breeding place for sea animals, fishes, and birds. They allow fish to grow bigger before they move into the main body of the river. This helps fishers catch a larger number of big fish. Soon, our efforts to rehabilitate mangrove areas in our community will bring us better results.
Elikem Kuampah:
By better results, do you mean catching big fish?
Elikem Kuampah:
Great. Let’s go on a quick break and when we return, we will hear from Madam Aho and Mr. Senyo, a consultant from the Development Institute and the project lead. We’ll be right back!
Elikem Kuampah:
Welcome back to Environment Today on channel O. We are discussing the importance of rehabilitating mangroves in riverland areas. I have in the studio a team of workers and experts from Agbledomi in the Volta region. They are sharing their experience on rehabilitating mangroves in their community with us. Madam Aho, please tell me something about your work.
AHO ADUGBA:
Thank you, my name is Madam Aho Adugba and I am a fish seller and fishmonger at Agbledomi in the Volta Region. I sell both fresh and smoked fish.
Elikem Kuampah:
Nice. How long have you been doing this, please?
Elikem Kuampah:
Wow, then you are very experienced in your field of work.
Elikem Kuampah:
As a fishmonger, how has the availability and quality of fish been affected by the decline in mangroves?
AHO ADUGBA:
The fish are no longer as big as they used to be. And fishers don’t catch as many fish as they used to catch some years back. But I didn’t connect the decrease in fish size to the decrease in mangroves until the officials at The Development Institute and their partners came to educate us about the importance of restoring mangroves.
Elikem Kuampah:
How has the restoration project affected you and your family?
AHO ADUGBA:
My family and I benefit so much from the mangroves because they are one of the basic fuels we use at home. Without it, we are unable to smoke the fish we buy from the fishers. This is why it’s important to me that we restore the mangrove areas.
Elikem Kuampah:
Mr. Adzah, as an expert who has researched this topic and is in charge of this project, what is the process people within the riverland areas are using to restore mangroves in their communities?
:
Thank you for your question, Eli. My name is Senyo Adzah and I’m a consultant and manager of the Development Institute’s project in the Volta Region. Our first task is to educate people about the importance of mangroves. It is best to involve them in restoration efforts because it fosters a sense of ownership and responsibility. As you already know, this project seeks to guide communities in the coastal areas and inland river areas to rehabilitate mangroves.
:
The next step is to organize tree planting events and involve community members in planting mangrove saplings in degraded areas. In Agbledomi, community members are encouraged to form groups that meet weekly and monthly to take care of such environmental projects and protect the mangrove areas.
Elikem Kuampah:
Are you all a part of this group?
:
Yes, they are all a part of a group. And they have contributed to planting about 2,200 mangrove saplings in their community.
Elikem Kuampah:
Wow, that sounds good. Are all the saplings growing well?
:
Well, like every other project, we are faced with some challenges. The estuary is blocked and doesn’t allow the flow of water from the estuary to the lagoons and small rivers. This causes the inland rivers to become salty over time, and this can damage mangrove saplings.
Elikem Kuampah:
Please tell us how you get the mangroves for planting.
SENYO ADZAH:
We get the saplings from mangrove forest areas. We go by canoe with volunteers from the groups to find mangrove areas that are less disturbed and harvested. And that is where we find the saplings. We pick the saplings and bring them back into the community to plant them at sites where mangroves do well.
ELIKEM KUAMPAH:
Are there particular ways that the community plants mangroves, or are there perhaps guidelines to follow?
SENYO ADZAH:
In Agbledomi, people plant saplings in areas that have been harvested—in other words, in places where mangroves used to grow, but because they have been harvested, these places are now bare.
Mangroves can be planted around lagoons and close to the river. They thrive in such areas because they are able to receive regular water from these water bodies.
Mangroves cannot be grown in the middle of the river because these places are used for multiple purposes. For example, if they were planted in places that people use as a transport path on the river, that would interrupt transportation. Also, they cannot be planted near farming areas where lots of people walk and do other activities as these activities would obstruct the growth of the saplings.
When mangroves are young, say from six months to a year after planting, they are unable to house fish because the roots are not wide enough. They still store some carbon, but they don’t help to control erosion or mitigate flooding. But when they are 10 years and older, they can then serve as buffers to flooding and control erosion. A well-matured mangrove is 15 years old or older.
SENYO ADZAH:
We work together with experts and government extension workers to educate people on sustainable harvesting techniques to ensure that mangroves are used without causing irreversible damage.
Elikem Kuampah:
Good, my next question goes to Madam Aho. Can you please share with us something new that you learned from being a part of this project?
AHO ADUGBA:
Oh yes, Eli, I learned that mangroves are natural buffers against coastal erosion and storm damage.
Elikem Kuampah:
Nice. Now, Mr. Ahianyo, how has the decline of mangroves affected your fishing livelihood and the abundance of fish in the river?
AHIANYO GABRIEL:
We don’t catch as much fish as we used to 10 to 15 years ago. When we cast our nets, they’re no longer filled with big fishes. Sometimes the net isn’t even filled to the brim.
Elikem Kuampah:
Okay, Madam Aho, I want us all to learn from you. How can other communities be educated and engaged in supporting mangrove rehabilitation efforts?
AHO ADUGBA:
(CHUCKLES) First, everybody who forms a part of the community must be educated on how important it is to practice afforestation. Planting trees is very important! It helps fight climate change by soaking up carbon dioxide and gives a home to lots of different plants and animals. Plus, it stops soil from washing away, improves water quality, and is just good for keeping our environment healthy and happy.
Education must continue in schools so that our children know what to do when they grow up and take our place. We must be continually engaged at educational workshops like the one we did with The Development Institute’s officers, who have opened our eyes to the goldmine we have in the mangrove areas. Lastly, we must know how to replace the mangroves we cut for fuel. If we do this, we will gradually restore all the cut and damaged mangroves in the next 10 to 15 years, for a better future.
:
Eli, I agree with Madam Aho that we must urge the government, NGOs, and other agencies to organize workshops, training, and awareness campaigns to educate communities about the benefits of mangroves and their role in preserving the environment. I also encourage everyone living around mangrove areas to practice proper waste disposal to prevent pollutants such as plastics and agricultural chemicals from getting into the river, and to maintain a healthy mangrove ecosystem.
Elikem Kuampah:
Great piece of advice, Senyo. Mr. Richard Abebu, do you have any advice for our listeners?
RICHARD ABEBU:
Yes, I want to say that mangroves might grow on their own, but being intentional about replacing them will contribute greatly to making sure that there is no shortage of mangroves in riverland and coastal areas.
Elikem Kuampah:
Thank you all for sharing your experience and insights on the topic with us. It’s clear that rehabilitating mangroves is not only crucial for the ecosystem but also for the livelihoods and sustainability of local communities.
Thank you, cherished listeners, for staying with us. My name is Elikem Kuampah, everyone calls me Eli, and this is Environment Today on Environment Channel O. Until we meet again next week, it’s bye for now!
SIGNATURE TUNE
Acknowledgements
Contributed by: Abena Dansoa Ofori Amankwa, script writing and research consultant, Eagles Roar Creatives
Reviewed by: Senyo Adzah, Research and Development Consultant, SYMA Foundation.
Interviews:
Richard Abebu, farmer and fisher, Agbledomi, Volta Region, interviewed August-October 2023.
Madam Aho Adugba, fishmonger, Agbledomi, Volta Region, interviewed August-October 2023.
Gabriel Koblah Ahianyo, fisher, Agbledomi, Volta Region, interviewed October 2023.
Mr. Senyo Adzah, Research and Development Consultant, SYMA Foundation, interviewed July-November, December 2023.
Clemence Kugbey, Director and Administrator at Development Institute, interviewed October 2023.
