Communities surrounding the Limpopo River Estuary maintain a mangrove nursery, plant seedlings, and monitor the state of reforested areas. The reforested areas have already been found to provide improved flood protection, reduce salt intrusion on agricultural land, and bring back previously diminished wildlife species.

Nature-based Intervention:

Starting in 2008, 58 community members began restoring the channels that had previously connected the mangroves with the tides. Two years later, a mangrove nursery was created, which has to date produced 168,367 seedlings of six different mangrove varieties, and 200 community members have begun replanting. Seedlings have survived at a rate of 74% after community monitors responded to the threat of grazing crabs by covering seedlings with reeds. Seeing the benefits of the restored mangrove for agriculture, wildlife, and flood protection (another incident of severe flooding occurred in 2013 with significantly less damage), community members ultimately imposed a ban on forest product extraction in the reforestation zone.

Overview of context and outcomes:

In 2000, heavy rains caused devastating flooding of the Limpopo River Estuary. The flooding left mangrove forests uprooted and vulnerable to dieback. Although the mangrove forests in the estuary had previously been weakened due to both human and environmental pressures, they still served an important ecological and economic role for the surrounding communities.