MANCOGA
MANCOGA builds a sustainable knowledge base for mangroves as Nature-based Solution with the ultimate goal of laying the foundation for secure and sustainable livelihoods for communities living along the coast of Eastern Ghana.
A dedicated Co-Design phase in the first nine months of the project demonstrated that stakeholders at all levels possess broad conceptual knowledge of the ecosystem services provided by mangroves and the existence of previous research, but also revealed large gaps in detailed local scientific knowledge and a wide chasm between research and implementation.
The project’s thematic foci lie on two identified major local concerns:
1) The need for sustainable livelihoods is addressed by quantifying mangrove ecosystem services of carbon storage and eutrophication control and linking them to downstream economic opportunities like carbon crediting and improved local fisheries;
2) To assess the protective role of mangroves against the coastal erosion that threatens local living spaces, What-If scenarios are created using an early version of a Digital Twin tool currently in development. These activities are supported and inform a concerted effort to identify and aggregate all relevant knowledge already existing between the stakeholders, including data bases, reports, community surveys and traditional knowledge.
A Digital Toolbox and continuous stakeholder engagement ensure a partnership-of-equals by enabling all parties to understand the scientific outputs and contribute to their translation into societal outcomes. Usability tests and other feedback mechanisms will strengthen this partnership, already established during the Co-Design phase and reflected in the ongoing engagement of stakeholders in specially formed social media groups and the MANCOGA community collaboration tool.
The new knowledge of practical mangrove services informs recommendations for policy leading to the protection of these ecosystems and their sustainable use. Policy briefs are being distributed to relevant stakeholders. The involvement of the wider community through results dissemination, outreach, and citizen science reinforces scientific and societal motivation and creates a societal-political environment that will sustain MANCOGA as an initiative beyond the formal project duration.
External project page mancoga.com