How Gambian women are restoring the mangroves protecting Banjul

Banjul, The Gambia – At dawn, before the heat settles over the coast, Fatou Jarjue waits for the tide to retreat.

She pulls on her gloves and socks, steps into the muddy edge of the Tanbi Wetland and pushes her wooden canoe through narrow channels surrounded by tangled mangrove roots. Inside the canoe sit empty pans waiting to be filled, not with oysters today, but with crabs hiding beneath the surface.

The life of this mother of one is inseparable from the wetland she navigates each day. The mangroves – salt-tolerant coastal trees that protect shorelines from erosion and flooding – provide the oysters, crabs and fish that sustain her family’s livelihood while serving as a natural barrier against erosion and flooding for her coastal community.

Her brother, Musa, trails behind in a smaller canoe whenever he can, keeping watch as she moves deeper into the mangrove channels. On days when he is busy elsewhere, Jarjue ventures into the wetland alone.

For generations, women around the Tanbi Wetland have depended on these waters for survival. Jarjue still does. But unlike previous generations, she also spends part of her time restoring the ecosystem that has sustained her family for decades.

Only months earlier, these waterways were filled with women collecting oysters attached to mangrove roots. With the arrival of The Gambia’s rainy season, oyster harvesting pauses, forcing many women to turn to crabs and fishing until the shellfish season reopens.

For the 34-year-old, the change in her daily catch is temporary. Her commitment to restoring the mangroves is not.

“I have restored more than 5,000 mangroves since last year,” she told Al Jazeera.