Douala IV, a Generation Restoration pilot city, implemented a project to restore mangrove ecosystems while improving socio-economic conditions among local communities. The project involved planting over 10,000 mangrove seedlings on a demonstration site of 3 hectares, and reached over 40,000 people in awareness-raising activities.

About the city

Douala is one of Cameroon’s largest cities, with a population of approximately 3 million residents. Douala is divided into six municipalities or arrondissements; the pilot project took place specifically in the Douala IV municipality, which has a population of approximately 400,000 residents. Douala IV is located on a peninsula facing the other districts of Douala, and is connected to them by the Wouri Bridge over the Wouri River, which flows to the Atlantic Ocean. Douala has a tropical, monsoon climate, with hot and humid temperatures and rain throughout most of the year. Douala is a major economic and commercial capital in Cameroon, of key importance for food production due to extensive agriculture, fishing, and livestock farming industries, as well as manufacturing, administrative, and commercial services.

Local challenges

Douala’s location makes it vulnerable to various coastal hazards, including rising sea levels and extreme weather events, which can lead to coastal erosion, flooding, and destruction of property and farmland. Rising temperatures also pose a threat, particularly to city residents who reside in heavily built-up areas that lack vegetation. At the same time, pollution challenges include air pollution from vehicles, household waste burning, and industrial sources; water pollution from sewage and industrial discharges; and solid waste pollution due to inadequate formal waste collection systems and illegal dumping of trash. The buildup of solid waste blocks canal systems, piping, and drains, further increasing flooding. At the same time, Douala’s urban expansion has led to deforestation for farming, logging, and construction, resulting in ecosystem degradation and biodiversity loss. The city’s most vulnerable populations, particularly the estimated 20,000 internally displaced people and residents who live in informal settlements that lack basic services or infrastructure, are particularly impacted by climate, biodiversity, and pollution challenges. 

At the same time Cameroon’s coastline contains many mangrove ecosystems, which are rich with biodiversity, provide important coastal protection, and are economically important, particularly due to their provision of goods and services such as wood and fish. However, mangroves in the Douala IV area, and broadly on the Cameroonian coast, are severely degraded, reducing resilience to climate change and threatening the livelihoods that depend on these ecosystems.

Action through Generation Restoration

The pilot project in Douala IV had the overarching goal to strengthen the protection and restoration of mangrove ecosystems, to safeguard biodiversity and mitigate climate-related risks within the Douala IV municipality.

The initiative began with a comprehensive diagnostic study, conducted across ten villages within the municipality, to identify the drivers of mangrove ecosystem degradation and develop a localized strategy and a participatory action plan to strengthen the protection and restoration of these critical habitats. The diagnostic study included consultations, surveys, and interviews with various key stakeholders in the municipality, to gather insights on how local communities interact with mangroves, and better understand community awareness, needs, governance, and management structures around mangroves. This yielded important insights into the socioeconomic characteristics of the municipality and the factors contributing to the degradation of mangrove forests in Douala IV. 

This data collection phase also involved a technical and spatial mapping using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) to determine key information about mangroves in Douala IV, including mangrove distribution, industrial and human activities in mangrove zones, local economic activities, and urban expansion and land reclamation in mangrove areas. This enabled the project team to identify the zones most affected by degradation and the priority areas for restoration. 

A stakeholder mapping identified and engaged various key stakeholders relevant to mangrove restoration in Douala IV, including government agencies, civil society organizations, traditional chiefdoms, users of mangroves, businesses, and academic institutions, each of whom contributed unique knowledge and insights on mangrove ecosystem management. To strengthen collaboration between the involved stakeholders, the project team organized and facilitated several meetings, which enabled the creation of a project steering committee, determination of roles and responsibilities for stakeholders throughout the project process, and gathering of recommendations and feedback on project design. Ultimately, various key stakeholders contributed to the creation of the strategic action plan to guide restoration activities in mangroves in Douala IV.

Accordingly, the pilot project involved mangrove restoration on a demonstration site of three hectares in the Bojongo Village, through planting of mangrove seedlings produced in nurseries. The restoration activity commenced after site assessment and selection, followed by clearing of invasive plants and growth of mangrove seedlings in two temporary nurseries. Participants then planted 10,250 Rhizophora mangrove seedlings. Community members, including the Mayor of Douala IV, local chiefs, women, and children, were involved in the restoration work, including seedling preparation, holing, and transplanting. Following planting activities, the project team held monthly site visits to assess plant survival and monitor growth. 

A sensitization campaign to raise awareness of the importance of mangroves and their conservation was carried out as part of the pilot project, combining radio, social media, and outreach in strategic locations including schools, public places, and villages. As part of this strategy, awareness campaigns with primary, secondary, and university students around mangrove conservation were realized, reaching more than 16,000 students. Awareness campaigns for adults were also organized, and were carried out in public places, traditional chiefdoms, and among stakeholders on mangrove management. Furthermore, the campaign involved training of City Hall staff, particularly the Municipal Police, on GPS use for mangrove monitoring and enforcement of a municipal decree on mangrove management. Overall, more than 40,000 people were reached through awareness-raising activities through the pilot project, including children, youth, adults, traditional leaders, civil society, and the private sector.

Another key project activity involved the development of a legal and institutional framework for participatory governance of mangroves, based on the inputs of the project’s stakeholders. This included an analysis of existing governance structures of mangroves at the local, national, and international levels, and various recommendations to strengthen inter-institutional coordination, adopt municipal decrees on mangrove protection and sustainable management, mobilize financial resources for mangrove restoration, and to broadly disseminate and educate on mangrove conservation to promote community understanding and awareness of the importance of mangroves. 

 The project team also developed a funding proposal to continue the work established through the pilot project in a comprehensive project advancing ecological, social, and economic sustainability in Douala IV. The proposal outlines the restoration of 100 hectares of degraded mangroves through the creation of a protective “green belt” along the coast, and the creation of sustainable livelihoods as alternatives to those that degrade mangroves, strengthening the socio-economic resilience of communities dependent on mangroves, particularly women and youth.

Main outcomes

The pilot project in Douala IV has several tangible outcomes, including the establishment of a successful demonstration site for mangrove restoration, and various planning, communications, and policy successes. 

Robust planning and diagnostic work resulted in a detailed assessment of the state of mangrove ecosystems in Douala IV, including high-resolution maps and a detailed mangrove database. These outcomes not only informed project design, but they also provided important tools to facilitate informed decision-making in future projects. These tools will serve as invaluable resources for policymakers and stakeholders in planning and implementing targeted restoration interventions.

The project successfully restored a three-hectare mangrove site in Bojongo Village, through techniques including clearing of invasive species and planting of 10,250 Rhizophora mangrove seedlings. New mangroves are helping to stabilize soils, reduce erosion and flooding, and restore biodiversity in a previously degraded area. Furthermore, the demonstration project has already had numerous social and economic benefits, including increased awareness and capacity building among local community members in mangrove conservation, and the provision of short-term employment for local residents, with equitable payment and skill-building opportunities, especially for women and youth.

The project’s robust awareness campaign and environmental education strategy helped communicate clear and concise information for different target audiences, including students, mangrove users, and community members. Press releases and interviews helped to raise awareness of the activities carried out through the pilot project, and strengthen national and international public opinion on mangrove protection.

Notably, the project’s policy recommendations and municipal decree strengthened the existing legal framework around mangroves, making local governance more adapted to the realities on the ground. This proposed new local legal framework also encourages environmentally friendly practices, contributing to the ecological and socio-economic resilience of the municipality, while bringing concrete benefits to local communities.

Overall, the pilot activities resulted in substantial ecological and social benefits, while positioning Douala IV for broader scale-up of its mangrove restoration plans.

Highlight impact metrics

  • Social: 200 people directly involved in restoration activities; 40,000 people reached through awareness-raising activities, including approximately 7,000 men, 15,000 women, and 18,000 children and youths through markets, public spaces, and schools
  • Environmental: 3 hectares restored in Bojongo, 10,250 Rhizophora seedlings produced in nurseries used for planting and gap-filling

Pilot City

City Map

Partners

Ecosystem Types

Oceans and coasts and Urban areas

Project Budget

$70,000 USD

Project Duration

September 2023 – August 2025

Climate, Biodiversity, and Pollution Risks Addressed

  • Extreme temperatures
  • Sea-level rise
  • Extreme precipitation / flooding
  • Coastal erosion
  • Habitat destruction
  • Invasive species
  • Species loss / extinction
  • Water pollution
  • Waste mismanagement

Restoration Techniques Applied

  • Ecological connectivity
  • Invasive species control
  • Mangrove restoration
  • Native species
  • Waste management

Key learnings & next steps

The pilot project resulted in various key learnings related to successfully carrying out mangrove restoration work while engaging communities:

  • Mobilizing communities: To mobilize community participation in the pilot restoration activities, the project team found it important to engage traditional chiefs and community elites, to ensure the support and cooperation of other community members. To this end, the team learned that reforestation projects must account for the cultural specificities of local communities to be successful.
  • Project monitoring: The project team found it was important to account for seasonal changes when implementing projects and subsequent monitoring, particularly among places with distinct dry and rainy seasons. The team also found that systematic monitoring was well-suited to assess the survival rate of seedlings during the rainy season and verify their success in the dry season.
  • Interpersonal networks and media: Although the awareness campaign was a major success of the pilot project, lessons learned include the importance of tapping into interpersonal networks to complement media exposure in awareness-raising activities. At the same time, the media was an essential outlet for dissemination, at the local, national, and international levels.  Increased communications budget would have broadened the reach and outputs of the awareness campaign further. 

Following the success of the pilot project, the project team is now seeking funding for the scale-up of the project in the restoration of over 100 hectares of mangroves in Douala IV. This proposed intervention is projected to benefit more than 400,000 residents of Douala IV from climatic hazards, including flooding, temperature rise, sea level rise, and coastal erosion, while improving biodiversity and supporting local livelihoods. 

Meet the community

Participating in reforestation activities and sensitization workshops on mangroves has helped the population to reduce cutting and mud extraction activities in the village. Communities now play an active role in monitoring the restoration site and report any illegal activity. I congratulate the members of my community and the Douala IV municipality for this great initiative.

—His Majesty Moussinga Mpondo, Chief of Bojongo's Mbedi village.

We used the Matanda (Rhizophora) for our daily cooking without truly knowing its importance. Thanks to the Generation Restoration project, we now understand that these Matanda (Rhizophora) protect us against floods.

—Njoh Lucien, participant in reforestation activities

It was a real pleasure to participate in a project that places particular emphasis on local governance. This collaboration has strengthened the capacities of local communities and refined the municipal decree on the sustainable mangrove management, that will ensure their long-term preservation in Douala IV.

—Mr. Chi Napoléon Forpah, National Coordinator of Watershed Task Group

The Generation Restoration project came to revive the environmental engagements that were asleep in our community through a massive communication campaign that taught even the little ones the importance of mangroves for the well-being of the world in general and for our populations in particular.

—Gilles Musima, Douala IV Generation Restoration’s Focal Point

Beyond Restoration

Douala IV’s nature-based solutions initiatives are grounded in both national and local policies that promote sustainable urban development and ecosystem restoration. Key frameworks, including the Douala Sustainable Urban Mobility Plan, Douala Master Plan, Douala City Land Use Plan, Agenda 21 for the City of Douala, and local community and river protection plans, emphasize green infrastructure, urban greening, and ecosystem management. These policies guide initiatives such as developing tree-lined corridors, pedestrian zones, and cycling paths, as well as integrating mangrove, wetland, and river protection into urban planning to enhance resilience, biodiversity, and climate adaptation.

Building on these frameworks, Douala IV has implemented a range of projects showcasing nature-based solutions, including mangrove restoration, urban agriculture, green infrastructure development, and coastal wetland protection, as well as initiatives under the Green Cities and Douala-Edéa Conservation programs. Monitoring efforts include water and air quality assessments, flood-risk detection, and ecosystem-specific vulnerability studies, helping the city prioritize interventions and track progress in building climate resilience through nature-based solutions.

Further resources

The following other collaborators contributed to the pilot project in Douala IV:

  • Wouri’s Divisional Delegation of the Ministry of Forestry and Wildlife (MINFOF)
  • Wouri’s Divisional Delegation of the Ministry of Environment and Nature Protection (MINEPDED)
  • Wouri’s Divisional Delegation of the Ministry of Livestock Fisheries and Animal Industries (MINEPIA)
  • Littoral Regional Council
  • Douala Urban Council (CUD)