Blue Biodiversity and Coastal Livelihoods: Restoring and Managing Mangrove and Seagrass Ecosystems for Climate Resilience and Community Benefits in Eastern and Western Africa

Along Africa’s coastlines, mangrove forests and seagrass meadows silently perform ecological miracles: stabilising shorelines, filtering water, storing carbon, and providing nursery grounds for fish that sustain millions of people. But these vital blue ecosystems are under threat, and Tanzanian ecologist Dr Luth Mligo is determined to turn the tide.

“I initiated a project to restore what is rapidly disappearing,” says Mligo. “Mangroves and seagrasses are essential not only for biodiversity and climate resilience but also for the survival of countless coastal communities. If we lose them, we lose far more than ecosystems, we lose livelihoods, traditions, and safety.”

Mligo’s research bridges ecology and equity. Scientifically, her project will show that restoring mangrove and seagrass habitats, using both rigorous methods and deep community engagement, can boost biodiversity, sequester carbon, and stabilise coastlines. Practically, she hopes to create models of restoration that increase fish stocks, buffer communities from rising seas, and generate new income streams.

“This is about bringing science and people together,” she says. “Because conservation doesn’t work unless the communities who live alongside these systems are part of the solution.”

Her belief in the power of community-led restoration was shaped early in her career. While researching the ecological impact of exotic tree plantations in Tanzania’s Southern Highlands, she saw firsthand how pine and eucalyptus monocultures had stripped the land of its native vegetation and damaged soil health. But she also encountered something hopeful: farmers who, without waiting for government or NGO support, had begun regenerating their land with native species.

“That experience was transformative,” says Mligo. “It showed me that local knowledge, when combined with science, can restore what we thought was lost.”

If awarded the JWO grant, Mligo plans to launch a multi-country programme to build scalable, locally rooted restoration models for mangroves and seagrasses. She’ll work with coastal communities to train early-career researchers, develop open-access monitoring tools, and test strategies that can be adapted beyond the grant’s duration.

Her work also addresses a broader conservation crisis in Africa: land-use change. Deforestation, habitat fragmentation, and unsustainable farming are degrading ecosystems across the continent. “It’s not just trees or fish at risk, it’s the stability of entire ecological networks that support life,” she says.

Still, she remains optimistic. New digital tools, from drones to satellite imaging, are making it possible to monitor and protect nature with unprecedented precision, even in the most remote regions. “We now have the tools to act faster, smarter, and more inclusively,” she says.

For Mligo, the drive to protect nature is both professional and personal. “What gets me up in the morning is a deep sense of duty, to my children, to the environment, to the future,” she says. “That sense of purpose fuels everything I do.”

Her fascination with plants began in childhood, growing up in a rural village where she would spend hours studying wildflowers on the farm, often to the worry of her mother. “I always felt a deep sadness when I saw forests burned or cleared,” she recalls. Even today, traditional foods like roasted maize bring her back to those simpler, grounding roots.