SEED: Empowering Communities in sierra Leone
From Roots to Resilience: Why Mangroves Matter for Women’s Empowerment, Reproductive Health, and a Sustainable Future.
In Sierra Leone’s coastal Bonthe District, mangrove forests are disappearing – fast. These rich ecosystems protect coastlines, support wildlife, and provide essential resources for thousands of people. But now, they’re being lost at an alarming rate.
The crisis at a glance:
- 25% of Sierra Leone’s mangrove forests have vanished since 1990.
- Communities rely on them for fuel, fish smoking, oyster harvesting, and rice farming.
- Rapid population growth, driven by unmet family planning needs and limited access to education and healthcare, is pushing natural resources beyond their limits.
- The climate crisis is making things worse—mangrove loss means rising seas, stronger storms, and increased flooding for already vulnerable communities.
This isn’t just an environmental emergency—it’s a population and development challenge. When families have limited access to education, healthcare, or reproductive choices, they often rely more heavily on nearby natural resources just to survive. That pressure grows with every new generation—deepening poverty and accelerating environmental decline.
This isn’t just an environmental emergency – it’s about human rights and the freedom to make informed choices. When unmet needs in education, healthcare, and reproductive health contribute to population growth, families often depend more heavily on nearby natural resources to meet their basic needs. This puts extra pressure on fragile ecosystems, speeds up environmental damage, and makes it harder for communities to build secure and sustainable futures – reinforcing a cycle that is difficult to break.
But there is a better way forward
Population Matters is proud to support a community-led response through our partner, SEED (Supporting Entrepreneurship and Economic Development)—a grassroots organisation working with five vulnerable villages in Bonthe District.
Together with SEED, we’re helping local people protect their environment while building sustainable futures for themselves and their families.
By supporting communities with reproductive health education and sustainable alternatives to mangrove use, we can reduce the pressure on these fragile ecosystems—while improving lives.
This is about more than conservation. It’s about creating the conditions for people and nature to thrive together.
With your support, we can help break the cycle—protecting nature by empowering the people who depend on it.
The project will:
- Protect at least 100 hectares of mangrove forest.
- Establish local conservation committees and new community by-laws.
- Deliver education and outreach via community meetings and radio shows.
- Support 50 women with sustainable livelihoods like vegetable farming and oyster harvesting.
- Link reproductive rights with environmental sustainability through women-led “Mangrove Mothers Circles” across five vulnerable communities.
Why This Matters to Population Matters
At Population Matters, we confront one of the world’s most urgent but overlooked challenges: the impact of human population growth on our natural world.
This project addresses that challenge ethically and effectively—by empowering women, supporting informed family planning, creating sustainable livelihoods and helping communities reduce pressure on their ecosystems.
It’s about choice, dignity, sustainability—and protecting biodiversity for generations to come.
How your support can make an impact:
- £5 could provide snacks and refreshments to keep community participants energised and engaged during vital project meetings and training sessions.
- £16 could provide fuel for a motorcycle so project teams can reach remote communities, monitor mangrove protection, and deliver vital training sessions.
- £32 could buy enough pepper seeds to support a full six-month planting cycle. Helping communities cultivate sustainable crops that protect fragile mangrove ecosystems and provide a vital source of income.
Every pound you give helps protect Sierra Leone’s mangrove forests, reduce environmental pressure, and build a future where people and nature thrive—together.
Donate today and be part of the solution.
