Idugo Livelihoods:
Mangrove User Groups
1 Introduction
The “island” of Idugo is located in the Macuze Estuary, some 40 km north-east of Quelimane in
Zambezia province of Mozambique. Figure 1 shows its location and Map 1 shows (in green) the five
bairros (neighbourhoods) of Idugo, referred to in this report.
Figure 1: Location of the Macuze Estuary, and the study village of Idugo
Idugo
Macuze
Estuary
Supinho
Zalala Beach
Lodge
Source: Google Earth. Image date:
Idugo, and neighbouring Supinho are the two villages where the Fundação Zalala (FZ) 1 has been
working for the last 12 years to improve health and education, particularly of women and girls. FZ is
now considering widening its focus to include work on land rights, livelihoods and natural resources
1
Fundação Zalala is a Mozambican NGO established by Angela Hadjipateras to help the communities
neighbouring the Zalala Beach Lodge, of which she is a co-owner. A sister NGO, the Zalala Foundation, is based
in London, and raises money for the Fundação.
1
management, as part of an effort to protect and promote community interests, in the face of the
growing attention the area is receiving from international investors and development organisations
who are developing projects for:
i) a railway and deepwater port in Supinho for the export of coal, which will take existing
agricultural land and displace the existing community. A resettlement village is being built,
but project subject to frequent delays and uncertainties. (Thai Moçambique Logistica)
ii) a “blue carbon” REDD+2 scheme, dubbed “Blue Forest”, with the objective of generating
carbon credits saleable on the voluntary market, by replanting and protecting the estuary’s
mangrove forests along the coasts of Sofala and Zambezia provinces; Idugo has been
selected as pilot location and although formal approval from the GoM is still pending,
preliminary activities have begun. FZ has been identified as a partner for delivery of
associated small scale development projects (French and Dubai-based investors).
iii) mining of “heavy sands” at numerous sites in Zambezia, along the beach and offshore, for
rare earth elements such as zirconium, monazaite, ilmenite and titanium. (Chinese and
Vietnamese investors)
Map 1: Macuze Estuary, showing communities on the edge of the mangrove forest
IDUGO
Source: TerraFirma
2
Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation – is an international climate change mitigation
scheme, which effectively pays one group of people to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions by changing
their land and natural resource use practices to slow or completely avoid forest clearance and degradation, and
to enhance existing stocks of forest carbon. Emissions reduction is measured against a baseline of recent
deforestation rates and current carbon stocks, with one carbon credit issued for each ton of CO2 avoided.
Companies, in heavy industry, oil and gas etc, that are heavy emitters of carbon – buy up these “carbon credits”
from REDD+ projects, to “offset” their own dirty production. The “+” signifies additional benefits from REDD+
projects, such as conservation of biodiversity and the improvement of local livelihoods. Blue Carbon projects
involve restoration of marine/estuarine habitats, such as sea grass and mangrove.
2
iv) Coastal Livelihoods and Climate Resilience – a USD 100 million project over six years (check),
funded by Millennium Challenge Corporation of the US Government, to promote
biodiversity conservation and sustainable livelihoods in coastal communities of Zambezia.
Land delimitations will take place as a compulsory first step. Project managers could select
the Macuze Estuary as one of its sites, and partner with Fundação Zalala for project design
and implementation.
v) Interventions to reduce and mitigate water-related impacts in Zambezia from the increased
frequency and severity of cyclones climate change, by improving water management. (by
Dutch Risk Reduction Team)
The projects all involve different threats and opportunities for the communities of Idugo and
Supinho, and FZ needs to understand these communities better if it is to help them navigate and
benefit from them. The Blue Forest project (ii) is the most advanced of the four and most likely to
have a direct impact on the Idugo community. So, with our very limited time on site, we focused
attention on the community members whose livelihoods depend most on the mangroves, identifying
two main “user groups”: the salt-makers (salineiros) and the charcoal-makers (carvãoeiros). This
report focuses on the salt-makers.
It is worth noting here that some important basic information about the villages Idugo and Supinho is
still lacking, notably regarding population and population dynamics. The most recent data are from
the 2017 Census which gave the population of Idugo as 9998 of whom 5,543 were female (55%) and
4,455 were male (45 %) are men. It is estimated that around 50% of the population are under the
age of 12, and that households number around 2000. The scoping study carried out by Avante/Terra
Firma for Blue Forest provided figures for men and women, but without indication of the ages used
for the categorisation. For Idugo, these were 2427 men and 2231 women, totalling 4658 people.
From discussions with local leaders, and some government officers gave the impression that since
the last census, out-migration since has reduced the population to around 9,200 people, or 1829
households. These figures, though speculative, will be used in this report where populations
estimates are needed.
Methods
Study visits to Idugo were made on 2nd and 5th April 2024. Angela Hadjipateras and the present
author led the study visits, assisted by Veronica Walter (of FZ) and Anna Marie Feijamo
(independent) as translators and key informants. While on the island we visited several salt ponds
(salinas) and one active charcoal kiln. Semi-structured interviews were held with representatives of
both user groups on both study visit days.
Additional visits to Idugo were made on 25th and 28th March, accompanying the Blue Forest group3,
and on 4th April, accompanying a representative of the Japanese Embassy on a visit to the Maternity
Unit.
Preliminary and partial findings are presented here. Further work is needed to complete the study
and confirm the details.
3
The Blue Forest group comprised 10 expat families from Dubai who funded a solar-powered borehole and
water tower on Idugo as a “pre-project benefit” of the Blue Forest carbon project mentioned above (iii). The
group, totalling 40 people, and including Vahid Fotuhi, the owner/CEO of Blue Forest, visited Idugo for five days
to participate in the final stages of construction and to attend its official inauguration.
3
4 Salineiros (Salt-makers)
Salt-making is one of the most important economic activities in Macuse estuary, and especially on
the island of Idugo, engaging a large number of people and generating a lot of money for the local
economy. It also has a great impact on the mangroves, as large areas of forest have been cleared to
create the evaporation pans, and associated reservoirs and settling tanks, and water courses are
modified to enhance flow volumes and rates.
We visited a group salt pan (salina comunitaria) in Namilange, accompanied by several of its
members, on 2 April 2024. This salina is located immediately above maximum high tide level next to
the village, on the eastern side of the “island” of Idugo. It is owned by a group of 16 men, who
operate it using their own labour. Sets of evaporation ponds are individually owned and maintained
by each member, while shared infrastructure, such as dykes, are maintained collectively, and
operations, such as flooding, are coordinated amongst all.
We also visited the site of the salina of the Compania de Zambezia, on the north side of the island,
on 5 April, speaking with a few local men who were on site.
Structure and Operation of Salinas
A salina has three main parts (Figure 3): reserve tanks (reservas), settling ponds (secaseras) and
evaporation pans (talos). The evaporation pans that most people identify with salt production
constitute only about 30 % of the total area of a salina, with 15% of the area taken by the settling
ponds and around 55% by the reserve tanks. All three elements require complete clearance of the
mangroves, and they leave a large and enduring footprint.
The whole area of a salina is surrounded by dykes 1 m or more high. During the 6 days per month of
maximum high (spring) tides (~ 4.5-5.3m AMSL), the outer walls of the reserve tanks are repeatedly
breached, and then partly reclosed, to let the tank fill as the tide comes in. Once full, the water is
then transferred to the smaller secaseras ( 10 x 13 m) by breaking holes in the inside dyke wall
(shown in Figure 4). In these secaseras, the water settles and clears over about 4 days, before its final
transfer, by bucket, to the smaller talos for evaporation. Water is fed down a system of small
channels in the low walls separating the talos, to reach the talos furthest from the secaseras and
tanks. The talos are approximately 3 x 10 m and about 15 cm deep. When flooded, they are not
completely filled.
4
Figure 2: Location of the salinas visited
Old Companhia
de Zambesia
Salinas and
pump station,
Nacrubali
Group Salina,
Namilange
Group Salina
Namilange
Landing Point
and road head,
Supinho
5
Figure 3: Parts of a salina
Water holding tanks
Reservas
Settling ponds
“Secaseras“–
10 x 13 m
Evaporation pans
Talos – 3 x 10 m
Figure 4: Group Salina, Namilange. Looking up from the talos to the secaseras and reservas
It takes about 6 days of drying before the first salt – the fine, white “flor de sal” (flower of the salt)
the highest quality, highest value salt – can be raked off, by workers standing on the dividing walls of
the talos. Over the next few days layers of the coarser salt dry out and are scraped off. The lower
down the salt, the more impurities it contains, and the lower the price it commands. If the salina is
located deep in the mangrove, warehouses are often constructed on the dykes, where the salt is
stored until sale, or the salt is bagged up right there, and transported to the village by canoe. If the
salina is close to the village, it is transported, usually by wheelbarrow, to be stored or bagged up
there.
6
Figure 5: Satellite image showing salt warehouses located on the salina dykes in south-western
Namitatari
Salt Warehouses
Salt is only produced during four months of the year, September to December, when rainfall is low,
and the sun is at its strongest for evaporation. Maintenance work, including cleaning the floor of the
talos of accumulated mud, and repairing all the talo walls and dykes, is typically done from May to
July. The salina, especially the talo floors, then dries out during August, ready for flooding in
September.
Dependence on tidal cycles means only one production cycle can be made each month. However, by
using a pump, this dependence can be broken, and two or more additional production cycles
squeezed in before the rains start again in January.
Extent and number of salinas
Salt-making is reckoned to be the most important source of income in Idugo, and is identified as a
key indicator of wealth, but accurate figures on the extent of salinas, both active and inactive, and
the number of people involved are lacking.
The figures in Table 1 below are estimates of the areas of active and inactive salinas derived from
analysis of recent Google Earth images. There appear to be 127 sailnas currently active covering an
area of about 252 ha. Individual salinas range in size from 0.4 ha to 10 ha, with an average of around
2 ha. However, disused salinas appear to cover a further 392 ha of mangrove, bringing the total
area of mangrove affected by present or historical salt production to 676 ha, or over 20% of the total
mangrove area of around 3000 ha.
Table 1: Preliminary inventory of salinas, from Google Earth images (2024, 2023)
7
Arable + Salinas
Village/Bairro Mangrove
Settlement Area (ha)
Number
IDUGO Area (ha) * (ha) Area (ha) ** Total Working
Mucaliha 693.9 364 151.2 70
Nacrubali 416.7 112 52 34
Namitatari 1261.3 369 58 25.4 8
Tandane 400.3 23 1.6 1
Namilange 941 119 21.7 14
TOTAL 3713.2 755 2958 676 251.9 127
*total, incl houses, agricultural land, mangroves. Source: Terra Firma scoping study March 2024.
(calculation is quite complicated – need to recheck.)
Further study and interviews are needed to determine how many people are needed to work the
salinas. A key informant (Ivo), stated that he hired 15 men to manage 3 ha, giving a labour rate of 5
men/ha, or .2 ha per man. At this rate, 1250 men, or about 50 % of the adult male population,
representing perhaps 68% of households, would be needed to manage the 252 ha of currently active
salinas. Similarly, the group salina we visited was 3 ha in extent, meaning each of the 16 members
worked an average or 0.19 ha.4
It was estimated that there are 400 active salineiros in Idugo, which is approximately 20% of all
households.
Site requirements
Salinas have quite specific site requirements. The most important is the height of a site above mean
sea level. A salina must be positioned low enough so that sufficient water can enter the holding
tanks during one of spring high tides (around full and new moons), and high enough to dry out in
between times. In Idugo, it is notable that the large area of mangrove south of the villages has no
working salinas - it is essentially too low to ever be fully drained of water long enough for salt to dry.
A good site will also be large and flat enough to minimise the considerable work needed to make it
level. It will also be near enough to the village or a canoe access point to facilitate removal of the
salt to a warehouse or onward transport point. Many salineiros have separate warehouses adjacent
to their own house, where the salt is stored and bagged up for sale. Others are located on the dykes
(see Figure 5).
It is also good to be located near one of the many creeks that drain the mangrove, as water can reach
the tanks more quickly. Many creeks have been canalised to facilitate this.
Finally substrate is important. Each “campaign” of salt production lowers the base paneof the talos,
until at some point, the water table can be breached, and water starts to accumulate, preventing salt
from drying. The best substrate is heavy clay.
Life span of salt pans
Although the group salina we visited was said by its owners to be over 30 years old, it is said most
salinas have a limited life-span, of 5-10 years, because of the substrate problem mentioned above. It
is said that after some years of rest, disused salinas can be reopened, rather like a farmer’s field
4
However, it is actually unclear whether local people measure their salina in terms of total area, or just the
salt-producing surface – the talos. The group salina had with 372 talos, covering 1 ha, so each member worked
an average of 23 talos or .06 ha. This represents a much lower rate than the hired labour, but must be
expected.
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returning to cultivation after several years of being fallowed. But left too long, mangrove will begin
to regrow, particularly in the reserve tanks and secaseras. In the disused drying pans (talos)
themselves, however, salinity levels remain too high for many years after the end of production for
even mangroves to regrow.
The mangrove landscape of Idugo reflects this. It is a mosaic of productive salinas, disused salinas in
different phases of mangrove regrowth and remnants of natural mangrove.
Tenure of salt pans
All salinas are essentially illegal, because the intertidal zone is strictly protected under national law,
and even the area 100 m above high water mark can only be exploited under special licence. But
according to local tenure rules, they are the property of the person who originally built them. And
while salinas may fall into disuse, because of the dykes, they remain conspicuous in the landscape for
years, and it is said local ownership continues in perpetuity, with the option to re-open the salina,
even when regrowth of mangrove is complete.
Salinas do change hands through sale, with the price depending on the size/area and the amount of
work needed to bring it back into production. One woman reported buying a .5 ha salina for 20,000
MT. (5 yrs earlier?, more details needed).
Gender dimensions of salt-making
Most salt-makers are men, who manage their salinas with their own labour. Women’s involvement is
mostly limited to supporting their husbands, by raking up the salt and transporting it back to the
warehouse. Older children also often help. But many, perhaps most salinas appear to be
cooperatively-owned, whereby individuals are responsible for their own talos and secaseras and salt
production, but the labour to maintain all the dykes shared. Either way, when a salinheiro’s holding
reaches a certain size, additional labour is required. Salineiros with large holdings might employ
teams of labourers over the entire season, mostly, but not always, in addition to their own labour.
One man reported hiring 15 men to manage 3 ha of salinas. (More work is needed to get an
accurate picture of the jobs and wages generated by salt-making.)
The main exception to this pattern of labour is found with women salineiras. It appears only a
handful of women own salinas, obtaining them typically through inheritance from a deceased
husband or other male relative. We spoke with four such women – but none had actually worked the
salina herself. In some cases, however, individual or groups of women buy salinas as an investment.
Either way, the women typically pay for men to carry out at least all of the heavy labour, under a
variety of agreements, from complex piece work rates for different maintenance tasks5, to various
profit-sharing schemes. One group of women who owned a salina together reckoned their .5 ha
salina, which they bought for 20,000 MT, netted each of the 10 members 20,000 MT per campaign,
Clearly, the salinas are an important source of cash and important opportunities for wage labour for
the less well-off of Idugo.
Costs of salt production
Traditional salt-making involves relatively little equipment – as gravity and the sun do most of the
work. Buckets are needed for transferring water; long-handled rakes for scraping off the salt;
wheelbarrows for transporting; plastic woven sacs (~25MT each). Along with labour, one of the
greatest expenses for producers is transport to market. (more information needed).
5
For instance, to raise 7.5 m of dyke costs 100 MT.
9
Amongst the larger salina owners, there is a lot of interest in using water pumps to increase the
quantity and quality of the salt produced, and reduce labour costs. Pumps allow for decoupling the
flooding of the salt pans from the high tide days, so enabling more cycles of production in the short
season. Also avoided are the inconvenient times when the high tides come in the middle of the
night. Labour is no longer required for opening and rebuilding the dykes, as water is simply pumped
over them, and the other water transfers, from the tank to the secasera, and the secaseras to the
talos, can also be pumped, at least in part, thereby reducing the disturbance caused by manual
transfer, and so producing a higher quality (cleaner) salt that sells for a higher price.
Pumps cost USD 500-1000 (need to find out specifications) and currently, none are being used by the
Idugo salineiros. However, Idugo’s biggest producer Ivo (see below) is keen to get Fundação Zalala
support to buy a pump. Given the very high income he appears to be making, it is hard to see he is
the best use of FZ’s limited funds.
Incomes from Salt-making
A one hectare salina can produce 300-400 sacks of salt. Of this, less than 5 % would be the high
quality “flor de sal”, around 25% medium quality and 80% low quality. Prices obtained for 50kg
sacks salt range from as little as 100 MT (around USD 1.50) for lower quality salt sold in the village,
during the main “campaign”, to as much as 1250 MT or even 1500 MT (USD 20-25) when sold out of
season, in town centres like Namacurra, Maquival or even Mocuba. Unfortunately, many of the
Idugo producers are so poor that they have to sell their salt immediately – and so they earn relatively
little. One producer, with 3 ha of salinas, mostly in the mangroves of neighbouring Ionge, said he
produces around 1200 sacks a year, selling at top prices, and making, apparently, an incredible USD
20,000 per year! (this needs to be checked).
Support for Marketing Salt
With assistance FZ, an Association of Salt Traders (Associação de Comerciantes do Sal de Idugo) was
formed in around 20??. The association has about 100 members, in three groups, and is coordinated
by Sr Ivo – FZ’s main resource persons in Idugo.
Apparently, neither FZ nor Sr Ivo have many documents that describe the organisation and its
membership, and record its activities, and because of the large number of people who were
mobilised for our meetings, it was not possible to speak with Sr Ivo to get the full details. He did
comment that the groups still meet, approximately twice a month (unclear if this is year-round or
just during the production season – September to December.)
Most of the members are also salt producers. They club together to hire boats to take their own salt
and salt bought from other producers in Idugo, to Namacurra, Mocuba and other centres where it
fetches better prices. It is unclear who benefits from these better prices.
There was insufficient time to explore the matters of market fluctuations, different marketing
strategies, and the costs and revenues involved.
History of Salt-Making
Salt has been produced in the mangroves of Zambezia for centuries. Quelimane do Sal, a salt
producing area in the Rio dos Boms Sinais, opposite the city of Quelimane, is shown on maps
from ??? and mentioned in the accounts of travellers from …??? In Idugo, it is said that salt
production was started by the Companhia de Zambesia (founded in 1892), in three large Salinas on
the west side of Nacrubali (Figure 7). A water pump was used to flood the salinas. Salt was
transported to Maquival in large boats, where it was stored in warehouses until it was exported. Salt
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was one of the main sources of income for CdZ, alongside coconuts and cattle, and provided
employment for many of the Idugo community. After independence in 1975, the Companhia de
Zambesia continued to operate until around 1983, at which time salt production ceased. According
to a local informant, the community did not take up salt production themselves until about 7 years
later. However, satellite images from 1983 already show extensive salinas all around the island.
11
Figure 6: Satellite image showing mosaic of active and inactive salinas, long disused salinas in different stages of regrowth, arable land and remnant
patches of natural mangrove, 2021 and 2024. Mucaliha, Idugo.
Google Earth: 13 August 2021. 15 March 2024
12
Figure 7: Old Pump House, Salinas and salt warehouses of the Companhia de Zambesia, Nacrubali.
Water Pump House Salt Warehouses
Site of
manager’s
Large salina
Copra drying
oven and
Villagers’
machambas,
growing rice,
maize,
Image date: 5 June 2023
5 Carvãoeiros (Charcoal-makers)
The carvãoeiros were identified as the group currently having the most destructive impact on the
mangrove forests. We met with carvãoeiros twice, first in Namilange on 2 April, and then in
Namitatari on 5 April. In Namitatari we spoke with a group of 12 men, ranging in ages bewteen 19
and 40 (avg 25). Three of the men had been working less than 1 year, 5 men between 1 and 3 years,
and 4 over 3 years, with the longest being 7 years. So, charcoal-making appears to be a young man’s
job, and the livelihood practice is growing.
The men claimed charcoal-making is not a “traditional” practice, that no one was doing it even 10
years ago and that they only do it for want of a viable alternative. The Companhia de Zambézia used
to employ a lot of people on Idugo, as guards, salt-makers, coconut harvesters, coconut fellers
(diseased trees) and cattle-men. People used to work for six months, then others took over, so
employment rotated through the whole community. When the company closed the last of their
operations in 2001, all jobs were lost and people began exploring alternatives. The CdZ did at one
point make high quality charcoal from coconut husks, so some experience likely existed in the
community, although metal earth kilns would not have been used.
13
Figures 8a and 8b: Time series satellite images (2021 and 2024) showing clear-felling of a patch of
mangrove forest
Source: Google Earth 13 August 2021
Source: Google Earth - 15 March 2024
Villagers stated that the problem with the charcoal-makers is that they cut and clear everything on a
site, as compared to pole harvesters, who are very selective in what they cut, leaving much of the
vegetation intact. However, time series images (Figures 8a and 8b) and Figure 11 show examples of
clear felling. Rather, as with poles, there appears to be a selective thinning out of the forest. It may
14
be that certain of the mangrove species are not taken because they are less good for charcoal or
needed for reserved for poles. Further investigations are needed.
Figure 9: Mangrove wood and poles, with fishing nets. Idugo.
Most carvãoeiros work alone, though some said they worked in small groups of 2-4 men. Others
were said to bring their wives and children. People are free to cut trees wherever they like in the
mangrove forest (need to explore this, since mangrove appears parcelled up). Non-mangrove
species, such as mango make a reasonable quality of charcoal, and in Cyclone Freddy, in early 2023,
many mango trees lost branches, which carvaoeiros could salvage.
Charcoal can be made all year, but the burning is easier in the dry season. Carvãoeiros take about 1
week to cut the mangrove wood and a further three days to bring it out to the site where the make
their kilns. A further seven days is needed to burn the wood. A simple anaerobic earth kiln is used.
The wood is arranged in a long sausage-shaped pile, and sealed with a layer of grass, then a layer of
earth. Fire is set at one end and it advances down the length of the pile. Once a section has been
burnt and has cooled, that part of the kiln can be opened. (see Figure 10). Charcoal burning is an art
– oxygen must be limited precisely, or the result will be ash, rather than charcoal.
A ”good burn” will yield 8 – 14 sacks of charcoal, which local carvãoeiros sell in Supinho or Zalala
Praia for about 150 MT per sack. Production costs are few: 25 MT for each sack, and a further 20
MT for boat transport from Idugo Island to the landing point/road head in Supinho. Producers can
be seen walking the 15 km to Zalala Praia, carrying a sack of charcoal on their heads, or cycling. In
Quelimane, a sack of charcoal sells for 300-350 MT, but transport to get there costs a further 150 MT,
so little is gained.
15
Figure 10: Charcoal production: the left side has been burnt, opened and bagged; the right side
has been resealed, and the burning continues to the far right end.
Figure 11: Mangrove cleared – purportedly for charcoal burning – but note the low level of the
vegetation in the distance.
Source: https://survey.terrafirma.co.mz:446/odk_survey_terrafirma/7/forms/relatos/submissions/
uuid:52f43683-69e6-47a3-bd24-f881599608af/docs/1708352739659.jpg
16
Figure 12: Charcoal being transported by bicycle to Zalala Praia
6 Key Points for Blue Forest/Terra Firma/Fundação
Zalala
Land available for reforestation
In their presentation of March 2024, Blue Forest provides a district by district analysis of the
mangrove area available for reforestation. It indicates that in the Quelimane/Maquival side of the
Macuse estuary, 3,515 ha was deforested between 2010 and 2020, of which 3,327 will be reforested.
However, Dr Noca, Blue Forest’s representative in Quelimane stated at the FZ Council Meeting on
30th March that the intention is to plant 5000 ha. The proportion of that area actually in Idugo is
unclear.
Salt production, past and present, takes up a substantial area of mangrove in the Macuse estuary,
and Blue Forest’s promise that these will not be reforested will have a significant impact on the total
area that can be replanted, and the amount of carbon sequestered. Since some 15,000 – 20,000 kg
of salt can be produced from one hectare salina, valued at up to 6MT/kg, or ~USD 4,700, this
promise may generate pressure for disused salinas to be brought into production again (assuming
they can be), when if left alone they could well regrow some mangrove (see appendix 1 for time
series of satellite images showing salina reopening.)
The land use analysis provided above (Section ??) suggests that of Idugo’s total mangrove area6 of
about 3000 ha, some 260 ha is under salinas, 416 ha is disused salinas, and about 2000 ha has
6
Understood as the area that once would have been mangrove, between the settlements and arable land and
the waterways.
17
significant mangrove cover. The remaining 324 ha appears to be disused arable land, with plot
boundaries still clearly visible.
Table 2: Blue Forest analysis of mangrove land available for reforestation in project districts
Alternative Livelihoods and Benefits
Blue Forest appears focussed primarily on protecting and replanting mangroves, and much less on
finding alternative livelihoods for the people currently dependent on and damaging the mangroves:
salt-makers, charcoal-makers and pole cutters. Thus far, Blue Forest has proposed three activities:
mangrove planting; patrolling the mangrove to prevent further degradation; planting and managing
bamboo to provide poles and fuelwood as a substitute for mangrove wood currently used.
Mangrove planting will be a short-term activity, particularly as Blue Forest proposes to plant Ceriops
tagal, which produces live knife-like seedlings actually on the tree (Figure 13). These can be
collected and planted directly into the mud, without the need for nurseries and polybags, greatly
reducing costs of labour, materials and time.
It is planned that forest protection activities, primarily patrolling the mangroves by community
scouts to prevent illegal cutting, will continue throughout the project, but it is unclear how people
will be paid for this.
It is unclear where Blue Forest hopes to plant the bamboo. Very few bamboos are salt-tolerant, so
planting in or near the mangrove is unlikely to be viable, and arable land in Idugo is already in very
short supply (approximately 420 ha, or about .3 ha per family).
Blue Forest presentations state that community development and alternative livelihoods will also be
supported via a grant scheme for small projects, valued at $25000 per village7 over five years. Small
scale capture fishing and aquaculture are given as examples, and this chimes with the objectives of
the MCC project, mentioned above (iv). This is the area where Zalala Foundation is expected to
participate as the facilitator, under a sub-contract for an undisclosed sum.
7
It is unclear whether Idugo represents one village or five, and whether the grant pool is per year or over five
years.
18
Figure 13: Mangrove tree Ceriops tagal tree bearing live seedlings
that can be planted directly into mangrove mud
Forty (220 povoados) participating communities are also promised a 15% share of the total NET
benefits from the sale of carbon credits, estimated to be $12.5 million over 30 years. Communities
would share in this, in proportion to the area being reforested in their village, but on average this
would be around $10,000 year from Year 5 onwards. However, the Blue Forest model proposes to
pay these funds to the local government.
Dynamics of Land Use in Idugo
The extensive areas of apparently disused salinas and arable land in the mangroves (740 ha, approx
25%) begs the question “why?”, and needs to be understood before land can be allocated for
replanting or considered for other livelihood activities. The possibility of individual land claims on
these areas could complicate Blue Forest’s benefit-sharing model and delay implementation. Disuse
may also indicate some constraint on production.
In west Namitatari an area of about 250 ha that on 2003 satellite images appears to be productive
arable land, on 2024 images is covered in regenerating mangrove. This needs to be explained.
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