Teathloach Wal Nguot

ABSTRACT SUBMITTED: This project examined the interplay between science, culture, and politics in shaping mangrove restoration efforts. Fieldwork was conducted with diverse communities along the Gambia River that implement Nature-based Solutions to mitigate the impacts of environmental change. Focussing on two communities, in Kombo South and Kiang West, the fieldwork explored how community-led environmental organisations conduct restoration by first generating knowledge about the environment. In this process, capitalist forces, community members, aldermen, resource users, and national government narratives intersect and shape how environmental change is perceived, at the same time conditioning what counts as an adequate response. To that end, the project also investigated the relationship between land restoration and acquisition. The project more broadly aims to place knowledge-generating practices within the longer history of Nature-based solutions implemented to restore mangroves in the Gambia. Conducting archival records in the Gambia, the research seeks to understand and examine the discursive strategies that have historically shaped environmental action in the Gambia. The researcher also consulted aerial photographs of relevant points along the Gambia River in the postwar era that will be examined in concert with remote-sensed images to better grasp how changes in physical geography are culturally experienced.