Farmer Mangasa Kijera still has vivid memories of the day in 2019 when a powerful storm rampaged through her village in eastern Gambia. Everywhere was darkened with clouds as the winds tore through roofs and everything in its path," she says.
The following morning, dawn light revealed the devastation: half of her roof was gone and 85 per cent of her groundnut crops were destroyed.
I was very sad because I had no knowledge of how to make money, the 32-year-old mother-of-three recalls. I told [my husband] Cant we consider you going to Europe?
It was a path many of their neighbours had taken. In 2023, nearly 15,000 Gambians migrated to Europe, many braving the perilous waters of the Mediterranean Sea.
But Kijera and her husband found an alternative. They joined Gambias largest project devoted to helping communities adapt to climate change. Backed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), project teams showed the couple how to process and market foods made from locally grown crops, such as millet, chilli peppers and one drought-tolerant grain.
The project equipped me with skills that I need, says Kijera.
A slender thread of land on the coast of West Africa, Gambia is on the frontlines of the climate crisis.
Rising sea levels are pushing saltwater up the countrys main waterway, the Gambia River, rendering once-fertile rice paddies unusable. Meanwhile, erratic rainfall, intensifying droughts and severe storms are wreaking havoc on crops like groundnuts and millet.
As a result, between 2016 and 2022, the percentage of Gambians facing food insecurity more than tripled to 27 per cent.
The decline of agriculture has forced many to turn to unsustainable work, such as charcoal production, which has contributed to deforestation, research suggests.
Many rural residents are abandoning Gambia altogether; the country has one of Africas highest rates of irregular migration to Europe. A good number cross the treacherous Mediterranean Sea, a voyage that claimed the lives of almost 2,500 migrants of all nationalities in 2024 alone.
The crop loss due to climate change has made agriculture not only intolerable, but it's not an option for most youth, says Malanding Jaiteh from Gambias Ministry of Environment. Every single community that you visit, there is somebody who has gone (to Europe), and there are many who have died on the way.
By helping communities cope with a changing climate, the UNEP-backed project is altering that calculus. Funded by the Green Climate Fund and implemented by Gambias Ministry of Environment, the effort is creating economic opportunities for communities by harnessing the power of nature and restoring degraded ecosystems.
Kijera, the groundnut farmer, participated in a series of trainings at one of eight multipurpose centers constructed by the project. Teams provided equipment, training and business development coaching. This helped Kijera and 200 other people across the country establish ecologically sustainable businesses, which in total have generated US$2.46 million in income.
Providing women with the skills and tools for food processing is not just reducing food poverty, but also our dependency on imported foods, says Jaiteh, noting Gambia imports 85 per cent of its rice. It also reduces the need for people to cut down trees to supplement their income, leading to healthier forests that in turn help protect communities from climate extremes.
Kijera makes a modest profit from her food processing business, helping cover essentials, like food, school fees and medical expenses. The venture also gives her a cushion to weather future storms.
Although the economic lure of Europe remains, Kijera and her husband are considering other options. Instead, we were thinking of opening a workshop for him, she says.
At the core of the UNEP-backed project is the idea that ecosystem restoration and nature-based solutions are Gambias best defence against the impacts of climate change. Experts have described this natural defence as ecosystem-based adaptation. By drawing on the power of nature, the approach also improves biodiversity.
To accelerate the expansion of ecosystem-based adaptation, the Global EbA Fund was launched by UNEP and the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It provides seed capital to innovative approaches.
In Gambias Barrow Kund Village, youth leader Alagie Barrow has witnessed the devastating effects of climate change firsthand, including saltwater intrusion into rice fields along the river.
To turn the now-unproductive rice fields into a haven for wildlife, the project helped locals plant mangrove seedlings across 500 hectares of riverbank. Seven years later, the river is sandwiched between lush, verdant banks of green.
Barrow says the mangroves have helped reduce temperatures, provided a habitat for fish and countered flooding by stabilizing the soil and reducing erosion.
Across the country, the UNEP-supported project has rehabilitated over 30,000 hectares of degraded mangroves, forest and savanna. It has also helped farmers plant climate-resilient fruit and nut trees on their land that both buffer against climate impacts and generate income. In total, the project has supported over 45,000 people in building a more resilient future across the country.
This project is about cultivating a future where Gambians can thrive in their own land, says Mirey Atallah, Director of UNEPs Adaptation and Resilience Branch. Bringing the science of climate scenarios, food production and nature restoration all together, it shows how multiple objectives can be achieved.
Thats a sentiment echoed by Jaiteh, from Gambias Ministry of Environment. One of the main impacts of the project is the fact that it has given renewed hope that you can make a living from what was once thought to be not so valuable.
