At just 12 years old, she began following her mother into the mangroves, learning how to harvest oysters and catch crabs and fish. A season’s waitAs Jarjue paddles deeper into the wetland, oysters cling to the roots of the mangroves. The programme equipped them with the skills to restore degraded mangroves, protect the ecosystems that support fisheries and strengthen their communities’ resilience to climate change. For settlements surrounding the Tanbi Wetland, mangroves are more than an environmental resource. Months from now, she will return to harvest oysters from the same roots she is protecting today.