How nature-based solutions are transforming water resources and improving economic conditions in Guinea.
In West Africa, Guinea is known as the region’s water tower. The country’s highlands are the source for over 22 major rivers in West Africa, including the Niger, Senegal, and Gambia. Groundwater resources are estimated at 13 trillion cubic meters, equivalent to nearly five Lake Victorias. In Guinea, water is not just a resource, it underpins jobs and economic growth.
Yet decades of deforestation, slash‑and‑burn agriculture, and unregulated land use have left soils exposed, and watersheds increasingly degraded. Upstream landscapes now funnel sediment-laden runoff into the reservoirs that supply drinking water to Guinea’s capital, Conakry.
Placing Nature at the Center of Water Security
Against this backdrop, the Guinea Water and Sanitation Project (PEAG) is taking an important step: placing nature‑based solutions at the center of efforts to secure safe, reliable drinking water for nearly 2.6 million people. This approach mirrors the World Bank Group’s Water Forward strategy, which emphasizes scalable, system-level solutions that link water services, ecosystems, and institutions.
PEAG supports the Government of Guinea’s broader agenda for integrated water resources management. By embedding nature-based solutions as a core principle, PEAG seeks to promote smart development that safeguards biodiversity and secures vital water resources.
A centerpiece is a US$11 million investment from the Global Environment Facility’s Least Developed Countries Fund (LDCF), mobilized with support from the NBS Invest platform, to reverse upstream land degradation and protect the ecosystems that sustain Conakry’s water supply. These nature-based solutions include improving hill terraces, stabilizing vulnerable slopes through bioengineering and revegetation, and rehabilitating degraded forests and grasslands across the Samou sub-basin that supplies Conakry’s water.
Together, these actions are designed to reduce erosion, limit sediment transport, increase water infiltration, and support more stable water flows into the reservoirs that provide water to the capital.
Linking Conservation, Jobs, and Livelihoods
To strengthen upstream protection further, the Government of Guinea has announced the creation of the Gangan National Park, covering critical areas of the Samou sub‑basin. Led by the Office of National Parks and Wildlife Reserves (OGPNRF), the park is designed not only to protect ecosystems but also to work closely with the communities who have long lived and farmed in the area.
Under the project’s component on nature‑based solutions, conservation activities are directly linked to alternative livelihood opportunities, helping reduce pressure on natural resources while supporting household incomes. Residents engaged in agriculture will benefit from training and new opportunities, designed in consultation with communities.
- These activities will provide information and income-generating opportunities for residents. By supporting new sources of income on the ground, we can also reduce pressure on vegetation cover.
READ MORE: https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2026/08/05/nature-based-solutions-secure-guinea-s-water-at-the-source
