The GEF-funded “Mano River Ecosystem Conservation and International Water Resources Management (IWRM) Project” is being implemented by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). It targets the conservation and sustainable use of the transboundary water basins and their biodiversity resources within the Mano River Union member states. These resources are of highest importance for the sub-region, seriously affected by socio-political problems with displaced and suffering populations, and demand support under these very difficult contexts. The project seeks to promote holistic approaches to integrated ecosystem management and to design participatory and
community–based strategies, which will lead to in-situ conservation and sustainable use of soil, water and biota in the river basins and on their watersheds.

The project is being implemented in the Upper Guinea forest covering Sierra Leone, Guinea, Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire with the objective of strengthening the management of transboundary natural resources for sustained ecological benefits and improved livelihoods for the forest adjacent communities.