Six months after Flemish dredging company Jan De Nul planted mangroves on a man-made island off the Ecuadorian coast, the project is showing remarkable success. Scientific monitoring now confirms that over 30,000 mangrove trees are thriving, growing up to three times faster than regional averages.
The 50-hectare island, constructed using dredged sand and silt from the Guayaquil port access channel, is part of AquaForest, a large-scale restoration project launched in 2023. Jan De Nul worked with local communities, universities, NGOs and government agencies to create optimal conditions for mangrove growth through innovative eco-engineering.
By the end of 2024, 12,000 trees and 10,000 seedlings had been planted, followed by another 11,500 in February 2025. With a 90 per cent survival rate and rapid horizontal expansion, Fundación Calisur, a local mangrove expert, calls it the most successful growth observed in 16 years of restoration work.
Together with Ecuadorian university ESPOL and the conservation NGO Aves y Conservación, biodiversity on the island is also being monitored. So far, researchers have recorded 20 bird species, including the Lesser Sandpiper and Wilson’s Sandpiper, both listed as Near Threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Mangroves store carbon, protect coastlines, and support biodiversity. Ecuador has lost 50 per cent of its mangroves since 1980, but AquaForest aims to reverse that trend. Jan De Nul says the project can serve as a scalable model for global restoration. Interest has already emerged from regions including Southeast Asia, South America and the Middle East.
