The WIO Mangrove Network wishes to thank UNEP, USAID and WIOMSA for the financial support through the WIOSAP, SIDA Partnership Project with SWIOFC, SWAMP and MASMA projects respectively, that culminated in the pro-duction of this Guidelines on Mangrove Ecosystem Restoration for the Western Indian Ocean Region. We are particularly grateful to Jared O. Bosire (UNEP) and Carl C. Trettin (US Forest Service) for their technical and logistic support.

The authors also wish to acknowledge their host institutions - Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute (KMFRI) and Institute of Marine Sciences (IMS) of University of Dar es Salaam, for supporting this project. We wish to par-ticularly thank the mangrove team at KMFRI – Dr Judith Okello, Amina Juma and Elisha Mrabu - for reviewing initial drafts of the document.