Harith Mohamed is the secretary of the community association, and he believes that conservation is the way forward.
Like the ocean, mangroves are massive carbon sinks. Compared to other terrestrial trees and forests, each mangrove forest has a tenfold ability to suck in carbon emissions. Protecting and enhancing these forests removes and keeps carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere.
The UN and Kenya join forces
“I’m pleased that the Go Blue Project has a mangrove restoration component. [Protection and sustainable use of mangroves provides] lots of possibilities for conserving the environment as well as being beneficial to the local villagers. Carbon sequestration does provide resilience in communities along the oceans,” he told UN News.
But all hope is not lost! Sometimes, innovative partnerships can lead to sustainable solutions. Over the past three years, UN agencies, the Kenyan Government and other key partners have joined forces to launch sustainable, community-based conservation projects. They aim to help tackle poverty and deliver climate, biodiversity and local-level benefits to communities on the Kenyan coast.
“If you disturb the equilibrium [between] mangrove and terrestrial forests then there will be consequences,” he told UN News, and explained: “Terrestrial forests are uphill, and the mangroves are down along the water. So, it’s important to conserve these forests to prevent flooding because if the sea level rises, then the farms cannot be worked.”
Alongside UNEP, the Kenya Forest Service, the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute and partners recently inaugurated the Vanga Blue Forests Project in coastal Kwale County’s Vanga Bay (south of Mombasa), a groundbreaking initiative to trade carbon credits from mangrove conservation and restoration.
Blue forests, green growth
They also fight climate change: the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) estimates that global mangrove forests sequester within their roots, trunks, and in the soil as much as 22.8 million tons of carbon each year.
While they provide valuable services for people and the planet, mangroves are in trouble. Along with climate change impacts rising sea levels and temperatures, mangrove forests are being depleted because their wood is valuable and prized by coastal communities as a prime source of timber for construction, fuel, and even medicine. Rampant coastal urbanization, and unsustainable agriculture and aquaculture practices round out the long list of challenges.
Mangroves are tropical marine forests with huge potential. They protect coastlines from erosion and storm surge; and provide food and shelter for a diverse array of wildlife, and nursery habitats for commercially important fish and shellfish.
Connecting cities, people and the ocean
Launched two years before, Vanga Blue’s sister project is in nearby Gazi Bay. This first-of-its- kind initiative, known as Mikoko Pamoja (‘Mangroves Together’) raises money by selling carbon credits to people and organizations eager to shrink their carbon footprint, through the Scottish charity ACES. This project supports planting and conservation of mangrove trees. The payments for ‘mangrove carbon’ are used to benefit the local community.
The Vanga Blue Forests project supports community sustainable development processes that address education, health, and water and sanitation needs. In the short time since it was launched, five hectares of mangroves have been restored, and that trajectory is expected to continue.
Goodluck Mbaga, an environmentalist and conservationist in Kilifi County along the Kenyan coast, reiterated the importance of being mindful of the health of the ocean.
The Vanga Blue Forests project focuses on conservation of the trees, as the locals have already planted the seedlings. The project benefits about 9,000 residents of the villages of Vanga, Jimbo and Kiwegu. The villages form ‘VAJIKI’, which is a community association and oversees 460 hectares of forest land. Jimbo Village has established a nursery with 30,000 viable mangrove seedlings.
Moreover, Vanga Blue has set in motion vital projects that can enhance the lives and livelihoods of thousands of people in local fishing communities. For example, a nursery school has been rehabilitated and a hospital has been revamped with new equipment. Local sanitation projects are now under way.