- • The community-based ecological mangrove approach takes into account mangrove biology and ecology in addition to the sociological aspects that may and can affect restoration efforts.
- • By so doing, it mimics natural processes such as regeneration to produce a more biodiverse mangrove forest.
For several years, mangrove restoration within Lamu county has often provided photographic opportunities for many.
They come from far and wide to plant a few mangroves, take photos, and then disappear.
Months after restoration efforts, many or even all the mangroves die.
Experts attribute these deaths to a lack of knowledge.
Husna Bakari, vice secretary for the Pate Resources and Tourism Initiative, said some of the restoration initiatives have failed to bear fruit due to a lack of knowledge and skills on how to restore mangroves.
Bakari said their capacity was built by Wetlands International through community-based ecological mangrove restoration.
Wetlands International is the only global not-for-profit organisation dedicated to the conservation and restoration of wetlands.
Mangroves are salt-tolerant trees and shrubs in the intertidal regions of the tropical and subtropical coastlines, thriving where fresh water mixes with seawater.
They grow in five counties: Lamu, Tana River, Kilifi, Mombasa, and Kwale.
Mangroves are in tidal estuaries, creeks, and protected bays.
Lamu has the most mangrove forests at 92,293 acres, followed by Kilifi at 21,092 acres, Kwale at 20,643 acres, Mombasa at 9,318 acres, and Tana River at eight acres.
About 60 per cent of Kenya’s mangroves occur in Lamu county, which also harbours eight of the nine species found in the country.
Lamu’s communities have had a long history and cultural connection to the mangroves, utilising them for various purposes like construction, fuel, and traditional practices.
Restricting access to these resources entirely could have had significant social and economic consequences.
Lamu is the only county where mangrove harvesting is legal.
Logging is allowed under strict rules by the Kenya Forest Service to prevent the degradation of the ecosystem.
An estimated two-thirds of the fish in Kenya spend part of their lives in the mangroves, which act as their breeding and nursery grounds.
A mangrove ecosystem is therefore important in enhancing fishery production, and since fisheries are a main source of income for coastal communities, the fisheries supported by the mangrove ecosystem become an important source of livelihood.
Bakari was one of the community members that were trained on several aspects of mangrove restoration.
“We were taught the importance of testing salinity and the importance of hydrology in mangrove restoration,” she says.
Through the Pate Resources and Tourism Initiative, Wetlands International has actively involved the community in Pate in mangrove restoration efforts.
The Pate Resources and Tourism Initiative group’s chairman, who is one of the champions, along with two other members, were trained in the CBEMR approach two years ago.
In 2022, Wetlands International conducted participatory mapping of degraded areas and established nurseries for restoration, including the Chukutu area in Pate.
The degradation in Chukutu resulted from limestone mining, which was used as construction material for local houses.
In the past, the community would cut mangroves to fuel the kiln during mining activities.
Due to the high calorific content of the roots, they would uproot the mangrove trees, causing loss.
Despite previous unsuccessful attempts by the community to replant mangroves in this area using their traditional knowledge, partners have successfully rehabilitated 3.7 hectares through the CBEMR approach.
Since they began working in Lamu county in 2022, Wetlands International has made progress in ecological mangrove restoration efforts.
Through combined direct and indirect interventions, Wetlands International has restored 102 hectares of degraded mangrove areas in Lamu.
Their interventions are mainly focused on Pate Island and the Southern Swamps, where they work with local community groups, namely the Pate Resources and Tourism Initiative, Matondoni Women, and Mkunumbi Community Forest Association, in collaboration with the national and county governments on conservation and restoration, livelihoods, and policy support.
Bakari admits that before the training, they would just come and plant mangroves without adhering to technical aspects.
Months after planting them, mangroves would just dry up.
Bakari, who comes from Pate Island, Lamu East, says they have over time helped to restore mangroves.
“We plant the mangroves in nursery before using them to restore degraded areas,” Bakari says.
Bakari took us to Chukutu, an area that had been heavily degraded following years of logging.
She says restoration efforts started in the nearby area in 2019.
She says mangroves help creatures found in the ocean, such as fish.
Bakari says the sites that are being restored are very far away.
She says that her group has modified a new way of raising seeds using locally available materials that are degradable in order to avoid plastics that also harm the marine environment.
Wetlands International Program officer based in Lamu Shawlet Cherono, says mangrove restoration is a long process that entails looking at site history, social issues impacting the site, and the best approach to be used when one wants to restore an area.
The community-based ecological mangrove (CBEMR) approach takes into account mangrove biology and ecology in addition to the sociological aspects that may and can affect restoration efforts.
By so doing, it mimics natural processes such as regeneration to produce a more biodiverse mangrove forest.
Active planting is second to regeneration if the latter proves difficult after interventions to correct the conditions that enable natural regrowth.
Cherono says bringing community based ecological mangrove restoration has contributed to the success of the site in terms of understanding what species to use, where not plant, site dynamics including what happened and how to plant.
She said stressors in some areas needs to be removed for restoration efforts to succeed.
Cherono says the stressors came about as a result of the cutting of roots of the trees by the local community for limestone production using kiln.
“Though limestone production using kiln was banned years ago, we still feel the effect to date,” Cherono says.
She says all the mature trees had been cut down meaning there was no seeds to start natural regeneration.