Mangrove Restoration Project, Kenya

Mangrove forests are among the most productive ecosystems on earth and serve many important functions such as; water filtration, prevention of coastal erosion, coastal protection from storms, carbon storage, and biodiversity protection, among others. Kilifi county has the longest coastline in Kenya with mangroves distributed in small patches of creeks and river openings. These forests border urban centers in Mtwapa and Kilifi; as such, they are threatened by cutting pressure and pollution. mangrove ecosystem uniquely responds to the attainment of the various Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) directly and indirectly thus the emphasis on the importance of their conservation, protection, and management. Healthy mangrove forests are key to healthy marine ecology and optimum ecosystem service provision thus the need for collaborative actions towards sustainable management of mangrove resources in Kenya.

CAUSE OF DEGRADATION IN MIDA CREEK AND MTWAPA CREEK
The Western Indian Ocean (WIO) mangrove in Kenyan coastline is threatened due to increased overexploitation of the resource. The escalating poor living standards/poverty of the locals has led to increased pressure on natural resources and left them with no other alternative other than what they can get from the mangrove forest. Through our restoration strategy, we aim at addressing poverty as the main challenge that is contributing to deforestation by engaging the local communities in our restoration work. this strategy will not only offer livelihoods for many communities in Mida Creek and Mtwapa Creek but also create educational awareness (COBEC School Education Program) on the importance of restoring our forest ecosystem, through this project our mangrove forest in the two creeks will be restored back.
This project will adopt, restore and conserve the listed sites.
This project intends to restore degraded sites in Mida Creek and Mtwapa Creek mangrove ecosystems. COBEC is community-based organization, it uses the local community as the key player in restoration to mitigate climate change. our restoration process involves seeds and propagules collection, the establishment of tree nurseries, and once seedlings attain the age of three months, planting activity starts. The goal of the project is to plant over 5 million trees in five years from 2020 henceforth. To date, we have planted 100,000 mangrove trees in Mida Creek. The project welcomes donors, supporters, and well-wishers to support the planting of trees so as to mitigate climate change.