By Agnetta Okwembah
The Kenya forests service in collaboration with various stakeholders in the country have pre-launched the Kenya National Mangrove portal and National mangrove ecosystem restoration guidelines in Kwale.
The documents are critical in ensuring the planting, restoration and conservation of mangrove in the country with many stakeholders being involved in the conservation efforts.
About 1200 hectares of mangroves in Kwale have been restored and rehabilitated according to Kenya forest service’s board of directors chair Titus Korir during the international day for the conservation of the mangrove ecosystem.
In Kenya mangrove forest covers 61,271 hectares which is around 3.5 per cent of gazette forest reserves in Lamu,Tana Rover, Kwale,Mombasa and Kilifi counties.
Mangroves are tropical plants that mainly grow in intertidal zones playing many roles among them protecting the natural coastline against storm surges and erosion, acting as boundaries between the land and sea as well as providing protection and food security to coastal communities, providing habitat and breeding point for fish and other marine creatures and lastly its soils stores ten times more carbon compared to land-based forests thus a way of mitigating climate.
Kenya Forest Service (KFS) Board of Directors chair Titus Korir, accentuated the diverse benefits of mangroves to the coastal communities as well as supporting biodiversity of the sea creatures.
Speaking in Kwale Korir said that mangroves ecosystems are facing threats of marine encroachment, marine pollution and unsustainable land use practices with government policies in place aimed at eliminating the threats.
Korir urged communities and stakeholders involved in environmental conservation to focus on restoration and rehabilitation of mangroves because of its importance that act as a defense against storms, surges, tsunamis and erosion while their soil sequesters significant amounts of carbon that help in climate change mitigation.
“Mangroves are pivotal to the fulfillment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), particularly SDG14, which calls for the conservation and sustainable use of oceans, seas and marine resources. These ecosystems are at the intersection of the green and blue economies, offering invaluable services that bridge terrestrial and marine environments,” he added.
The event he said is good to reflect on the policies and decisions that drive our efforts to conserve and manage these ecosystems sustainably.
The National Mangrove Ecosystem Management Plan offers a comprehensive framework for the conservation, rehabilitation and sustainable use of mangrove ecosystems and addressing key challenges such as deforestation and pollution. The Adopt a Site framework strategy exemplifies this collaborative spirit, enabling partnerships that have restored over 1200 hectares of mangroves in Kwale county.
Kwale governor Fatuma Achani on her side said that her administration will continue to support environmental initiatives aimed at ensuring mangroves restorations and rehabilitation are successful
Kenya ports authority board chair Benjamin Tayari said that Sh1 million will be used to help conservation groups to buy mangroves seedlings for planting in the coastal region.
A commitment to conserving and sustainably managing mangrove ecosystems, a crucial component of the coastal environment has been restated by the government when honoring the International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystem that is celebrated each year on the 26th of July as per the general conference of United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2015.
Mr. Gitonga Mugambi, the Principal Secretary State Department of Forestry emphasized on having the focus on protection, restoration, conservation, development and management of forestry resources for equitable and sustainable development.
The KFS pre-launched the National Mangrove Ecosystem Restoration Guidelines that is aimed to provide a standardized approach in ecological restoration with the involvement of all stakeholders.
The residents were praised for their participation in planting of mangrove trees and the Mangrove mud fun-run in Mombasa.
They were urged to continue with the efforts on mangrove conservation.
