Restoring mangroves, the ‘Guardians of the Coast’, will make communities resilient to environmental changes

MOMBASA,Kenya,July 26 – The International Day for the Conservation of the Mangrove Ecosystems was celebrated at Tudor Creek in Mombasa County on Monday.

Arising from the concern of rapid and continued degradation and loss of the mangrove ecosystem, the General Conference of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 2015 proclaimed the 26th of July of every year to commemorate and celebrate the mangrove ecosystem.

This celebration is aimed at raising awareness of the importance of mangrove ecosystems as a unique, special and a vulnerable ecosystem and to promote solutions for their sustainable management, conservation and utilization. There are 60 to 70 mangrove species in the world with 9 species found in Kenya. A total of over 16.7 million Mangrove seedlings have been planted since the day was first marked in Kenya.

The commemoration which was led by Chief Administrative Secretary in the Ministry of Environment and Forestry ) Mohamed Elmi and the Chief Conservator of Forests Julius Kamau, was preceded by an exercise where 300,000 mangrove propagules were planted.

Speaking at the function, Elmi stated that it was important to take part in conservation of mangroves in order to benefit the communities around the coast,the environment and the blue economy.

The CAS issued an advisory to members of the public living around the Indian Ocean to maintain high standards of cleanliness to keep the water body clean and essentially preserve mangrove ecosystem.

“I want to thank all entities that have been involved in the rehabilitation of mangrove ecosystems and specifically the Eden Reforestation program for their support to the youth through employment to supplement KFS efforts in mangrove conservation.’ said Elmi.

The CAS also urged the National Government Administrative Officers within the Coastal region to continue working closely with MoEF and KFS in efforts to ensure the country attains the 10% forest cover.

While addressing the public, the CCF Kamau noted that despite their importance, mangroves continue to face pressure mostly from illegal harvesting, overharvesting, river changes leading to increased salinity, destruction of coral reefs, upstream pollution, and climate change.

“To ensure the protection and sustainable utilization of the mangroves, KFS has made several strides in the effort towards the conservation and restoration of the mangrove forests including spearheading development of a comprehensive Mangrove management plan in collaboration with other partner organizations,” Said Kamau.

He further stated that as the agency charged with the responsibility of forest ecosystems, KFS has partnered with various institutions to support the management and restoration of the mangroves among them the French Government through CIRAD and IRD, Eden Reforestation, IRA, KeNHA, Fujita, KMFRI, KEFRI, KWS, WWF, and Mombasa County Government, among others.

Attending the function was the Deputy CCF( FCM) Charity Munyasya, the Coast Head of Conservancy Andrew Soi, Eden Reforestation representatives, MoEF SAGAs, representatives from Base Titanium and the local community.