The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations and the Kenya Forest Service (KFS) are ramping up forest restoration efforts in Mombasa, with a particular focus on the mangrove ecosystem along the Tudor Creek.
Mangroves play a pivotal role in carbon sequestration; they capture a substantial amount of carbon dioxide emissions and other greenhouse gases from the atmosphere and then trap and store them in their carbon-rich flooded soils for millennia.
Alarmingly, 40 per cent of the ecosystem is now degraded.
The renewed push is part of FAO’s five-year programme, Accelerating Innovative Monitoring for Forests (AIM4Forests), which leverages cutting-edge monitoring technologies, including remote sensing and space data, to improve forest conservation.
A key component of the programme is youth engagement through the Young Forest Champions initiative.
“This initiative was born out of the IMPRESS project and has since evolved. Young people were involved in high-level government discussions, and we successfully mobilised funding to launch AIM4Forests,” explained Ms. Ivana Tara, the FAO Facilitator for the Young Forest Champions Initiative in Jomvu, Mombasa.
AIM4Forests is being implemented in Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Peru, and Zambia. In Kenya, ten Young Forest Champions have been selected to lead community-based forest monitoring and restoration.
So far, they have engaged 10,550 members of Forest Adjacent Communities and planted over 150,000 trees since January.
“We believe that young people are the voice of the future. They are essential to restoring and monitoring forests, and our role is to mentor and empower them,” said Ms. Tara.
Since 2020, more than 200 hectares of mangrove forest along Tudor Creek have been restored. The creek, which stretches from Fort Jesus to Rabai in neighbouring Kilifi County, is not only the largest but also the only gazetted forest in Mombasa. However, it remains under severe threat from human activities and urban development.
The initiative bolsters the government’s ambitious plan to plant 15 billion trees by 2032 through partnering with youth who have the vigour to accelerate the programme.
The mangrove ecosystem, she stated, has been severely affected by climate change, which has resulted in high-level sea rise.
“The mangrove species are struggling to adapt, and the communities here are doing their best to know the right species of mangrove to plant and where. This is where the indigenous knowledge is very important.”
KFS County Forest Conservator Bernard Wahome revealed that 40 per cent of Mombasa’s 3771 hectares of Mangrove is degraded, but efforts are ongoing to rehabilitate them, working with various partners.
“Today, we want to plant 500 mangrove seedlings with the Young Forest Champions so that they also have a feel of the mangrove ecosystem and appreciate its difference from the terrestrial ecosystem,” said the Forest Conservator.
Brenda Kajuju, a Forest Champion and a student of Kenyatta University pursuing a Bachelor’s Degree in Environmental Planning and Management, was attracted to conservation by the communities’ efforts to restore Meru forest.
She now uses Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and remote sensing to amplify the conservation efforts through monitoring of forests, green spaces, land quality and land surface air quality.
“This year, I was selected to become a Young Forest Champion under the AIM4Forest through FAO. I will be empowered; from the last two months, I have seen a growth not just in the efforts I am undertaking but also in terms of courses and field excursions,” stated Kajuju.
She aims to educate other youths on the use of technology in forest monitoring to enhance conservation efforts.
Another champion, Anthony Alovale from Vihiga County, is focused on combating the rising threat of wildfires, which are being fuelled by prolonged dry spells and increasing temperatures.
“The biggest threat that we are facing with the increase in temperatures is that the vegetation dries up and wildfires are on the rise,” he stated, adding that he is in the process of developing a fire detection system to have real-time monitoring of the fires when they occur for a quick response, thus reducing the impact.
“The 15 billion trees, if you don’t take up keen monitoring, it would be a problem. I intend to develop this system to have a real-time alert system when forest fires occur,” he said, advising youth to pursue environment-related courses.
Levis Rikwa, a Marine Ecologist, has been working with the community to rehabilitate the degraded mangrove forest in Jomvu. He asserted that studies show that the rate of Mombasa’s mangrove forest is five per cent per year, calling for concerted efforts to conserve the only gazetted forest in Port City.
By Sadik Hassan
