Community Based Environmental Conservation (COBEC)

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Poverty, increasing population pressure, lack of alternative sources of livelihood and lack of education and awareness, commonly result in over-fishing and illegal/destructive habits along the Kenyan coast. The increasing destruction of the marine environment ultimately impacts negatively on the lives of the coastal communities, resulting in a cycle of poverty and environmental abuse.

To relieve pressure on the mangrove forest, a tree planting project will be initiated where communities will plant fast growing trees i.e. both exotic and indigenous for domestic and commercial use. This is to take advantage of the new Forest Policy and Bill (2007) and Fisheries Policy that supports in kind and financially community participation in natural resources management.

This project will promote ‘grass-roots’ conservation of the marine environment through local communities. The project will raise environmental awareness within the community and schools, and will specifically focus on education of the fishing community to deter them from slaughtering sea turtles and destroying mangroves and also focus on encouraging sustainable marine resource utilization.

Salt harvesting has been ongoing in Marereni for the past 40 years. Extensive tracts of mangroves have been cleared to pave way for salt harvesting, and for construction timber. The community has already initiated mangrove re-planting, so this project intends to support and further develop this capacity. Already over 20,000 trees have been planted this year and the project is now in the process of establishing a 10,000 mangrove nursery intending to plant the trees in December during the short rains