Turning the Tide with Mangrove Conservation

Red crabs now scuttle quietly from their damp burrows along the muddy shores, while birds sing from branch to branch among the dense mangrove trees. This vibrant scene, symbolizing a rich diversity of species and a thriving ecosystem, marks a new beginning for the residents of Mkupe village in Miritini, Mombasa County. Not long ago, these creatures were a rare sight in this area. Kenya has lost half of its mangrove forests in the past 50 years to a combination of factors, including overexploitation by locals with limited livelihood options. Bringing lost ecosystems back to life is a daunting task. However, along with local communities, Steve Masati stepped up to bring communities together to protect and restore damaged mangroves.

Ocean is more than just a pretty picture

Mombasa basks on the Kenyan coast, a vibrant city with welcoming people. This is where I call home. Seeing the once-thriving mangroves decline was heartbreaking. All the degradation and loss of community benefits pushed me to help my hometown bounce back. There's a special kind of satisfaction in nurturing your backyard back to health and knowing that we're building resilience in the face of all these challenges, right here in my hometown.

Life in Mombasa without Mangroves

Mangroves are breeding grounds and habitats for fish and crabs, so preserving the ecosystems is important for preserving livelihoods. But fishing is not the only way how coastal communities can benefit from conserving mangroves. 

For years, the mangrove trees were harvested unsustainably, leading to the widespread destruction of these vital forests. The trees provided low-cost, durable wood for building boats and houses, essential to the locals' way of life. Driven by economic necessity, they continued this practice, unaware of the long-term consequences. As the mangrove cover vanished, the fishing community watched helplessly, witnessing the decline in fish populations and their livelihoods. The loss of the mangroves meant more than just fewer trees—it meant a loss of protection, sustenance, and hope for the future.

Youth Pawa

As an organization, we believe that there is no power for change greater than a community discovering what it cares about. And for us alone, we can do so little; but together, we can do so much. I wanted to create a platform where young people could channel their passion for the environment and make a real impact on our communities. Youth Pawa is a fully registered NGO with a passionate team: 17 core youth members, and 33 community members and stakeholders. We are now promoting ocean literacy and empowering local livelihoods through sustainable beekeeping and ecotourism initiatives, encouraging a healthy relationship between mangroves and local families.

Residents of Mombasa know what’s best for Mombasa

All voices of Mombasa are important. We engage with the community in each part of the decision-making process, respecting and preserving the cultural heritage. We rely heavily on Indigenous knowledge. Local communities guide us on site selection and effective traditional restoration techniques, and their deep insights into historical mangrove distribution around Mombasa. Their familiarity with the flora and fauna of the mangrove ecosystem significantly enhances our species identification and monitoring efforts. Residents of Mombasa know the power of Mangroves; they directly depend on them for shelter, food, economic gains, and social value. We have 33 community members who are working with Youth Pawa and I cannot thank them enough for creating awareness bottom-up and training the community in countering the challenge that cutting down mangroves for firewood or boat building is not acceptable. There are other ways to earn. We just had to introduce new means to them.

It takes a village

Our journey began with just 13 of us planting a mere 1,000 mangroves, on just an acre of degraded patch of land, now we have almost 12 acres of degraded land covered with thriving mangrove seedlings. We've also learned about the Community-based Ecological Mangrove Restoration (CBEMR) approach, which combines scientific knowledge with local wisdom to ensure sustainable restoration. Now, with over 80 volunteers we have planted over 20,000 mangrove trees, and restored 5.8 hectares of degraded land. We have started seeing once-disappeared marine animals like fish, crabs, shrimps, and prawns, coming back to the shores, and this of course is good news to us locals here, who depend on fishing. We are now venturing into sustainable mangrove beekeeping as a new way of economic benefits that support the local community while also improving the biodiversity of the ecosystem. —-- Heroes like Steve Masati give us hope. Restor has hundreds of Mangrove conservation projects that you can read about and support here. Steve has recently joined Restor and was welcomed with other Global Landscape Forum restoration stewards. If you like what you read, Support Restor’s global efforts to protect and restore nature for the benefit of people, biodiversity, and climate here. Our thanks to you!