Protecting mangroves

Mangrove forest and shallow waters in a Tropical island

Credit: apomares / Getty Images

Mikoko Pamoja is an innovative mangrove conservation project led by two remote villages, Gazi and Makongeni, on the south coast of Kenya.

Since its inception in 2013, Mikoko Pamoja has been able to safeguard the conservation of 117 hectares in the Gazi bay by restoring and protecting them through the sale of carbon credits. That equates to an area around the size of 150 football pitches.

Mangroves have been identified to provide a wide range of benefits to the environment and the surrounding community. Environmentally, mangroves are the most carbon dense forest ecosystems that provide long-term carbon storage.

More than 1,500 tons of carbon per hectare is stored beneath the forests. This enables local people to have long-term availability of proteins and harvestable wood products, as well as the natural defenses that the mangroves provide against sea storms.

A triple win

Funded by the Natural Environment Research Council as part of UK Research and Innovation’s Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), the project has achieved a range of sustainable development goals, such as:

  • no poverty
  • quality education
  • gender equality
  • clean water and sanitation
  • climate action
  • life on land
  • partnerships.

Every year Mikoko Pamoja replants 4,000 new mangrove trees in denuded mudflats of Gazi bay that was initially covered with a natural mangrove forest.

Dr James Kairo, Chief Scientist at the Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute said:

Mikoko Pamoja being an innovative carbon offset project is transforming lives in Kenya. It is a triple win to climate, community and biodiversity conservation.

By protecting mangroves, Mikoko Pamoja has been able to support the education of local school children by supplying textbooks, supplying piped water to homes, as well as providing resiliency against the effect of climate change. The next stage for the project is to encourage countries to consider mangroves in future government development and climate policymaking.

Read more about the blue carbon project with Mikoko Pamoja (PDF, 453KB).

Last updated: 26 August 2021

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