Mangrove revival: How tree-planting is financing women’s businesses in Kenya

Christabel Ligami

At the Kenyan historical coastal Islands of Lamu, a group of six women groups are actively involved in restoring and conserving mangrove forest cover.

The women are part of a community conservation initiative called Mikoko Pamoja (in swahili which means – Mangroves together), a partnership project of the Kenya Forestry Services (KFS), The Nature Conservancy (TNC) and Northern Rangeland Trust(NRT) that aim is to sell carbon credits from ocean ecosystem. https://www.planvivo.org/mikoko-pamoja

The groups are located in Faza, Kiunga, Makongeni, Mkoko, Mtangawanda, Kizingitini, of Lamu Island.

Nuzla Misbahu, 28 year old mother of three is the chairlady of the Kizingitini women Association. A group of 86 women rehabilitating and protecting the mangrove forests in Pate Island of Lamu.

“It is voluntary work because we know the importance of the mangroves to our community. Our husbands rely on the mangroves and fishing to sustain us,” said Nuzla.

“We have been taught on the different species of mangroves, where they can grow well, and the season to plant seedlings.”

“NRT and TNC facilitate us to go to the field to check on the mangroves, plant and clean the beaches. In return the organizations has given us loans to start businesses,” said Nuzla adding that initial 10 women were initially given US$250 each last year to start their own business with a repayment period of one year after which they were given US$500 this year to repay in two years.

As the group of 10 moves on she said, another group of 10 from the association is given the first loan of US$250. So everyone in the association will benefit from the loans’ scheme.

“I opened a shop selling household goods and then expanded it to a retail shop this year,” said Nuzla adding that some of her colleagues too set up businesses like selling of fish, clothes on the market.

“For the initial loan we were paying each US$25 every month to offset the loan. Then when we finished we were given US$ 500 to repay within two years. This is what I used to expand my shop to a retail shop,” she said adding that after the two year repayment period she expects to get US$1,000 to expand her business.

“I make a profit of $3 daily which is good enough for me to pay for my expenses and repay for the loan at the end of the month.”

So far, she said a total of 23 women in Kizingitini have benefitted from the microfinance scheme and they have all set up businesses.

“We meet on the 10th of every month to plan on our mangrove work and also take record on how people are repaying their loans because if one of us misses to pay back then no one in the group will be given more money and it also means those who had not got anything will not be considered,” said Nuzla.

In Mtangawanda, another group of 50 women led by Zulfa Hassan have so far planted over 30,000 mangrove trees since 2018.

“We restore the mangrove, monitor them and clean the beach environment,” said the 36 year old mother of four.

She says before joining the pamoja initiative, they used to replant the mangroves but not properly as they do it now.

“Very few survived because we didn’t know that there were various species of mangrove plants and that they grow in specific soil within the forest. This is what we have now been taught and about seeds handling. Practices. We can now see unlike before more seedlings are surviving,” explained Zulfa.

She said they volunteer in conserving the mangroves because most of the families in Lamu rely on mangroves for building, firewood, medicine for the stomach, mosquito repellant.

“I am also a beneficiary of the microfinance scheme. When I was given my first loan of $250 I opened a small restaurant for selling chapatis (tortillas made from wheat flour). I have since expanded this into selling other types of foods after getting my second loan of $500.

“I have also started building a restaurant that can accommodate more customers. If I get US$1000 I plan to open a hotel.”

Zulfa said that she makes a profit of about $4 every day from which she saves $1 to go towards the loan repayment, $1 to her personal savings and $2 for her household use

I am also building my own house and soon I will move out of my mother’s house with my family.

The project started on a small scale in 2016 and it was scaled up in 2019.

“The aim of the project is to improve the livelihoods of the community through the conservation and sustainable use of their natural resources,” Issa Hassan, NRT Regional Director at the coast told Climate Home News.

“We focus on women at the coast because of gender discrimination in the region and also women are actively involved in the project.”

The women he said are initially asked to volunteer to the project then those who were consistent and active were selected to the Mikoko group.

He said that the microfinance project was set up to empower the women economically as they get credit – loans that are interest free. So far we have given US$57,000 to 180 women. Out of which 68 women have already repaid the first loans fully.

George Maina, Africa Fisheries Strategy Manager at TNC told Climate Change Home that even though there were efforts of planting and rehabilitating mangroves in the past, they were unsuccessful because the communities didn’t know of the various species of mangroves, the types of soil and how to plant them.

“It was important that we train and educate people in the community about mangrove planting to ensure that the right mangroves are planted and the survival rate is high,” he said Mr Maina adding that their goal is to restore, secure and better manage the mangroves for the benefit of the people and mitigate climate change because the mangroves are facing degradation.

“Cutting the mangroves means all the carbon is released into the atmosphere slowly which is even more dangerous,” he said.

A 2011 study in the Nature Geoscience found that Mangroves among the most carbon-rich forests in the tropics; Coastal trees key to lowering greenhouse gases. They help mitigate climate change as they store as much as four times carbon as other tropical forests. https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo1123

“Restoration is done in the clear fell areas, degraded land. Planting mangroves is very difficult. Out of every 100 seedlings planted, it is estimated that only 30 survive,” noted Mr Maina.

The women groups are part of the Community Forestry Associations (CFAs) in partnership with NGOs and government have drawn a participatory forest plan and policies that gives the community the mandate to manage, conserve and restore the mangroves. The plan involves mapping and identifying the degraded forest areas for replanting, areas for use for harvesting and the planting zones in the areas that were harvested or had no mangroves at all. The activities are aligned with the Kenya National Mangrove Ecosystem Management Plan 2017 – 2027. https://www.kmfri.co.ke/images/pdf/National_Mangrove_Management_Plan_Summary_for_Policy_Makers_Final.pdf

Forester Nandwa, KFS officer in Lamu said the challenge that the community faced before was the lack of knowledge on the different species of mangrove (six), site marching, harvesting seeds during the wrong season, inadequate involvement of the community, lack of monitoring of the plantation and poor coordination among the institutions.

“Extensive logging of mangrove in the past is the major contributor to the current depletion of the mangroves in Lamu because mangrove is a cheap but strong durable wood for firewood and as a building material. That’s why we have people continuously harvesting it without care,” said Mr Nandwa.

“We are now able to collect seeds in the forest that are showing signs of shooting and planting them directly in the sites. The seeds are planted when the ocean tides are low then when it is high tides they are watered to germinate.”

In the nursery he said seedlings take between three to four months to germinate which also depends on the people handling. If planted directly they have an 80 per cent survival rate. KFS does induction before planting.

“It is difficult to control illegal harvesting because accessing the islands is a challenge because of the changing water tides in the ocean and the boat is very expensive and so monitoring of the mangroves depends on the available resources. Also it is hard to get the illegal loggers as they are very elusive,” he noted.

The penalty for illegal loggers is very small – US$500 or six months in jail which is very small.

AbdulRahman Aboud, 48 years of age has been a mangrove logger for the last 20 years. He says in Lamu there are 22 licensed loggers out of which seven are active.

“Illegal cutting of mangroves has really gone down because if you are arrested you pay a heavy fine and this has made people opt out of harvesting mangroves secretively. “For any logger you have to apply for a one year license at a cost of US$10,” said Abdul.

“The challenge is the market. Since the government banned the export of mangroves to the gulf, we only rely on the local market which is not good. We sell them to contractors and the hotels at the coast.”

According to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), 67 percent of mangroves lost or degraded to date, and an additional 1% being lost each year, mangroves are at a risk of being destroyed altogether. https://wedocs.unep.org/handle/20.500.11822/28817