The Chief Conservator of Forests, Alex Lemarkoko, has officially opened the National Dialogue on Mangrove Restoration in Kenya.
The event that is taking place in Kwale County is themed “Demystifying mangrove restoration in Kenya: Lessons from success and failure, and creating a path for best practices,” aims to foster discussions on the vital role of mangroves in achieving Sustainable Development Goals and combating climate change.
Kenya’s ambitious tree-planting program, targeting 15 billion trees by 2032, underscores the nation’s commitment to restoring mangroves for carbon offset initiatives and sustainable ecotourism.
The dialogue provides a platform for stakeholders to explore various strategies for rehabilitating and managing degraded mangrove areas. Key areas include understanding ecosystem restoration, learning from successful restoration efforts in other ecosystems, and addressing challenges facing ongoing initiatives.
In his keynote address, Lemarkoko highlighted the economic, ecological, and environmental benefits of mangroves, such as providing wood for construction, fuelwood, and essential habitats for wildlife.
He said threats facing mangroves, including over-exploitation, encroachment, pollution, and natural disasters such as forest fires and heavy sedimentation due to flooding are being addressed effectively through collective, and collaborative approaches.
He noted that these threats coupled with conversion of mangrove areas to other land uses as well as infrastructure development are some of the other challenges facing mangroves ecosystems.
In a separate event, Lemarkoko led the Service in signing a Framework of Collaboration with Vlinder/Umita for Mangrove Restoration in Kwale County. The partnership aims to enhance conservation efforts and empower coastal communities through initiatives such as seedling production, capacity building communities to advance conservation success stories. The collaboration will also support rehabilitation of KFS security outposts in the county.
The CCF commended Umita for their dedicated partnership despite challenges, emphasizing their active role in conservation efforts is yielding positive outcomes.
He highlighted Umita’s capacity building initiatives and encouraged further collaboration, assuring support from KFS and capacity building for coastal communities.
Umita’s CEO, Isabella Masinde, expressed gratitude for the collaboration, emphasizing Umita’s commitment to mangrove restoration. She outlined initiatives including seedling production, security infrastructure development for ranger outposts in mangrove areas and capacity building for CFAs.
The activities are a build up to the celebration of International Day of Mangrove, Friday 26th July 2026, at Mkupwe Mkwekwe.
