Alignment capacity building and policy influencing to get best practice mangrove restoration embedded
Based on the success of CBEMR training in Lamu, area KFS officers identified the need to spread this knowledge to the KFS managerial team and senior policy-level managers from KFS headquarters, county forest conservators from the 5 coastal counties of Kwale, Kilifi, Mombasa, Tana River, and Lamu and their forest managers, and lecturers from Kenya school of forestry.
We organised a CBEMR managerial training, drawing in KFS managers, all coastal county department of Environment directors, and representatives from universities, the Western Indian Ocean Mangrove Network and local media.
As a result, the team agreed to incorporate the CBEMR approach in the proposed Kenya mangrove restoration technical order. Furthermore, it was agreed to develop a national mangrove restoration platform to standardise mangrove management and conservation, especially for restoration projects.
Kenya is also developing national mangrove restoration guidelines, supported by Wetlands International and WWF Kenya. It builds on the Global Best Practice Guidelines on Mangrove Restoration developed by the Global Mangrove Alliance amongst others, led by WI and CI in collaboration with dozens of scientists.
Policy Formulation: National-level forest managers should be engaged in local/county based restoration initiatives to aid in the development of mangrove forest policies. For instance, based on the success of the first CBEMR training in Lamu, area KFS officers identified the need to spread this knowledge to the KFS managerial team and senior policy-level managers from KFS headquarters, county forest conservators from the 5 coastal counties of Kwale, Kilifi, Mombasa, Tana River, and Lamu and their forest managers, and lecturers from Kenya school of forestry.
A CBEMR managerial training was therefore undertaken in September 2023, drawing in KFS managers, all coastal county department of Environment directors, and representatives from universities, the Western Indian Ocean Mangrove Network and local media. The team agreed to incorporate the CBEMR approach in the proposed Kenya mangrove restoration technical order and develop a national mangrove restoration platform to standardise mangrove management and conservation, especially for restoration projects.