Coastal Kenya is rich in marine ecosystems that include mangroves, wetlands, coastal forests, estuaries, sandy beaches and dunes, coral reefs, and seagrass beds supporting marine and coastal species. These ecosystems maintain the health and biodiversity of marine and coastal landscapes and seascapes. Despite this, the Kenyan coast is one of the least developed regions of the country, with more than 62% living below the poverty line and most relying on the coastal and marine ecosystem for employment, livelihoods and nutrition. 

We identified an area of opportunity to support coastal communities that rely on marine resources for survival. Working with various partners and associations we ensure the delivery of impactful solutions for coastal communities and cities and conserve coastal and marine environments. Our focus is the Shimoni-Vanga Ecosystem and Malindi Ungwana bay, an ecologically sensitive area of global and national significance bordering the Southern coast of Kenya and Northern Tanzania.

This program is supported by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) in Kenya through the Voices for Just Climate Action (VCA) Program. The goal was to facilitate the collective action of women within Shimoni Vanga, enabling them to better manage marine resources and benefit from them. It addressed their need for inclusion in marine resource management and realized their contribution to conservation. It assessed the ocean literacy level of the women, trained and built their capacity on climate change, marine resource management, and techniques of value addition to their products. The seascape is home to indigenous communities, and this project also mapped the indigenous knowledge system used by the community in conservation and climate-related interventions.

Coastal Cities and Port Development play a pivotal role in the socio- economic development of coastal regions and the prioritization of the blue economy agenda by Countries of the Western Indian Ocean region further affirms this. The rapid development of coastal cities has a considerable impact on the local ecology, and potential including renewable energy sources. 

Coastal zones connect land to sea and COMRED started a sustainable cities program to address challenges facing coastal cities and ports such as spatial planning, governance of resources and policy in the face of Climate Change. Additionally, this program complements our previous interventions in marine conservation and is designed to facilitate transformation of coastal cities to be smart and sustainable. 

The Cities program has commenced two flagship projects, Miji Bora and Bandari bora. These were implemented in Mombasa, while drawing key learnings from Durban, South Africa and Moroni, Comoros with the vision of expanding to other coastal cities in the region that face similar challenges.