Mombasa, KENYA: An exercise to plant more than 10,000 trees in Mombasa officially kicked off on Wednesday.
The exercise being run by bigship CBO a conservation community-based organization based in Jomvu sub-county kicked off to coincide with the World international Forest day.
The exercise seeks to replant part of the 80% mangrove tree cover that has been gradually lost over the years.
Speaking during the kick off of the exercise, Mombasa county environment county executive Dr. Godfrey Nato said that conservation of the ecosystem in the county was also beneficial in driving tourism in the region.
“If we can develop some infrastructure on this mangrove then we can be able to raise sensitization on the importance of mangroves,” Dr. Nato said.
Dr. Nato said that the county was in the process of developing an arboretum in the county so as to sensitize and educate the community on the different tree species available in the county while rehabilitating a Mombasa county tree nursery located in Mazeras in Kilifi county.
The exercise which is expected to run for 6 months saw 500 trees planted at the Tudor creek in Jomvu Sub-county.
However, the organization running the exercise says that they are facing a shortage of 7000 trees to turn their dream into a reality.
According to Akula Hamisi, the chairperson of the Bigship C.B.O, the organization could only manage to get 3000 trees.
“ We plan to replant more than 10,000 trees by the end of the year but as per now we only have 3000 so we are calling upon stakeholders to help us get more trees so that we can reach our 10,000 goal,” Akula said.
Reports state that more than 80% of the mangrove forest cover in Mombasa county has gradually been lost through deforestation, climate change and pollution.
This has left conservationists issuing red flags as mangroves are an important mitigating factor in the war against global warming due to their ability to quickly absorb carbon emissions.
With global warming having been attributed to the rising sea levels, Mombasa county has not been spared.
Earlier in the year, the National Museums of Kenya kicked off an excersise to rebuild a perimeter seawall at fort jesus to prevent it from eroding into the sea after its original wall eroded into the sea due to rising sea level.
