Your purchase is helping restore vital mangrove ecosystems
When you make a purchase from MyGreenerFamily.com, we donate half the profit on your behalf to fund Earthwatch projects. The focus of our first initiative is the Earthwatch Tidal Forests of Kenya project, where the planting of mangrove forests is helping turn the tide against climate change and coastal erosion.
Gazi
Bay, Kwale District, Kenya — Mangrove forests are among
the most productive wetland ecosystems on Earth. These tropical coastal
woodlands provide crucial habitat, protect coral reefs from
sedimentation, and, as demonstrated by the tsunami of 2004, play a
critical role in protecting tropical coastlines. They are also one of
the most threatened habitats. Historically, mangrove forests lined
three-quarters of all tropical and subtropical coasts. Today, less than
half of these forests remain, and an estimated two percent more are
degraded each year for firewood, building materials, coastal
development, and industrial shrimp fisheries.
The community of Gazi
Village, on the south Kenyan coast, are replanting the mangrove forests and examining the ecosystem dynamics
of replanted mangrove forests with the direction of Dr Mark
Huxham, Dr James Kairo, Dr Martin Skov, and Dr
Bernard Kirui.
>Download factsheet
In addition to planting mangrove seedlings, Earthwatch scientists, volunteers and local villagers help monitor the effects of these plantations on
rates of beach erosion and on the animals, particularly crabs and fish,
dependent on them. The results will benefit the local fishing community,
which relies on mangrove forests for wood products and fish habitat. This important project is also contributing to global efforts to restore dwindling mangrove
forests and combat the effects of rising sea levels, as well as providing
the first ever data on the use of mangrove forests as carbon sinks.
> Join the project as a volunteer
Meet the Scientists
Dr Mark Huxham, Reader, Edinburgh Napier University
As
a scientist, I have become increasingly concerned about how we can use
science to answer real questions important to ordinary people,
especially those who rely most directly on natural resources. This
project does just that, and provides us with a fantastic opportunity to
collaborate with people from Kenya and around the world in a fascinating
environment.
Dr James Kairo, Principal Research
Officer, Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute
Principal Research Officer for the Kenya Marine
and Fisheries Research Institute and specializes in the areas of
mangrove ecology, restoration and management. He lives in Gazi village
with his wife and three children. Dr. Kairo is responsible for
organizing the project’s accommodation and laboratory space in Gazi, and
for overseeing the mangrove planting and establishment.
Dr Martin Skov, Research Fellow, Bangor
University, Wales, UK
Research Fellow at the School of Ocean Sciences of Bangor University,
where he works on saltmarsh ecosystem function, photo-physiology of
rocky shore microalgal biofilms and mangrove ecology. Martin has
researched mangroves since the 1990s, specializing in the ecology of
East African mangrove animals, ecophysiology of crab nutrition and
experimental population ecology. He is responsible for the project’s
faunal component.
Dr Bernard Kirui, Research
Officer, Kenya Marine and Fisheries Research Institute
Research Officer at Kenya Marine and
Fisheries Research Institute. He completed his PhD working on the
Earthwatch mangrove restoration project at Gazi, and so has extensive
experience of working in Gazi with volunteers. He specializes in
mangrove ecology and also has interests in remote sensing and the carbon
cycle.
